The practical content of this chapter is based on the principles of the shedding cycle discussed in the preceding chapter. However, to be of practical use to the student, some of the analyses we shall make must presuppose a certain familiarity with the application of currents to the follicle. If this book is being read in conjunction with a formal course on the subject, the instructor can assist you in making the epilation (removals) which the analyses call for. If not, you will not be able to make certain firsthand observations, but you should nevertheless have little difficulty understanding the interpretations being made.
This chapter will be of special assistance to you when working with the electrological technics discussed in Chapters VIII, IX and X, since our present purpose is to offer a guide for recognizing certain categories of hair and skin. These categories, as we shall see, often determine the method of treatment. Furthermore, your practical training actually begins in this chapter with instructions on how to insert a needle into the follicles of various types of hairs. This insertion skill is a prerequisite to the mastery of any of the technics.
The chapter is divided into two sections. The first deals with interpretations of the appearance of surface hair; the second provides an analysis of skin characteristics relevant to treatment.
SECTION ONE: INTERPRETING THE HAIRS APPEARANCE
In the preceding chapter we examined the structures beneath the epidermis and the alterations which take place there. We observed that X the follicle is an ever-changing appendage in its growth and replacement phases. To the electrologist about to insert a needle in a follicle, however, none of this is observable. All she can see is a hair projecting from a pore of the skin. The depth and cellular structure of the follicle is something she can only guess about. In a sense, then, the electrologist has to work ”blind,” since her object is to destroy tissue she cannot see. This is the point at which the art or skill of the electrologist comes into play.
To deal with her invisible target adequately, the electrologist must attain a ”feel of the insertion,” which will help her visualize what she is encountering beneath the skin. Many experienced electrologists feel they have developed a ”sixth sense,” for working beneath the surface, but they are unable to communicate it; they cannot explain to the student or to others in the field how they know what to do in the variety of circumstances they confront. Experience is the key factor in acquiring this special sensitivity, but it is our hope to provide you with certain facts that will enable you to develop this ”sixth sense” sooner.
The first objective of the electrologist, of course, is the insertion of the needle to the full depth of the follicle or the dermal cord, depending on the stage of development. Reaching that depth requires a great deal of skill with the needle. We must therefore concentrate on the development of this skill before discussing the factors involved in interpreting the follicle structure.
How To Hold The Needle (Single Needle Technic)
Select a needle of .005” diameter of medium length and install it, using your forceps or tweezers, into the needle holder electrode. Now you are ready to practice insertions. Gently hold the body of the electrode between your thumb and first finger as shown in Figure 25. Do not hold it like a pencil. Allow your third finger to rest on the patron’s skin as a guide along which to slide the holder as you enter the follicle. Train your first two fingers to do the inserting. Do not use a wrist action, and do not make elbow or shoulder motions when making insertions. The highest degree of sensitivity of touch will be achieved this way.
Practice on a piece of newspaper over a folded towel or dry cellulose sponge, inserting into all the letter “o’s,” “e’s,” and “a’s” until you have developed the necessary skill. This should be done under magnification like that which you intend to use for patron work. A straightforward insertion will not bend the needle. If you press sideways or up or down, you will bend needles. Practice with .005” diameter stainless steel needles first, then .004”, then .003”. Anything smaller is not stiff enough to readily penetrate newspaper.
A smooth steady insertion, not too slow nor too fast, is what you should strive to achieve. Do not jab as if you were a nurse giving an injection, because you will fail to develop the sense of touch needed to discover the structure of the follicle. Visualize the path of the needle, pretending you are a passenger on its tip. With practice a rapport will develop, and you will ”see” through your sense of touch.
Inserting Into The Hair Follicle
ANGLE OF INCLINATION
Most hair grows at an angle to the surface of the skin) that is) more horizontal than vertical. Sketches throughout this book, while showing the follicle as somewhat inclined, do not present the true angle most usually encountered, mainly because of the problem of labeling something so steeply angled. This graphic inaccuracy appears in nearly all medical and cosmetology books treating the subject. The following diagram shows the true angles of growth for typical hairs in various regions:
In Figure 26 the angles of inclination shown apply in a general way to the average straight hair case. Exceptions to this will run all the way from perpendicular and reverse angle to absolutely flat, but that is the unusual and not the norm. If the hair is oval or flat in cross-section the follicle will be curved in varying degrees, and you must compensate for the curvature by anticipating the follicle curve and inserting at a steeper angle than the hair indicates. Your anticipation of the angle of inclination can only be developed through close observation of epilated hairs and much practice.
