A Guide to Electrolysis

By C Dawson

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Electroysis nearly always produces a certain amount of inflammation and redness on the area of the skin treated through this, too, will vary ftrom person to person. But "redness and swelling rarely lasts longer than thirty minutes to two hours." The more sensitive the skin, the longer. Younger people show more effects. It's common, especially with a lot of growth.

This can provide problems for any client, but especially for a man. It may be difficult to arrange the frequent treatment you would need at times which would allow you to keep out of sight until the redness and inflammation disappears although, according to one specialist, "only an electrologist would notice."

A similar problem arises from the fact that an electrologist needs a certain length of hair growth before she can work on it. Not only does she need to grip it with tweezers, after treatment, to remove it; but she will neither be able to locate the follicle nor to determine the direction in which the hair is growing without some growth.

How much? "You need at least twenty four hours growth to enable the tweezers to grip. But as the treatment proceeds and you get regrowth hair, it becomes less noticeable." As you might expect, this puts dark haired people at a disadvantage, but there are compensations; "Dark hairs are easier to see, depending on the colour of the skin. Blonde hairs can be a pair in the neck." That's obviously not a joke!

Time and money

If you are considering money, treatment by electrolysis - and is really is the only possibility for dark-haired transsexuals, for instance - then you have to be prepared for frequent treatment over a long period of time. The normal pattern seems to be one session a week of about an hour, and some people arrange two sessions a week. As the treatment continues, and the amount of regrowth hair increases, it might be possible to have less frequent sessions. And you must be able to continue for at least eighteen months and, more probably two years - or even more.

It is expensive, too. Depending on where you live, and where the salon is situated , you will be paying no less than £20 an hour and, very probably, in excess of £30 or £35. Although that sounds - and is - a great deal of money, especially when added up over the entire length of the treatment, you are paying for a very high degree of skill and experience.

Some electrologists operate a home visiting service, which might be more convenient for you and also cheaper - the cost of their travel might be significantly less than the rent and rates for a high street salon. And, if you are seeing a psychiatrist as part of your gender reassignment treatment, you may be able to arrange for much cheaper electrolysis, as it can be available on the National Health Service. Beware, though! Fees paid by the Health Authority to the electrologists who work for them are often very low.

So you will either get superb treatment from someone who is doing it because of social commitments or you could be in the hands of someone who is far less experienced or skilled.

Go for the best

Wherever you seek your treatment, you must go for the best possible. "Electrolysis is a very demanding and difficult technique and unfortunately there are too many people carrying out treatment who are not really adept. I have met many cases of people with redness and swelling that has taken over twenty-four hours to subside, and this should not be. As a result of poor treatment, carried out ineffectively over a period of two years, I myself took up electrolysis..." and discovered, says this specialist, that many apparently qualified people are not actually very good electrologists.

Julie says that it is best to go on the reputation of the salon or practitioner, but reminds us this might actually be based on their skill at, say, make-up. Her advice to women is to visit the salon for something else - a manicure, perhaps - and weigh up its standards of cleanliness and general professionalism; and, of course, to seek recommendations from friends.

This is less easy for a man, especially one as self conscious as many transsexuals tend to be. However, if you have a female friend in whom you can confide, she should be able to do some research on your behalf. Otherwise, you could approach one of the professional bodies - like the Insitute of Electrolysis - and ask for their advice.

Hormone treatment

There is one form of treatment which, used as as a preparation for and simultaneously with electrolysis, should make life a great deal easier for transsexuals in particular. This is a hormone treatment, and it is provided by the Albany Clinic, whose manager, Margaret, explained to me how it works. "It contains an anti-androgen which works against the testosterone (the male hormone)."As we mentioned earlier, in most young women their own oestrogens outweigh the effects of the testosterone in their own system and one of the results is very little terminal hair growth. When this balanced is disturbed, as at the menopause, they may start to show a pattern of hair growth which one associates with men. The Albany Clinic's hormone treatments seek to do the opposite by treatment with female hormones. There are two ways in which this is used. "There is a cream which is used on the areas where you want to get rid of the hair, mainly the face and chest area. It's applied normally twice daily, in the morning and evening."

This treatment results in less strong growth, with finer and usually fairer hairs.

The cream is sold commercially, but the hormone level is relatively low. A stronger cream is available but only on prescription issued by one of the medical specialists who are associated with the Clinic.

The other form of this treatment is also available only on prescription. This is a drug which is swallowed and which has its effect over the whole of the body (although it does not make any difference to the hair on the scalp, in the genital area or under the armpits). It has a stronger effect than the cream and it is usually prescribed as part of the process of gender reassignment.

Professional electrologists recommend this treatment highly for transsexuals. "It's very important that people should have been on oestrogen treatment before electrolysis." "Do try to get hormone treatment before you start electrolysis." "Hormone treatment is advisable - taken orally preferably. The hormones remove the desire of the hair to be there." "There are no problems with treating male hair if they're on hormone treatment... One client hadn't had any hormones, and electrolysis wasn't really having any effect."

Although the cost of hormone treatment is likely to be fairly heavy, it may well cut the overall cost of the electrolysis - because finer, softer hairs are easier to treat and the whole process will probably be completed more quickly and with less pain and discomfort of the treatment - because the electrologist may be able to use a weaker current than would otherwise be necessary.

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