Traditional Electrolysis In Chicago
Sessions From 15 Minutes To One Hour With A Licensed Electrologist, Billed By Time.
This is our standard electrolysis appointment and the one most clients book. You reserve a block of time, an electrologist works through the area you want cleared, and you come back every few weeks until the hair is gone. It is the only method the FDA recognizes as permanent, and it works on every hair color and every skin tone.
Traditional sessions are done with prescription numbing cream if you want it. ProNox, lidocaine injections and oral sedation belong to our MED+ packages, and sittings of four hours or more are booked as large volume electrolysis.
One Follicle At A Time, Permanently
Your electrologist slides a fine probe alongside the hair and down into the follicle. A small, controlled current goes in and destroys the cells at the root. The hair then lifts out with tweezers instead of being pulled. Treated properly, that follicle is finished.
The rest of the appointment is that, repeated. How much ground we cover depends on how dense the hair is and how close the follicles sit together. Fifteen minutes is enough for an upper lip touch up. An hour gets most people through a full chin and jawline.
Afterwards you will have some redness and small raised spots where the follicles were treated. That usually settles within a few hours and is gone by the next morning.
Your First Three Steps
Nobody starts with a standing appointment. You start with a consultation, and the plan comes out of that.
Book A Consultation
We look at the area, the hair type and the skin, and talk through your medical history. Most consultations include fifteen minutes of actual treatment so you know what the sensation feels like before you commit to anything.
Agree On Session Length And Spacing
Your electrologist tells you how long a session needs to be to stay ahead of the regrowth, and how often to come in. Facial work is usually every two to three weeks. Body work is usually every four to six.
Keep The Appointments
Consistency is what shortens the process. Clients who stick to the schedule usually see a clear difference around three months and finish in nine to eighteen months. Gaps in treatment stretch that out.
Traditional Electrolysis Prices
Electrolysis is billed by time, not by body part, and each of our licensed electrologists has her own published rate. Prices below are per session, and where several of them work at the same rate they share one card. Prescription numbing cream can be used with any of them.
The $50 security deposit is fully refundable. It is either applied to the cost of your first treatment or returned to you. Session rates apply to any area of the face or body, so an upper lip and a lower leg cost the same for the same block of time. See the full price list.
Face And Body, All Skin Tones
Electrolysis targets the follicle rather than the pigment in the hair, so it works on grey, blonde and red hair that a laser cannot see, and it is safe on deeply pigmented skin. Genital and other intimate areas are treated too. Those sessions tend to be longer, and most clients book them under MED+.
Three Ways To Book Electrolysis Here
Most people handle a short traditional session without much trouble. Sensitive spots like the upper lip are sharper, and a long appointment anywhere gets harder to sit through as it goes on. If that is the part putting you off, the other two formats exist for exactly that reason.
Traditional Electrolysis
Regular sessions of 15 to 60 minutes with one electrologist. Prescription numbing cream is available. No gas, injections or sedation.
Electrolysis With MED+
Numbing cream plus ProNox gas you control yourself, lidocaine injections placed by a nurse practitioner, or both, with oral sedation added when it is needed.
Large Volume Electrolysis
Several electrologists treating you at once to clear a large amount of hair in one sitting, with every pain management option available including sedation and general anesthesia.
Methods Of Electrolysis
Three techniques are recognized for permanent hair removal. Your electrologist picks between them based on your hair and skin, and often uses more than one in a single appointment.
Galvanic
A direct current breaks down the salt and water already sitting in the follicle and turns it into lye. The lye destroys the cells at the base of the hair follicle. It is slower per hair than the alternatives but very thorough on distorted or curved follicles.
Thermolysis
An alternating current makes the water molecules around the follicle vibrate, and the friction produces heat. That heat dries out or coagulates the tissue at the root. It is the fastest of the three, which is why it suits dense areas and long sessions.
Blend
Galvanic and thermolysis running together, so the follicle gets both the chemical and the heat action at once. It is what most of our electrologists reach for on coarse hair that has been waxed or plucked for years.