DIRECTION IN THE HORIZONTAL PLANE
Properly sliding the needle into the follicle requires aiming the probe in a direction parallel to the hair root. Therefore, we must take into consideration not only the angle of inclination but also the direction in the horizontal plane. For example, the direction of most hairs on top of the forearm is downward, toward the hand. The needle must be inserted parallel to this direction in the horizontal plane or it will be wide of its mark. Observe all the hairs in an area the size of a quarter, let the direction shown by the majority of the hairs be your guide for insertion in that area. Be sure to direct your attention to the surface of the epidermis and follow the angle of the protruding hair as it appears at the pore level.
Now that we have established our direction and our angle of inclination insert the needle on the underside of the hair and slide it slowly and deliberately into the follicle alongside the hair root. (Now get your volunteer back on the table and try again.) If a proper insertion has been made, the patron will experience no pain whatsoever. If she feels a piercing or ”sticking” you have misjudged one or both of your insertion angles.
Hints For Making Good Insertions
- Highlight the hair by shining your light from one side.
- If the skin proves too shiny to permit careful scrutiny, apply a thin film of calamine lotion to dull the sheen of the skin.
- If you still have difficulty finding pores, apply a touch-up or eyebrow pencil (dark brown) to a ball of cotton which has been moistened with alcohol and dab it on the skin. This will serve as a pore marker and hair darkener.
- Stretch the skin parallel to the direction of the insertion, not at right angles.
- Make a slight pull on the skin opposite to the direction of insertion.
- Do not hold the hair in tweezers while inserting; this tends to change the follicle angle. It also could become a habit that would cause you to work slowly.
- Do not pinch the skin.
- Any little motions or time-delaying actions between insertions tends to waste your time and the patron’s money. Strive to develop efficient working habits as soon as possible.
Establishing A Depth Gauge
The first objective of the electrologist is to determine the depth at which to treat the hair in a given area. This is a major problem to the electrologist, for, as we have seen, hairs grow in any area at varying depths and in various stages. To deal with this variety the electrologist requires a depth gauge. We know that a deep insertion can destroy a shallow follicle, but that a shallow insertion does little to the deeper follicles. A hair in later anagen is growing at its greatest depth; therefore, the electrologist logically selects late anagen hairs to gauge the depth to which she will insert. ”Hair depth,” as we shall use the term is the distance from the surface of the epidermis to the bottom of the bulb.
An easy way to determine hair depth is to grip the hair shaft with your tweezers at the level of the skin and lift out, using the distance between the tweezers and bulb as your depth guide. Observe that the root sheath does not extend all the way up to the tweezers. This is because the inner root sheath stops at the sebaceous gland duct; no sheaths surround the hair shaft where it extends through the epidermis. This space between the point where the tweezers grip and the point where the sheath begins is really an indication of the thickness of the epidermis. In thin epidermal areas the clear hair shaft space of an anagen hair will be about 1/4th or less of the entire root length while in thick
epidermal areas e.g., back of neck, it will be about ½ root length. Determining which hairs are in anagen and which are in other stages is a further problem. The depth gauge is of little assistance if the wrong stage of hair is used as a guide. The electrologist must be able to tell from the appearance of the hair and to some extent the feel of the needle, what stage of hair she is dealing with. These appearances will vary according to the ways the hair has been treated by the patron. Tweezing, shaving and other methods of removal or neglect each pro- duce a different set of characteristics to watch for. Each of these possible situations must be studied.
Interpreting The Tweezing Case
Always ask a patron what she has been doing with her hair problem if it is not obvious. If a patron has been tweezing or waxing consistently and for purposes of treatment has allowed some hairs to appear above the surface, you can be sure that most of the hair showing is in anagen. If they are dark, thick bristles and you notice a pointed unpigmented tip, they are making their initial appearance. If the ends are squared off, the patron must have clipped them. If she has obviously been unsuccessful in her tweezing attempts the hairs are mashed off at or near the skin surface. These last-mentioned types are not really tweezed hair at all but merely hairs cut off by a strong tweezer or clipped with a scissors, and therefore these hairs may not be making an initial appearance; they could be in any stage of development or replacement.
