Comments on: Zapped!

By: Circadian

Circadian — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 12:57:33 +0000

Ah, the joys of “sympathetic” family Hope there wasn’t also an evening of bad puns to make things worse!
Hearing about it makes me whimper in sympathy – hopefully this is the only session you need. Or that you will at least get anesthetic if you need a treatment top-up.

By: andrea

andrea — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 08:26:05 +0000

you did sound ‘quite’ toothgrittingly uncomfortable when i rang you…. not that I enjoyed that…oh no no no no…yes

By: Sarah

Sarah — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 23:20:25 +0000

There are actually two different methods by which electrolysis works for epilation.

Firstly there is galvanic electrolysis, which works as you describe – it results in sodium hydroxide being produced in the follicle, which destroys it with a chemical burn. It takes a long time per hair – a minute or more, and hasn’t been used for a very long time now.

Secondly there is short wave diathermy, which isn’t strictly electrolysis, but is called such. This works by turning the needle into a transmitter for a microwave frequency RF pulse. This heats the blood vessel supplying the follicle up, destroying it.

Quite common is so-called “blend”, which lays the RF pulse on top of a DC current, giving a combination galvanic+diathermy effect.

By: Liz Church

Liz Church — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 23:07:07 +0000

Electrolysis is the breaking of a chemical compound by means of an electric current. That would account for the physical process. I suspect that the substances that are formed in the follicle then attack the root which will account for the chemical action. I don’t know what reactions are involved, but since the body contains things like salt, there’s scope for producing sodium hydroxide and chlorine, neither of which are likely to be favourable to the hair root’s long-term prospects.