Review (5/5): Cheap and effective permanent hair removal - with some annoyances
Overall - This device works fine and it's cheap. Like many other ladies I'm a big fan of any kind of permanent hair removal and have had professional laser and electrolysis treatment (both Blend and pure Thermolysis) many times, when comparing to that I can confirm this unit works both in theory and in practice. It hurts like crazy because it is Galvanic Electrolysis (the oldest and most classic type), which also makes a disturbing white foam ooze out of the follicle - that foam is actually Lye created by the electric current flowing through the natural liquid in your follicle and it's melting the hair and follicle lining on the way out, killing the hair permanently. It makes loud obnoxious 7-second long beeps repeatedly as you use it which may drive a spouse or roommate crazy. Each hair takes 2-3x as long to treat with this method compared to the way professionals do it, but it totally works. Just don't expect to remove 6-10 hairs a minute like a professional, expect 2-3 instead. It requires disturbingly wet and salty fingers holding the stylus which you have to frequently re-wet. It's not suitable for anyone sensitive to electricity (which is to say, people with pace makers and some other conditions can not use this device). But if you can deal with those quirks it is a very effective unit, and exactly what I expected as I was already familiar with the technology.
The gritty details - This device is a Galvanic Electrolysis unit, designed for use on self. Galvanic Electrolysis works on the principle of using electric current to convert the liquid at the base of your hair follicles into Lye which is quite caustic and melts flesh in the area - in particular the goal is to kill the stem cells lining the follicle, so that the hair can never grow back. These days you will rarely meet professional electrologists using Galvanic Electrolysis because it is both more painful and slower compared the now-ubiquitous Blend technology (Galvanic current and heat being delivered with the same stylus tip) or even plain Thermolysis (just heat). The fact is that Electrolysis hurts like crazy and is a bit slow, but it kills the hair quite reliably, and some professionals still swear by it as being the superior technology - I don't have an opinion on that personally.
The technique for inserting the very thin tip next to your hair until it touches water is very well explained in the manual, and doesn't require as much dexterity as I thought - yes you have to be able to place the tip with millimeter precision and in the right direction so that it slides easily into the hair follicle, when you do this right (and have your fingers wet and salty enough while holding the stylus), you hear an annoying 7-second long beep. You then hold it in there for another 7 second beep (and you can hold it longer than the recommended 15 seconds but you may raise welts and cause other temporary issues with the skin in the area).
The manual does a poor job of explaining the mere fact that this thing makes a beep when used successfully, and that you can easily test the unit by touching the tip to the touch plate on the base unit, which makes the expected beep - that was how I learned that yes my unit is fine and that I just had not put enough salt in the water I was wetting my fingers with (and they have to be quite wet but not quite dripping).
Some of my hairs released after 2 beeps with a gentle tug of my tweezers, as explained in the manual (although they just describe it as 15 seconds and not "wait for 2 beeps" which would have made more sense to me), but many took 3-4 beeps even at the higher settings (which can be excruciatingly painful). Some ares are more sensitive than others, and if you find one is hurting a lot more than the others you should try turning down the settings and attack the other hairs in the area, failing to turn it down will result in welts around each treated hair but they fade after 30 minutes for me.
After the first beep I usually see a foaming white liquid begin to come out of the follicle, and the pain intensifies, each beep hurts more. Ultimately this is all as expected.
To use this effectively on yourself you absolutely have to get a pair of jeweler's goggles or similar portable magnifier and light-source that will be practical to move around frequently. Rather than getting a magnifying mirror to treat your face hairs I think it's more practical to have a friend treat those areas. Also buy a pair of nice tweezers because the ones included are bordering on useless.