Let us experiment a bit with these four hairs and see what we ”feel” as we slide a needle down alongside the hair root. For easy insertion the diameter of the needle should be the same diameter as the base of the hair.
Hair A. Hair A is a newly formed hair, as evidenced by its point, and is being held in place by a tender root structure. Since it is in early anagen it is still not very deep. The needle will slide easily into the follicle entrance and with no pressure whatsoever will slide to the bottom of the follicle. If the needle has a rounded tip the mouth of the follicle will, in most cases, depress slightly when the needle hits the bottom. If the needle has been properly placed, electrical action will release the hair root from the follicle bottom.
Hair B. Hair B is also making its initial appearance, as we can tell by the pointed tip, but since it is 1/4th inch above the skin surface it has obviously been growing for a longer time than hair A. The ease of
insertion will be the same as for hair A and the electrical disintegration of the follicle will release the hair. However, though the diameters of A and B are the same at skin level you will find hair B more deeply rooted because it is in a later stage of anagen. Hair B is the ideal type for the electrologist to select when starting a treatment. You know it will have a root. That root depth should be used as your guide for the depth of your needle insertion in subsequent follicles whose hairs are of the same color tone and shaft diameter.
Hairs C and D. Hair C, because of its squared cut off shaft and Hair D, because of its mashed tip do not reveal how long they have been in existence. Obviously, the patron has not been able to pull them
out due to the tenacity of their root structure. Either the tweezers slipped, and she has resorted to clipping or else the tweezers broke off or mashed the hair shaft. These hairs could have been growing for several months. Hairs which have resisted tweezing must be very firmly held in place. Their root sheaths are tough and as in the usual case the top portion of the sheath just below the sebaceous gland duct is quite dry, firm and tenacious.
In attempting to slide the needle alongside these hairs we will hit a definite obstruction when we reach the inner root sheath. We will observe the skin depressing in a slight dimple but we note that we are only about 1/4th as deep as we were when inserting into the follicle of hair B. Slight pressure must be used to get past this stoppage. Continue the insertion until the next obstruction is felt or the depression of the epidermis is noted. In any case, insert at least as deep as you did for hair B. After disintegration of the root sheaths epilate the hair. If it is the same depth as the root of hair B, continue to use that depth as your guide.
If hair D epilates with only a club or tuft at its base, it will be obvious that your insertion was much deeper than the hair root. Where did the needle go? It probably went down the dermal cord and the electrical action took place in tissue that is preparing to produce the next hair. If the current was adequate that follicle should never regenerate. The epilation of a club type hair does not at all indicate failure. Concentrate on what you have done beneath the skin; do not attach your moments of joy and sorrow to the appearance of the epilated hair.
In viewing the tweezing case you are only seeing a small portion of the total amount of superfluous hair the patron possesses. If the patron has been tweezing deep coarse hair once each week you are viewing approximately one-fifth or one-sixth of the total amount of deep coarse hair that the patron has. If the patron has been tweezing medium depth hair once each week you are viewing one-sixth or one-seventh.
The following schedule provides an approximation of the time for each type of hair to reappear after tweezing. Although no such schedule could be wholly accurate, it will aid the electrologist to anticipate the appearance of presently unseen hairs, when the patron has been tweezing
or waxing. Regrowth from tweezed follicles returns faster than it does from follicles which have naturally shed.
Average time of hair reappearance after tweezing or waxing
Deep, coarse, bulbous terminal hair (as on chins): 5 to 6 weeks
Medium depth terminal hair (as on side of face and body): 6 to 7 weeks
Medium depth intermediate or accelerated lanugo hair: 7 to 9 weeks
Shallow lanugo hair (downy, general face): 8 to 10 weeks
Since most tweezing cases involve types of hair ranging in size from lanugo to heavy terminal hair, the electrologist must anticipate the reappearance of these various types at different times. The deeper, darker hair is the quickest to reappear after tweezing. The remaining types will
reappear at times relative to their depth, as the schedule indicates.
