THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 4, 1996 TAG: 9608020166
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LINDA McNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 90 lines
CHERYL SAVEDGE was in high school when her beard started coming in.
In college at Longwood, no matter what Savedge did to hide it, the problem got worse. ``It really affected my self-esteem,'' she said.
It got to the point that Savedge had to do something about it. She did the only thing she knew would bring permanent results; she saw an electrologist.
And the experience helped to transfer her into her second career. Savedge recently opened Bennett's Creek Electrolysis.
``It's not just a vanity thing,'' Savedge said. ``Excess hair can come from heredity, from a hormonal imbalance. It can come from certain kinds of medications, and it can come from stress.''
Savedge eventually found out that her problem was both hereditary and hormonal.
After growing up on the West Coast and moving East as a ``Navy brat,'' Savedge graduated from Longwood in 1978, with a degree in chemistry. She met her husband when she was working as a chemist for Virginia Power. When they were ready to have children, it wasn't as easy as they thought it would be.
She went for fertility treatments about four years before her first son was born, she said. ``That's when I found out about the hormones. In passing, a doctor said, `And you know that's why you have so much body hair.''
The problem was eventually corrected. Savedge today has two sons: Christopher, 6, and Justin, 4. And, because she sought help for her other problem, she has a lot less unwanted hair.
The process of removing hair and destroying the hair root with electrical current started more than 100 years ago, when an ophthalmologist was searching for a way to remove ingrown eyelashes, a condition that then could lead to blindness. The same basic technique is being used today, Savedge said, although it has been improved and modernized.
Savedge decided she wanted to study to be an electrologist about the same time she decided she wanted to go back to work after her sons were born. She searched first for a job in the career she'd been trained in but discovered there was little flexibility in the industrial world.
She wanted to work, but she still wanted to have time for her sons.
``Corporate America can tell you what they want you to do,'' she said. ``This is my way of breaking away. I felt like this could be a lucrative career I could juggle with my children.''
Savedge, 39, trained for three months in Richmond earlier this year. Her education has since continued almost daily, she said. And she has joined the American Electrologists Association, a teaching organization that keeps members up on innovations.
Savedge, who lives in nearby Crittenden, opened her small shop on Bennett's Pasture Road the second week of June. She chose her own shop because it would be more private, especially for customers reluctant to talk about their problems, she said.
A number of methods are used to remove excess hair, she said, like shaving, tweezing, waxing and chemicals. But electrolysis is the only permanent method.
There are two popular methods of electrolysis: one using the heat from the current generated through a needle; the other using the electrical current to change the chemistry of the body moisture surrounding the hair follicle. Savedge uses a combination of them.
``What I do is heat destruction combined with chemical destruction,'' she said. ``It's more permanent, and it tends to take the bite out of the heat, so it's less painful.''
It takes longer: about six seconds per hair versus 1 1/2 seconds per hair.
Local anesthetics are available, ``but most people don't need that,'' she said.
Depending on the problem, Savedge's treatment can last from a few sessions to several years. She saw an electrologist for eight years before she started her own training.
``There are a couple of women I'm treating now who are absolutely beautiful, but they have to shave,'' she said. ``I haven't done any bikini lines yet, but I do those. And a lot of people are coming in for eyebrows.''
Electrolysis isn't just for women. Black men, especially, have a terrible time with ingrown hairs. Electrolysis can take care of that. Other men like to have hair removed when it grows low on their necks and onto their backs.
``I'm treating one man right now who said he's just never felt comfortable in tank tops. He says the hair on his back is hot in the summer. He's doing this for himself.''
Bennett's Creek Electrolysis, at 5501-A Bennett's Pasture Road, is open by appointment on Monday, Tuesday and on Wednesday evenings. The telephone number is 483-5428. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Cheryl Savedge, a member of the American Electrologists Association,
recently opened Bennett's Creek Electrolysis.
There are two popular methods of electrolysis: one using heat from
the current generated through a needle; the other using the
electrical current to change the chemistry of the body moisture
surrounding the hair follicle. Savedge uses both methods. by CNB