Wow, very odd feeling to see an email I sent being put onto the internet! That was me answering on behalf of the BIAE when I was a board member. There’s quite a bit I’d like to say about education in the UK but I’m actually working on launching an initiative about this so I’ll have a whole website full of statistics, info and other stuff on electrolysis training in the UK very soon.
However I’d like to pick up on this comment “So, you can become an electrologist in one month’s time, with seven days of actual classroom time?”
I had an interesting email from an american living here for a year or so who wanted to learn electrolysis, yet couldn’t find a course with the required amount of hours for her state once she moved back. I think it was 300 hours, might have been more.
So here’s the thing; in the UK electrolysis courses cover just that, electrolysis. Not A&P, not months and months of practise, but just electrolysis. By which I mean theory, how to perform it, a little A&P to fill in what wasn’t covered before and a little practise to ensure the student can safely find the correct settings, not overtreat the skin and of course treat the hair properly.
Courses can vary, so some include the A&P with the electrolysis, others include several weeks of treating the public, but the majority (not all but the majority) don’t include the months of hands on practise to become work ready, as the student is expected to do this under the eye of their employer once qualified. That’s a drawback for someone who wants to work for themselves, but no-one can start a business from scratch with a full client list so it’s a moot point (sucks for the first few clients, I always advise working on friends and family for a few months in this situation. This is something I’ve identified as a problem but as I mentioned I’m working on gathering more data on this right now).
But even courses that included A&P, learning electrolysis and lots of practise didn’t make up the requirements for her state board, because it’s just not how electrolysis is taught here. Students are expected to learn a large part of the theory and A&P in their own time, and make their own arrangements to bring themselves up to speed (finding their own models, work in their own time etc). And as mentioned before A&P is a separate qualification here, although some courses include it. And it’s a HUUUUUGE amount of information to learn for the written assessment, certainly exceeding the state requirements for this lady. Yet because it’s not all taught in a class it can’t be measured as class hours.
So while theoretically someone could take what looks like a short course and start up their business, in reality there is a hell of a lot of work to do after passing to bring oneself up to working speed, which is accepted as normal.
I feel classroom time is a misleading measurement of a UK electrolysis course as it doesn’t include the prerequisites and postgrad practical work. It clearly means something else in the US ie to be work ready. It would be pretty unfair to dismiss the Sterex course because a) it’s taught by someone who is respected and very passionate about electrolysis and b) no-one passes if they can’t safely treat clients and complete a written assessment for the theory side.
I teach electrolysis privately and the time taken to pass varies from 1 month to almost 2 years! And when I say pass I mean able to perform a treatment safely no matter how difficult the hair. Everyone is different, everyone learns in a different way. A 300 hour course would be heaven for some, and way too slow for others. But having short courses like we do in the UK is not better or worse, it’s just different. You get good and bad electrologists either way, for a variety of reasons. There are a lot of variables at play (class size, motivation of students, ability of tutor). And besides, no one is perfect. I’m quite sure there are people out there who weren’t happy with my treatment, and in turn I get ex-clients from electrologists who I know are great, yet the client will say they were awful!
So to cut a long, rambling post short, the Sterex course is damn good, hope you enjoy it cheshirecat.
(waves to Christine: Pamie here, didn’t mean to start posting now but got such a shock seeing my email here!)