Interpreting The Shaving Case
Any case in which a patron has been removing superfluous hair by means other than tweezing or waxing shall be referred to as a ”shaving case.” She may be shaving or clipping, using a depilatory which is merely dissolving the hair at the skin surface or grinding the hair to the skin level with abrasive stones or sandpaper. All of these procedures simply do away with the hair that appears above the skin without affecting or disturbing the root. The skin can be irritated and reddened even to the point of eruption, but the stage of the hair’s development will not be materially changed.
Viewing the shaving case, you will be able to see all the hairs except for that 10 to 20% that have recently shed. Remember, there is always a percentage of hairs not visible (The amount not in view will vary between areas on the same person as well as between people. Hereditary background, race and climatic conditions all seem to affect this percentage factor.) The electrologist should observe that while these hairs are all very short there will be some variation in length, color and diameter which can provide a great deal of information. Assuming that the patron did not shave, etc., for 48 hours and that we are looking at a chin growth on a middle-aged woman we might see an assortment of hair.
Hair A has grown the longest since the last shaving period and therefore is obviously an active growing hair in some stage of anagen. If we were to slide a needle alongside this hair we would note some resistance at the beginning of the inner root sheath level but should push past it to the follicle bottom. Inducing an electrical action in the needle to disintegrate the sheath attachment should epilate the hair with a complete root structure. Hair B is making its initial appearance and has emerged since the last shaving. This hair is identical to the first hair discussed in the tweezing section. It is in an early stage of anagen. Hair C is the same diameter as Hair A but is a lighter color. It is not growing so fast, so it must be in its shedding cycle and is no longer attached to the papilla. Its source of nourishment is poor, hence its slow growth (catagen) and lighter color. A needle sliding down along- side this hair will meet with an obstruction requiring that you push on past to the same depth as hair A or B. The current’s action will not release this hair too well and a slight pull or traction on the hair will be necessary to epilate it. In observing its roots you will note that it is not complete; the lower bulb may be missing or there may be nothing but a dry tuft on the end. While the appearance of this hair root did not make us happy let us hope our current destroyed the tissue capable of producing another hair, since we inserted into the follicle cord therefore applying the current to the full range of hair germ cells, from which all future growth will come.
Interpreting The “Virgin Growth”
The term ”virgin growth” applies to a superfluous hair condition that has not been tweezed, cut or tampered with in the previous 8 months or longer. It is not often that a patron with a face problem will present such a growth, but every now and then the electrologist encounters someone who is afraid she will make the problem worse, refusing to do anything to her facial hair. Usually, however, if a woman has an undisturbed hair growth, it appears on some area other than the face.
On women, forehead hairlines and necklines are usually of the virgin growth type. Most arm cases and some thigh cases are in this category. On men, most back, shoulder and chest hair is of the virgin type unless occupation or dislike of hair has caused them to shave the area.
In viewing the virgin growth, the electrologist will see hair of all different lengths and shades or tones of color. For instance, a patron with black hair will exhibit hairs in shades of black from black-black to brown-black. In almost every case the deeper the tone, the deeper the follicle will be at a given stage of anagen. Patrons with brown, red or blonde hair also will show this same relationship of color tone to root depth. If two hairs are one inch long and one is a darker tone at pore level than the other, it will probably have a deeper root. The only exception to this is, of course, dyed hair. Natural gray hair is always deeper in its last stage of anagen than X are neighboring hairs of the patron’s original color. (Always expect to insert deeper when entering a follicle containing a gray hair. In the early anagen stage the emerging hair almost always appears at the patron’s original color. Then, after it grows longer and the root becomes deeper, it loses its pigmented appearance either because it is no longer able to pick up the pigment or because, as some writers believe, it acquires entrapped air bubbles which obscure the color. Regrowth of gray hair, after tweezing or treatment, often perplexes the patron and the operator with its early coloration and causes them to wonder if new hairs are coming in. Virgin hairs will all exhibit pointed tips unless they have been worn, broken or cut off.
Interpreting The ”Curved Follicle” Growth
Our consideration of hair growth and follicles up to this point has been concentrated on straight hair. Everything that has been said about straight hair concerning the hair exchange and replacement cycles is also applicable to the ”curly” or ”kinky” type of hair. There are, however, specific differences which present problems to the electrologist until they are understood.
