I know this cost can range depending on the area in which you live, but I am curious as to a general idea of the cost of electrolysis. I want to know what to expect when looking for an electrolygist so I don’t get scammed or wind up finding a “deal” that is too good to be true. I appreciate the input.
P.S. Thanks for this site Andrea!
I know electrologists still charging as little as $30 an hour, and some charging over $100 per hour. I personally charge $60/hour. Calling around and comparing is your best option. Granted, some don’t want to tell their prices over the phone, which has always baffled me, and would make me wary of what they have to hide. Someone working out of their basement isn’t as likely to charge as much as someone in a high rent business/medical district, so take location into account before deciding if someone is scamming or over charging.
As a side point, cost per hour does not equal cost to completion. You may be paying $30/hr for 100 hr over 3 yrs, while you could be paying $60.hr for 25 hrs over 1 yr to complete the area. You may actually save on time and money by paying higher per hour! This, of course, is not always the case. That’s why the standard suggestion is to shop around as much as possible before settling down on a particular electrologist.
Good luck!
The reason why most electrologists don’t discuss price over the phone is because answering the question “How much do you charge?” doesn’t answer the real question behind the question. The real question they want answered is “How much will this cost ME.” The only way that question may be answered is at the consultation, because without seeing and treating a few hairs, one can’t know what one is talking about removing.
In this way, the Hourly Rates of a list of electrologists is virtually useless information to a consumer, because it doesn’t answer the real question, “Which one of these electrology practices would give me the results I want, in the least amount of time and at the best over all price.”
So just as it doesn’t help you to get a $10 per hour rate if the person can only remove 5 hairs per hour, one gets a better bargain paying $300 per hour to someone who can clear your entire area in one sitting and keep you looking bare while you work to completion of the problem in private, with no issue of skin damage.
I have been a prospective client looking for electrology. I know how annoying it is that they won’t answer what seem to you to be simple questions. However, as a professional in the field, I now understand that one really needs to have a long conversation with someone to really acquaint them with the proceedure and answer all the questions they really need answered, and giving those seemingly simple answers to seemingly simple questions often short changes the prospective client.
Sort of in line with this thread, how much of an area can you expect a good electrologist to clear in an hour ? I know its dependant on the density of the hair in that area, but I guess Im trying to figure out the feasability of having electrolysis done.
After all the posts Ive been reading it seems like laser is sorta hit and miss. For some people it works and the hair doesnt return, for others some of the hair doesnt return, and for still others most of it grows back but it just takes a long time. Electrolysis seems to have a much better shot at permanent hair removal(except for a few odd cases that just keep growing back), but it doesnt seem like its fast enough to clear bigger areas.
Maybe Im wrong, but I was looking at the pictures - I think James, you linked them, of the woman’s face. The first picture looked like there was about a 2-3 inch square area that was cleared after 11 months, and most of the face above the chin was clear after 18 months. Thats a very small area when compared to the chest arms and back. The entire surface area of the face would fit on the upper chest. Im willing to put some time in to have permanent clearance but if it took 2 years just to remove the beard area from someones face Id be afraid the chest shoulders and back would take 6+ years. Am I incorrect ? Are other areas faster to treat then the face ?
Curiosity, can you include the url of the post with the picture?
I am one of those women with facial hair problems and would like to look into the option of electrolysis eventually.
Thanks, polki.
Once again, what you ask seems like a simple question to answer, but is not as simple as it may seem.
The reason we discuss electrolysis times in hairs per square centimeter, or square inch and hairs per hour is each person has a unique hair pattern. While one person has 15 hairs per square centimeter, the next may have 100 hairs per centimeter. While one combination of equipment and techniques may yield 4 possible hairs per square inch of treatment in an appointment, others may allow 100 hairs treated per square inch per treatment. While one person may have nice neat rows of hairs that all face the same direction and may all be inserted with a simple pivot motion, others have hairs growing literally east and west, and or ingrown hairs that need to be lifted out prior to treatment.
Although a good rule of thumb is that one should be able to get about the size of the palm of your hand cleared in thermolysis, this rule is practically useless in practice because it doesn’t consider the number of hairs in the treatment area on the person being treated, the skill of the electrologist, the equipment being utilized, the sensitivity of the skin to treatment, or the particular work rate that is possible for each client to receive treatment from the particular electrologist who is working on that person. All these things are variable.
The amount of hair I could remove from one person would vary depending on what equipment I was using. Two people who had the same number of hairs per square inch would have different clearance rates based on the way their individual hairs grow (thickness, direction, follicle distortions, etc.). The same person would receive different rates of clearance from two different electrologists working the same area with the same equipment.
