Rates FAQ:
Rates vary based on location. You can find rates for your location on that location’s page, which can be found through the Locations page. For patients using insurance, the out of pocket costs will vary based on your benefits.
Preparation FAQ:
Electrolysis (any body part)
- Shave two to three days before your appointment, then let the are we are working on grow from that point until your appointment. The hair needs to be long enough for me to effectively remove it, but not too long that I have a hard time inserting my probe.
- If you’re using numbing cream, you’ll typically apply that 30 minutes to an hour before your appointment and cover it with plastic wrap to let it absorb better and not rub off.
Timeline FAQ:
There are multiple things that affect how fast your permanent hair removal goes.
Factors include the following:
- How much hair you start with
- Your hormone levels
- Age
- Frequency of sessions
- Length of sessions/pain tolerance
- Health history
For total clearing of the face or bottom surgery prep areas, it typically takes 1-2 years of weekly sessions to be completely hair free.
Larger areas like the legs, arms, and back might take even longer, depending on the size of the area, thickness of hair, and amount of hair.
That said, you will see results so much faster than that! You will notice much less visible hair after even just a few sessions, and the hair visibility and needing to shave so often will go way down. Eventually during that time frame, we will only be finding the single stray hair here and there over an entire area.
Process FAQ:
Electrolysis takes a long time mostly because hair grows in stages. At any given point in time, the hair you see on a body part is only a small fraction of the hairs that are truly there. The rest are dormant, but will grow and be active again over time.
This means that even if we completely clear an area, that is only a fraction of the hair that’s truly going to grow in that area.
Even if we get every single hair currently in an area, they may not all be in the right stage of growth. Of the hairs that are visible, only a percentage of them will be in the growth stage where they can be destroyed.
So, how do we know which hairs we’ve killed? If I remove a hair and it’s got a bulb at the end (plus sebum comes out), then that was a hair in the right stage of growth – a confirmed kill! Unfortunately, there’s no way to know if a hair was in the right stage until it’s zapped and removed.
Schedule FAQ:
Ideally, I like to work with electrolysis clients once a week.
This is because the hairs that grow in an area will be different ones every time since they grow in phases that are not in lockstep. That means you are seeing me often enough to get a bunch of hair removed, but far enough apart that we are getting new kills every time.
The length of a session totally depends on you and your tolerance. I recommend doing a 60-minute session for your first session after your consult, and then deciding on the length of sessions from there.
Pain/discomfort:
Some pain and discomfort will unfortunately happen with electrolysis.
Electrolysis will hurt or feel uncomfortable differently for every person. Your level of tolerance will vary based on how hairy the treated area is, how thick/coarse the hair is, the body part we will work on, and skin sensitivity.
Many clients will use prescription numbing cream 30 minutes to an hour before their session. This is known as BLT cream (benzocaine, lidocaine, tetracaine), and you can ask your doctor for a prescription for this.
There is also over the counter lidocaine/numbing creams, but those won’t be as strong as what’s available by prescription.
Schedule Process:
- Click the Book Now button in the site’s menu, or go to https://realyouelectrolysis.com/book-online
- Choose the service and length of time you would like. NB: if you are using insurance, you will need to call the location you want to attend first. The phone number for a specific location can be found on that location’s page. Insurances typically require a prior authorization before they will cover services. You can find our different locations on the Locations page.
- Choose a day/time from the calendar that works for you.
- Fill out the new patient paperwork as soon as you receive it. This is due no later than the evening before your first appointment, or your appointment will be cancelled.
- Once you book, you’ll receive an automated email with the day, time, and address of your appointment.
- You’ll receive email and text reminders to remind you of the day/time and location of your appointment. Please contact me at least 24 hours ahead of time if you need to cancel or reschedule!
- I’ll see you at your session, I’m looking forward to it!
- After the session, your card on file will be charged for the appointment. If you’re using insurance, we will bill your insurance at this time.
Insurance
We do! We currently accept the following insurances:
- PacificSource (commercial plans – Voyager, Navigator)
- Kaiser NW
- Kaiser WA
- WA Medicaid
- Cigna
- Premera
- Regence
- VA
- Aetna
- UHC
- OHP (except Trillium)
We are working on accepting more insurances in the near future.
Exact insurances accepted at each location may vary. To check the insurances we currently accept at a specific location, select the location from our locations page.