Curved follicles are found on light as well as dark skinned people. Some people of African descent and dark-skinned patrons have straight facial hair with round hair shafts and some light skinned patrons will have some curly facial hair with fiat oval hair shafts. Normally, however, the majority of patrons with kinky superfluous hair are of African descent.
The degree of follicle curvature is related to the flatness of the hair shaft. Round hair always emanates from straight follicles, oval hair from slightly curved follicles and flat hair from more greatly curved follicles. The flatness of the hair determines, in turn, the degree of kinkiness of the hair. These curved follicles do not exist in the shape pictured in cosmetology textbooks where they are shown forming a complete letter ”C.” A hair with this degree of curvature would be an abnormal type usually observed around scars from wounds or injuries that have been sutured. A few of this type along with ”corkscrews,” ”tombstones” and other anomalies are usually encountered toward the termination of a heavy face case.
In most curved superfluous hair cases it will be noted that the lower fourth of the follicle turns at an obtuse angle from the follicle proper. Montagna states that this angle is the cause of the flattening of the hair shaft structure. It is the flattened shape which gives rise to the curling of the hair shaft. Careful observation over a period of many years with hundreds of patrons has revealed that the curl of the hair above the skin level is greater than the follicle curvature in the skin. Apparently because the portion of the root encased in the root sheaths is still in a moist and newly formed condition, the hair does not begin to curl until the hair has left the sheaths and begins to dry. Just as a wet strip of paper curls as it dries, the hair you see above the skin level acquires more of a curl that the root below.
Figure 36 shows how various hairs from curved follicles appear at the surface. In the early stages of anagen the emerging hair (A) will appear with a pointed tip and be almost round and straight Sliding a
needle alongside this hair will meet with no obstruction until the follicle bottom is reached. After electrical disintegration of the root sheaths this epilated hair will exhibit a straight root structure and be only about half as long as it would be in later anagen.
Hair B could be in any stage of development from late anagen to telogen depending on whether this patron has been cutting, shaving or tweezing. In any case this hair will have a curved follicle which requires special consideration to be inserted into properly. Introduce the needle probe on the underside of this hair at the same angle at which neighboring lanugo or emerging terminal hairs are growing. Push past the tissue obstruction and continue downward about half again as far. When the hair releases, check it for depth and continue using the depth as your guide. Always use a well-rounded point and a needle diameter that equals that of the widest part of the hair shaft.
When the hairs have grown beyond 1/4th inch long, a special method must be used to insert in the proper direction. Take your needle or tweezers and flip the hair to its opposite side as the dotted line shows in Figure 37. The true direction of the insertion is the bisection of the angle between the two positions. Move the hair to this middle position and insert on the underside of the hair. Little difficulty should be encountered.
Hairs that are entrapped and ingrown have to be dug out. It is very difficult to insert alongside these ingrown hairs especially if they are infected and inflamed. For the time being, it is better just to free the trapped end and cut the shaft short so that the epidermis can heal around it. When the epidermis has healed treatment may be administered. Tell your patron to do the same and never to tweeze these entrapped hairs. Tweezing an infected follicle allows the pore to heal closed, and only tends to worsen the problem.
Hair problems of the curved follicle type are very tedious and time consuming; however, with a little patience and practice excellent results are possible.
Unusual Hair Growths
In an attempt to cover as completely as possible all the various types of hair growths encountered by the electrologist we must include several anomalies which crop up from time to time.
Lanugo comedones.
A lanugo comedone is a bundle of tiny lanugo hair protruding from a follicle. At first glance it appears to be a short thick brownish hair, but upon investigation you will note that it can be tweezed from the pore without traction. If you were to observe it under a microscope you would find a bundle of many very fine lanugo hairs held together by sebum. Patrons having this problem usually have a very oily skin condition. Minor cases can be handled by the cosmetician; otherwise a dermatologist should be recommended.
The electrologist can treat these bundelhaar if not too many are present, but treating a large number of them will be a needless expense to the patron, since they do not need to be removed with the electrologist’s equipment. Lanugo comedones constitute more of a skin than a hair problem.
A telogen hair that is large in diameter often reaches the surface and fails to shed. The shaved or clipped stump is usually colorless even though the other coarse hairs in the area are dark. These are the hairs that patrons can feel with their fingers but which the electrologist is barely able to see. Because they are no deeper than a lanugo hair many operators believe them to be coarse lanugo hair, which they are not.