Simply put, there are too many variables to give you some iron clad pronouncement on what should be expected. This is why we have consultations and sample treatments. We need to understand what your particular hair problem is, and how the particular electrologist you are working with can help you, and what YOU PERSONALLY can expect. Over the phone, we can’t judge any of that.
As far as Tina Marie’s results are concerned. You can’t really understand what you see on that site without first looking at the first page in that series of pages, that includes the stats. ( http://www.geocities.com/tinamarie022/Hair.html )
From that you will see that on the first appointment we cleared out nearly 2,000 hairs in 3 hours. (For some people, this would have represented more hair than they have on their entire face!) From this point on, the cheeks were kept cleared via electrolysis, and therefore appeared to be finished to anyone who was paying attention. At every treatment, we started with the cheeks, and worked our way out to other areas and so the area that looked finished grew, while adjacent areas simply looked thinned out until we managed to get to the point of clearing the entire face every time.
For some time, it was the priority to clear and maintain “The Mask Area” of the face at the expense of the areas in shadow under the chin and the neck area. Later, the face was for most purposes finished, and we turned our attention to the areas below the jawline in earnest.
So what you see here is how the place we started on, stayed clear as we progressed to thinning out the rest, and how the hair actually did stop growing in the areas that had received priority attention, in direct proportion to the attention given them, and that the area is now cleared out.
Tina promises to post new pictures soon to show how a year after we stopped focusing on the face area, there still is no hair growing, and that we now are only doing pick ups on the neck these days. Her current average appointment is 30 minutes or less of me nit-picking hairs that she for the most part doesn’t even notice, and she comes in once a month. We have even had appointments that lasted less than 15 minutes to clear the whole face. This from someone who started out with an average of between 400 and 500 hairs per square inch over the face and neck! Although our consultation test patch showed 385 hairs per square inch, we found that the areas near the jawline and under the lip and into the neck had closer to 500 hairs per square inch. <img border=“0” title="" alt="[Eek!]" src=“images/icons/shocked.gif” />
(by the way, here are her latest pictures
http://www.geocities.com/tm1298/Bonus_Photos.html?1128876631830
http://www.geocities.com/tm1298/Bonus_Photos.html))
Can you see from this how one person can expect to be cleared out in the first appointment, and then have appointments 3 weeks apart, followed by 6 weeks apart, followed by 12 weeks apart, and then one last appointment 6 months later, while others have to go on a program that requires more treatment time, more frequently to cover the particular treatment areas they are specifically treating? <img border=“0” title="" alt="<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />" src=“images/icons/confused.gif” />
<small>[ February 28, 2004, 01:52 PM: Message edited by: James W. Walker VII, CPE ]</small>
It came to my attention that the pictures that Tina Marie had posted did not show the extent of the hair we started out with, due to the editing feature she used to obscure her identity. Now that she is finished, and full time, and no longer hiding any part of her story, I have secured permission to show you the unblurred version of the before picture previously used. I hope this helps those who thought we were working on a simple 100 hair per square inch job for all that time. http://www.executiveclearance.com/beforeandafter.html
That’s fantastic speed, James. A clear illustration of the effectiveness gap between novice, competent, and expert. Just like you can’t imagine running a four minute mile, I can’t imagine epilating at an average rate of six seconds a hair.
Thank you for the complement.
Fino and I have long said that if the average client found an electrologist of a certain level of competence and speed, no other form of hair removal would be considered by most people, because there would be no value in any of the alternative methods currently available when one considers the fact that Electrolysis is permanent each and every time, when done correctly, and visible results are quickly achieved.
Now all we have to do is create the situation where the average prospective client actually has someone of that level available to him/her.
[ March 01, 2004, 01:34 PM: Message edited by: James W. Walker VII, CPE ]
Hi,
James, i hope i can move where you office is located, looks like you are the best 
I am having electrolysis in my face but the results are very slow, i hope she can be as fast as you are.
James, I believe you are right. Electrolysis, if done optimally, is a great solution.
It’s really a pity there isn’t a certification for the electrologist’s competence. Even if the patient finds an electrologist who works rapidly, they won’t know if the work was done competently until months pass. Sadly, the patient has little to go on.
Perhaps you and Fino could develop your own certification of competence you award upon review of an electrologist’s work.
