Parkside seems like your typical beauty salon (waxing, facials, massage, manicures/pedicures, tanning). However, its icing is that it has 3 registered electrologists (British Institute and Association of Electrologists). Between them they offer both epilation and remedial electrolysis.
It's a 'cosy' little salon but they are always busy. For the quality of treatment you get, the prices are reasonable.
It takes me 10mins to get there from Islington tube - I hop on a bus for 2 stops then walk down the road. The first time I went there I thought I had ended up in the wrong place; you don't expect to find a salon opposite a park nestled amongst flats but there it was.
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Since I've had no other treatments there yet, this review is about Electrolysis only.
I won't bore you with the whole back story but anyone who has done their research knows that electrolysis is a much better (and often the only) method of permanent hair removal for facial hair.
For anyone who's going to get offended by that, I have had Laser on my underarms, legs and bikini too, so they both have their uses and advantages. Ok, so once I had discovered that electrolysis is the way forward to rid me of my hairy face, I found out that the skill of the electrologist is paramount in both actually damaging the follicle and so your skin isn't messed up.
The obvious place to start was the BIAE directory. Sadly there aren't many registered electrologists in the directory but I wasn't up for the other option of trying out every night street salon that offers electrolysis on the off-chance they might have a decent electro.
[You don't want to do this. Bad electrolysis can leave you permanently scarred.]
As I was browsing, a number of electrologists had 'Parkside Beauty Centre' in their contact info. Surely a beauty centre that has 3 registered electrologists must be serious about doing the job properly?
I booked a free consultation. This consisted of an explanation of how electrolysis works and what I can expect, as well as what areas I wanted treated and how we would go about achieving this. A few minutes of electrolysis is also included.
It all went well and apart from some temporary redness there were no side effects. I decided this was definitely the way forward and purchased a 6 hour package (this works out at £13.50/15mins as opposed to £18/15mins).
The electrologists use Blend or Diathermy (Thermolysis).
I've been having treatment for 1.5 years now, with a total time of 15 hours to date. Last year it was about 15min appointments every 2 -3 weeks, this year it's 30mins every 3 weeks).
Okay, it seems ages but if you know about electrolysis, you will know it's a slow process and depends on how much time and money you have for it. I don't have a lot of either. I've sort of fit mine into my life, not expecting huge changes overnight but a gradual reduction. I'm extremely happy with the results so far (much less hairy face). Some parts are done, like my eyebrows. I also have other random bits done, for example, the underarm hairs left after Laser had done its job.
My electrologist at Parkside has been fantastic. She works with me to achieve my goal for the session, is very friendly and tries her absolute best to make what is quite an uncomfortable experience as comfortable as possible. She also does whatever she can to minimise skin reaction if one experiences it. In addition to this, she's used remedial electrolysis to remove some millia on my eyelid (I had no idea what they were until she told me!), which I was very grateful for as they were bloody annoying!
So ladies (and gents), if you want permanent hair removal and Laser can't do the job (upper lip, for example). Book a consultation with one of the lovely ladies at Parkside.
If anyone wants additional info about electrolysis or Parkside, just drop me a message. read more