The reason for their lack of color is the fact that the club hair has lost contact with the source of pigment after separating from the papilla. Treat these as you would any other hair in telogen.
After a certain area has been given a few treatments the spiral or corkscrew hair will occasionally appear. It is not unusual to see the bulb of the hair just beneath the horny layers of the epidermis. This is a truly distorted follicle and is no doubt produced by remnants of an almost, but not quite, destroyed pilosebaceous unit that has been disoriented. These are best treated by piercing the epidermis and treating the bulb directly rather than attempting to follow the hair root. First, how- ever, try just tweezing them-they usually give up.
”TOMBSTONES”
The remnant of a small anagen hair which was left unepilated in a treated follicle is called a ”tombstone.” It is a monument to a departed follicle. At times, the electrologist will destroy a follicle from which a telogen hair protrudes without realizing that a new hair was forming underneath. The tombstone is the result of treating the newly-formed anagen hair. The telogen hair was lifted from the follicle but the anagen hair underneath the surface was left to become a ”foreign body” which
has worked its way to the surface of the skin.
Tombstones appear dull and rumpled but thicker and darker than normal hair. They are brittle and break off in the tweezers. There is no need to treat tombstones. Thorough skin cleansing or tweezing will remove them.
EMBEDDED HAIR
Hair that fails to emerge from the epidermis can be the result of several situations. It can result from an overtreatment of the surface which caused the skin to heal over the follicle opening or it can be the natural result of tight-fitting foundation garments or belts. It is quite common on the back of the thighs or buttocks of patrons who sit for long hours.
On some skins little bumps form which, when scratched away, reveal
a coiled up hair. No infection is present but some redness may be evident. po not waste time on embedded hairs on the body. Encourage the patron to take tub baths and to apply body oil, lotions or creams to the area. These soften the skin, allowing the entrapped hair to break out. An occasional embedded hair on the face can be removed by inserting through the epidermis at the end of the hair which appears to lead to the root, that is the end not pointed (see arrow Figure 43). The embedded hair discussed here is not to be confused with the infected, ingrown hair mentioned earlier in this chapter under ”Curved Follicle Growths.”
SECTION TWO: INTERPRETING SKIN CHARACTERISTICS
There are many ways to classify the human skin or epidermis depending upon the field of study, but for the electrologist the following chart provides a useful key to five characteristics of skin that affect her work.
Table Of Skin Characteristics
- Sensitive
Average
Insensitive
- Soft
Average
Firm
- Thin
Average
Thick
- Moist
Average
Unmoist
- Oily
Average
Not Oily
The patron’s skin reaction during treatment and in the following hours and days are determined by her own unique skin characteristics. There are not only differences between people but also differences on the same person from one area of the body to another. Furthermore, the same person and the same area may change from day to day, depending on general health and emotional disposition.
Sensitive – Insensitive
During treatment some patrons have the ability to relax almost to the point of self-hypnosis while others are highly sensitive to pain. This variation in people is referred to as the pain tolerance level or the ”threshold of pain” level. A person with a high threshold of pain is the ”ideal” patron because she can tolerate large amounts of electrical action before experiencing discomfort. As a rule, older patrons are less sensitive than young patrons. A person with an average threshold of pain will have varying degrees of sensitivity from one area to another. Some will have an insensitive facial area but a very low threshold of pain on the leg area. This sensitivity factor affects our technic speed, that is, the rate of removal and percentage of follicles properly treated. On a highly sensitive area the skin could stand more treatment than the nervous system will allow, whereas on an insensitive area the skin might be overtreated without any nerve response at all.
The most sensitive area of the face and head are the center line areas such as the center of the lip, under the nose and the center of the forehead, followed by side lip, eyebrows, side of the face, under chin, and least sensitive is the chin proper. Where much tweezing has been done the area is, in most cases, less sensitive. Of the body areas the most sensitive is that region surrounding the nipple, next in sensitivity come the centerline areas, such as the spine, chest and inside the thigh; less sensitive are the lower legs and arms. (The reason for sensitivity, e.g. location of nerves and depth of follicle, will be discussed in Chapter IV.)