James I wish you lived close to Alabama. There just isnt good qualified persons doing the electrologist thing. I have been in Home Healthcare for many years I would love to learn how to do the hair thing, I have had Hirsutism for a long time. Finally my doc is trying to help my problems that arise with Hirsutism.but then there is the hair thing it demeans everything you do to look presentable, there are so many things that factor in, when you have hair removed. It would most certainly help ones self esteem . Again you sound like a good caring and qualified individual, it is difficult to get both of those qualities in an electrologist, if you dont know them! [ 
]
</font><blockquote><font size=“1” face=“Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif”>quote:</font><hr /><font size=“2” face=“Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif”>Perhaps you and Fino could develop your own certification of competence you award upon review of an electrologist’s work. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size=“2” face=“Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif”>There are people who are mad enough that we talk about the informal “Electrolysis SuperFriends” memberships here on HairTell. Can you imagine how many enemies we would make attempting to create a certification? The best certification we can have is the factual recommendations of those who have had work done and are happy with the results. That is why the underutilized referral section of this site is so important. When you all find someone who is good, help your brothers and sisters out here, post in the referral section and grant your great electrologist application to the “Electrology SuperFriends”
In all seriousness, the problem with certifying electrologists for practical hands on stuff is the fact that Electrolysis covers so many different disciplines. There are so many different variations on good Galvanic, Treatment, good Blend Treatment, and good Thermolysis. It would be like trying to create a test where there are five or more correct answers to most questions.
It is not impossible, but the arguments that would ensue enroute to creating “The Canon of Electrology Techniques” would be of biblical proportions. At least it would seem that way while people are arguing for and against one technique or another. When the thing was finalized, you would still have people shooting it down because they did not manage to pass muster. I even know of a certain well known practitioner who shot down the CPE test for years because she couldn’t pass it. She even had the nerve to say that the people who grade the test were failing her on purpose for political reasons. News Flash, the corporation that handles the SAT, DANTES and DSST Tests also administers and grades the CPE Exam. They don’t even know who you are “Miss. Thing” Now that she has passed the test; she has no problem with it. Curious, don’t you think?
Would I be a stinker if I pointed out here that I passed the CPE on the first try? 
PS, PattyCake, I would have contacted you via Private Message, but you have disabled that feature. No one can talk to you without the world overhearing the conversation.
[ March 02, 2004, 07:07 AM: Message edited by: James W. Walker VII, CPE ]
Hey everyone.
Look i’m dyeing to do something bout my hair. at first i was thinking of laser but the more i read the more i think electrolysis sounds better. However this seems only true with a proffesional electrolygist. Does anyone know someone i can trust in Sydney that they know for certain is good, and proffesional?
Thanx guys
I wish I lived in Buffalo to go to you lol… I shoulda gone when I was in Albany and drove there lol even though that would still been far but now I’m on Long Island… you know anyone good there? I’m going to someone but I duno if they are good or not lol… hopefully they are… I went to Fino 2 years ago… only twice cuz I was younger and didnt work and have money really then I went away to school… and I called the other day to start treatment again but they said he wasnt there or somethin and its prob hard to get an appointment? Do you 2 really go much faster than everyone? Maybe I should just switch to Fino again instead of this person I’m going to even tho maybe they are good too and cheaper lol since hes close and is great… ahh I duno… lol Thankss! =) Good thing there are people like you lol too bad not all over … =(
You might want to try Fino’s 2 sons who work with him. They’re also a little cheaper. It’s best to compare work to know who does a better job. You might find someone else in your area who can do even better, but who didn’t get the publicity. It’s a big forest out there, so to spare yourself the aggravation of seeing all the wicked incompetence you’ll find in some nail salons around your area, just see Fino’s sons first. I think it’s reasonable to assume that they’re good enough to finish your job. You surely let us know! 
[ April 02, 2004, 02:47 PM: Message edited by: yb ]
</font><blockquote><font size=“1” face=“Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif”>quote:</font><hr /><font size=“2” face=“Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif”> Does anyone know someone i can trust in Sydney that they know for certain is good, and proffesional? </font><hr /></blockquote><font size=“2” face=“Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif”>We have several posters from that area of the world. I would hope that some of them could help out with info on who is good in that area.
Has no one from down under put any referrals in our directory?
If you go to the site ElectrolysisInformation.com and read it very carefully you cannot get ripped off. I just got back from a 3 month vacation after 46 years of full time practice.
Plus my daughter maybe entering the parctice!!
Thats great… hopefully I’ll be seeing you soon… I know it would be the best choice… Ill be calling soon lol… Ahh cant wait to be hair free… =)
~Tray