Hi Everyone,
I am new to the forum and I want to learn electrolysis. I am planning of taking a few sessions on my face and underarms but it is just hard to find the right people. I am in Seattle and would be willing to work as a subject for someone who needs to practice electrolysis. I live in Seattle , please let me know if we can work out an arrangement. I also want to learn the process so that I can do it on my own. Can someone help me learn too?
The best route to learn is to attend electrology school. Untrained people experimenting on each other and then calling themselves electrologists is why most states are regulated. The situation you are trying to set up is not only unethical, but dangerous to participants and consumers. Would you go to a “dentist” that pulled teeth in a garage with a pair of pliers? I don’t think so.
I agree with my colleague “Hairaradicator” 100%. Are the schools perfect? Do they “make money on you?” Well, yes they do. However, nearly all are doing a great job and having an instructor watch your work is monumentally valuable.
I actually did electrolysis for about 3 years before attending school (thermolysis). (Oh, and I have the scars to prove it!) Indeed, I had my insertions down very well, but in school I also learned from the pros and became much better. Those who continually denigrate schools never attended … so, how do they know? It’s important to be introduced to all the modalities and use them all. Schools are the only places where some semblance of “standards” is possible. National educational standards would be best. Some day (the AEA already has these but they have yet to be implemented.)
I got it. Do you know some good schools in Washington which teach electrolysis? What is the overall cost of the school?
I know of many (in fact, can’t think of any who don’t) think that the schools they attended could have done better, and I went to more than one and well, my thoughts are on record here in more than one place. I even had the head of an electrolysis organization lament to me that at the conclusion of a long school program, this person felt lost, and unprepared to work on anyone for over a year after school, during which time, this person and the other students from the school either banded together to work with and on each other to “figure it out”, or just quit and gave up on the dream. Furthermore, so many schools have their pet modality, and give short shrift to the others.
Anyway, I am not saying school are horrible, but I am saying that learning has more to do with the student, and a lot less to do with the schools, or lack of schools. Some of the greatest names in many fields never attended schools, but helped write the tests that people at school take to show they know the subject. In other cases, you can have a situation like the AMA, with Dr. Morris Fishbein being a doctor in name only, having been given a degree, but never having worked on patients running the show and telling people with practical experience what they can and cannot do in treating patients.
Going from a few personal observations to a general conclusion is a classic (sophomoric) error in logic. Because you experienced a few “sub-standard” schools and a few students that thought their education was “worthless” can’t therefore produce the valid conclusion that “all schools are of no value.” Similarly, my own experience with a “stellar school” can’t legitimately provide me with enough data to conclude, “all schools are terrific.” Again, a simple error in logic. We need to get off the “I seen it and I believe it” school of thought. It’s just about worthless.
I could rail on about the school’s imperfections, but “no schools at all?” I don’t think anyone would support this notion. (Yes, I know you didn’t actually say this!) I think the most cogent argument would be how best to improve schools and training in general. Frankly, the AEA has been “spot on” for years. At the moment they have lost their direction, but that also is no reason to minimize their efforts.
I should talk … I’m not even a member of the AEA and I don’t have a CPE. But those that are and have the certificate are the backbone of the profession and they get my “cudos!” Only a non-aligned association can promulgate national standards and promote universal educational standards.
I was a schoolteacher before becoming an electrologist. After graduating the university, I had to take a full year of “teacher training,” again at the university. The program was mostly boring and, like you say, good teachers already have it within themselves. However, I learned the nomenclature and all the basic tools of teaching. I could walk into any school in the country and discuss these professional principles with any teacher. We do NOT have this universal understanding in electrology. And that’s the point. And, that’s what schools could provide.
Hairtell has been an education for me … not in what is SAID, but in what is NOT said. At the moment I am corresponding with five Hairtell women with upper lip “damage.” Were they in a medical office, the lesion would be identified and remedied quickly with universally accepted treatments. Instead, the Hairetll experts offer all kinds of ideas, dance around issues and offer nostrums that they have found useful. Good advice, but not enough and not appropriate. Why are five women corresponding with me and not getting advice from their own practitioners? It’s because the practitioners don’t know!
Only good universal education can end this folly of errors and misinformation. A few people have realized the power of the internet (actually Ron Davis at his school in Los Angeles is on the right track). The internet is the tool that will change everything and I suppose my final years in this “cottage industry” will be focused on that endeavor. AEA needs to get with the program and have more than a hodge podge website (actually getting better every day). But they need someone with vision to lead the profession in a clear direction.
I’m in regular communication with Terri … my spiritual guide and more. She sent this to me so I could post it here on Hairtell … after reading the last posts:
Terri Perticca (past AEA president):
"I couldn’t have said it better myself, Mike. Everything you said is “right on target.” We dug our way out of the trenches in the 70’s when there were no standards, little licensure and a serious lack of education. Devices were sold with a one-hour demonstration and the “electrologist” was anointed.
Lack of education led to the bad reputation of electrolysis for years. You had electrologists who did not know how to make a proper insertion, use the proper settings, never upgraded their equipment and continued using tube-type devices years after they were extinct. I know some electrologists who never tested their device and had no clue on how long it took to clear an area.
In NY State, the AEA tried for 20 years to achieve regulation of the profession but failed in spite of the evidence that it was truly needed. In the 90’s, a Senator’s wife had a manicure, which resulted in a fungus infection, and within one legislative session, the manicurists were licensed. Typical of our legislative process.
Thanks so much for sharing and caring for the profession. Your passion and love for it always shines through."
Terri Petricca
I do not know many schools, so I will not give my opinion about it. But I will say that the quality of education of any school is measured by the number of students scoring moderately prepared to do a good job. And this goes to Spain, USA, or Timbuktu. If there is a complaint that is repeated a thousand times here in Hairtell is not easy to find good professionals anywhere in the world. USA is not exception. So in my opinion, schools in general should rethink what they are doing wrong.
This is a video I found last week. It seems to be a practical class of Electrolysis in an official school from Barcelona? that explains why a user of Hairtell has so many problems finding a good professional in the second largest city in Spain.