Soft-Firm
The softness factor does not usually affect our technic speed or machine setting but it does affect our ease of inserting the needle electrode into the hair follicle. Soft and loose skin are both opposed to firm in this classification. The chin and forehead are examples of firm areas, the under-chin and front neck region being soft, loose areas.
Thin-Thick
The epidermal thickness is a factor that affects the electrologist in several ways. A thin epidermis appears red quickly because the epidermis is almost transparent, and the blood can be seen through it. People that blush readily have a thin epidermis. They redden quickly from treatment, though returning to normal quickly. With magnification the operator can actually see the tips of the papillae of the derma under thin skin (especially on the cheeks). In thin skin the direction of the follicle can
be traced, a slender line leading downward away from the follicle entrance. Electrical action around the needle is visible in the thin skin but not in the thick.
In most cases a thick skin on the treatment area requires a deeper than normal insertion of the needle. When treating the back of the neck, for example, the electrologist will note that a deeper insertion is required because of the very thick epidermis in that region. The epidermis on the throat is obviously much thinner than that of the chin region even though the root and diameter of the hair may be the same. One can easily feel a difference in epidermal thickness by pinching first the front of the knee, and then the back of the knee.
Moist – Unmoist
To the electrologist moisture content is the most important skin characteristic. Since the only electrical currents known to destroy hair permanently rely on skin moisture for their function, how well they perform is directly related to skin moisture in contact with the needle. A moist skin is one containing water or moisture. We have mentioned earlier that the epidermis is composed of stratified squamous epithelium.
The moisture of the skin is located within those cells which are least flattened, with moisture content decreasing in proportion to the flatness of the cell. The flattest cells occur at the surface, which means the moisture content increases with the depth. The moisture content of any particular skin area is determined by the number of moisture laden cells. Older people have drier skin because the majority of epidermal cells are flattened and waterless. The term “unmoist” refers to skin not moist with water the term does not designate a lack of oil, which is another characteristicentirely.
The best way to become familiar with the appearance of moist skin is to observe the skin of an infant or a young child under magnification. Their skins are moist, unaccompanied by oiliness. In adults the axilla or armpit is very moist with no oiliness present. So also is the skin covering the throat. At the other extreme are areas that are very dry, such as the lower legs, elbows and knees. All other areas of the body range in moisture content somewhere within these extremes.
Varying degrees of moisture are found on the facial area so that as the electrologist moves from one area to another, changes in technic speed and skin reaction will be noted. The corners of the mouth and the areas one inch below each corner are very moist while the front of the chin is less moist.
Differences in moisture content require special precautions and technics. Deep coarse hair in soft moist skin is the greatest challenge to the operator. Since the greater percentage of our work is of this type, various means of coping with the problem will be discussed in later chapters.
Oily-Not Oily
By ”oiliness” is meant that visible, shiny, oiliness which is due to active sebaceous (oil) glands. The oil characteristic has little relevance to the electrologist except for the fact that a layer of oil on the skin does prevent the escape of moisture, thereby allowing the moisture content to increase, which is important to us. Thus a naturally oily skin may be evidence of moisture. However, sometimes a patron will apply oil or cream to her skin to keep it from drying so that it appears shiny, but it is not naturally oily. The presence of artificially applied oil does not necessarily denote a moist skin, since a coat of oil must be maintained constantly for a period of days before moisture is restored to the skin.
Most naturally oily skins are moist unless alcohols, astringents and drying acne prescriptions are being used to combat the oily condition. When you observe an oily skin be aware that a moist skin may also be present.
There are some groups of people such as the Armenians and Syrians who have an oily type of skin characterized by what can best be described as a very low ”melting point.” Thermal currents act very severely on these types and caution should be used in their treatment. This will
be discussed more fully in Chapter IX.
Summary
The outward appearance of hair and skin are the only guides the electrologist has for treating follicles properly. Without being able to recognize the appearance of a hair in later anagen, for instance, you will never know the insertion depth needed to eliminate the follicles in a given area. Again, if you cannot distinguish an oily skin from a moist one, you will not know the correct machine settings. These hair and skin characteristics will vary from area to area and from time to time requiring that the electrologist continually make new interpretations. Through practice the ability to make these interpretations eventually becomes part of the ”sixth sense” which every good operator possesses.