Stages Of Hair Growth
Your hairs are not all on the same clock. At any moment, only part of the hair in an area is in the stage where electrolysis does its best work, which is the reason treatment is spread over a series of appointments instead of one.
Anagen, The Growing Stage
The follicle sits at its deepest point and the hair is still attached to its blood supply. This is when treatment works best, because the current reaches everything that needs to be destroyed.
Catagen, The Transition
The follicle starts detaching from its blood supply and growth slows down. Treatment still works, but there is less of the target left to reach.
Telogen, The Resting Stage
The hair is dormant and ready to shed on its own. A hair caught here will come back, which is why the same patch of skin needs revisiting a few weeks later.
Keeping to the spacing your electrologist recommends is how you catch the most hair in anagen and finish sooner.
Questions About Traditional Sessions
Anything we have not covered here, ask at your consultation, or call the clinic and we will talk it through.
See The Full FAQFifteen minutes covers a small, sparse area such as an upper lip or a few stray hairs. Thirty to forty five minutes suits a chin, an underarm or a bikini line. An hour is the usual choice for a full face or a larger body area. Your electrologist will tell you at the consultation what length keeps you ahead of the regrowth, since a session that is too short means the area never fully clears.
Yes. We need to look at the area and go through your medical history before treating you, and you need a realistic idea of the time and cost involved. Nataliya, Niki and Adriana offer a free consultation against a refundable $50 deposit. Valeria, Nataliya, Niki and Adriana also offer a paid consultation that includes fifteen minutes of treatment, which is the better option if you want to feel the sensation before booking a full session. Natalia Cupcea books treatment sessions only, so if you would like to see her, have your consultation with one of the others first. Out of state clients can do this online.
You feel each hair, usually as brief heat or a sting. Short sessions are manageable for most people. The upper lip, nostrils and genital area are noticeably sharper, and any area gets harder to sit through the longer you are in the chair. Prescription numbing cream can be used with any traditional session, and we will tell you how to apply it beforehand. If cream alone is not enough, book MED+ instead, which adds ProNox gas, lidocaine injections and oral sedation.
Electrolysis is a series of treatments rather than a single visit, and the total varies a lot from person to person. It depends on the type, density and amount of hair, where it is on the body, previous laser treatment, hormones, medication, any waxing or plucking history, how well you tolerate sessions, and how consistently you come in. For clients who follow the recommended plan, the average time to completion is nine to eighteen months or more.
For facial work, a full treatment every two to three weeks is most effective. For body work, every four to six weeks. Sticking to that spacing increases how much hair we catch in the right growth stage, cuts the total number of treatments, and keeps both the discomfort and the trauma to your skin down. In ideal conditions, results usually start to show around three months.
Yes. Electrolysis is the only method the FDA approves as permanent hair removal. It destroys the growth cells of the follicle, so a hair that has been properly treated does not come back. It works on all hair types and all skin tones, including grey, blonde and red hair that laser cannot target.
Shaving and trimming are fine, and we would rather you did that than go untreated between visits. What you need to stop is waxing, threading, plucking and epilating, because those pull the hair out of the follicle and leave your electrologist nothing to treat. Read the pre-treatment instructions before your first session.
Book Your Session
We are at 1315 N Larrabee St in downtown Chicago, Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM. By appointment only, no walk-ins. If you are not sure which electrologist or which session length to pick, book the consultation and we will work it out together.
To be fair to all clients and to use our time effectively, we have established the following cancellation guidelines: For appointments that are one hour or less, we require at least 24 hours notice. For appointments longer than one hour, a minimum of 72 hours notice is necessary. For treatments scheduled for four hours or more, we require at least 14 days notice. If proper notice is not given, a fee of 100% of the scheduled service will be charged. If you need to make changes to your appointment, please call us at (252) 722-5006 or email us at [email protected].
TG-Friendly by
Laura’s Playground
American Electrology
Association
Electrologists Association
of Illinois
By appointment only. No walk-ins.
We speak English, Romanian, and Russian.