100% correct … YES!!! I have a client (good friend) with a chin job that would be maximum 2 - 3 hours TTT. However, she is going to stretch this out for the next several YEARS! She manages to come in, say, ever 2 - 3 months (and tweezing in the meantime). REALLY frustrating; especially when such clients say, “Why isn’t electrolysis working?”
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
I think it goes without saying that the the skill of an electrologist includes teaching (and reinforcing) the new client about concepts of not doing anything that pulls out the hair once one starts electrolysis and showing up on an advised schedule for the series of clearances that are needed to reach the end IS VERY IMPORTANT. I think educating the client goes hand in hand with knowing how to insert a probe accurately into a follicle for the correct amount of time with the correct amount of thermal (or chemical energy).
I have seen the work you have done guys on the upper lip with pictures and videos. It was done very well and with precision. It was a very different experience from the one I had. I guess just like surgery, you don’t do electrolysis just because there is only one electrologist in your country. I am undecided on what to do next. I will leave this subject behind.
No, actually you said that really politely. I actually really appreciate your response a lot. And you’re right, I did glaze over evidence that Mike presented. And it’s very encouraging to know that electrolysis can work even on stubborn tweezed hairs. And yes, you’re right, I absolutely need more information. Which is what I’m currently seeking. I do trust the process. It’s just…I want an experienced technician that knows what they’re doing and I’m just in the process of figuring out how to go about finding that.
I do understand not wanting to take on a client that has zero trust because then you’re in the position of easily getting accused of doing things wrong even if everything is going right. So I do understand that.
Omgsh thank you so much. This kind of concrete advice is so appreciated. Thank you <3
Thank you so much for making these sorts of videos…it’s really so helpful for clients like myself who really want to understand the process. And thank you for explaining that despite there technically being scar tissue it’s not really visible.
Mike you do a great job of archiving some of hinkels materials on your youtube channel. That said, have you considered making copies in their entirety of all the materials you have? It would take you 3 lifetimes to transpose it all to video format and last I checked we only get one life to live. It’d be a genuine loss to the profession for those materials to be lost.
Hi @Nat I’m not an electrologist (yet)… but a student who literally started yesterday (so new I don’t even have my course books) I am however a licensed esthetician (8 years).
More research and more due diligence will likely give you the confidence you need in your quest. If you seek out several highly respected providers mentioned in forums such as Hairtell (there are many out there) who have impeccable reviews that would be a great starting point. I would also suggest checking out their licenses if your state has licensing to see if they are in good standing or have had any sanctions against them. Public records is your friend.
I would also Google potential providers name in quotation marks and the type the word electrology or electrolysis after it to see what comes up, you never know what might come up on other sites and social media (good or bad). You could always make an anonymous profile on Reddit and ask in your cities subreddit if there is someone who can recommend a few providers in your area. There are other subreddits (groups) where there is a lot of electrology talk as well.
With that said, what I wanted to suggest is that if you do decide to keep tweezing in the short-term or long-term, one thing I would recommend that will help you from not having to tweeze quite as often is to let the hairs grow in for a good while (as long as you can stand) and tweeze them all at one time and then wait as long as you can stand for the next round. As the new growth comes in I would cut the longest ones down with cuticle scissors while the others grow in until you again have as many grown in as you can stand once again and then tweeze them all again in one go. If you can possibly stretch to three or four weeks in between sessions even better (wearing a mask such as we do for COVID should help with this process if being in public is stressful) even a whole weeks worth or two and clearing it all at once is better than just a few per day.
Another temporary and less time consuming alternative to is to get waxed and if you can trim hairs down a smidge as they grow in and then let them all grow to a sufficient length for waxing and clear a large quantity all at once (similar to tweezing) your regrowth won’t likely be nearly as overwhelming. This is also much faster but I know you said your hairs are really tough so if you were to do this I would highly suggest going to a really experienced waxer who uses hard wax and is familiar with really tough, course hairs. With waxing you also would not want to tweeze in between as it would defeat the whole purpose. Hope this all makes sense to you and I hope at some point you will be able to find an electrologist near you who will fit the bill and be a great partner with you on your journey.
If you aren’t happy you can always switch to another modality/method of hair removal. There is not a single method of hair removal (temporary or permanent) that doesn’t have its drawbacks. Finding the one that is the best for you may be trial and error. There are good depilatories as well but I realize the shadow is likely going to be an issue for you but some people do use full coverage make-up that does work wonders if that is a suitable option for you.
And if my reply isn’t long enough already… maybe, if you feel comfortable you could give the experienced pros here a rough idea of your location (state / province etc) and they may be able to give you some provider suggestions privately if that is allowed here. Good luck with your search and I hope you learn a lot through this process because you will likely be a much wiser and informed consumer when all is said and done. Keep us posted!
I thought to myself the same thing and thought “I would LOVE to have copies of everything and would gladly pay for the process and the end product”. What a wealth of information!
I sort of imagined in my ADHD brain a dream scenario of all of the top regulars here meeting at Mikes to have a scanning party… I know that’s not realistic and obnoxious but in my heads sounds like it would be loads of fun and what an honor it would be to lay eyes on all of it. I would be more than happy to travel and help if it was needed multiple times even. It takes a village…
alot of it as I understand it is audio recordings. Mike has added a few of them to his youtube channel. A scanner wouldnt help much!
I was thinking their might be photographs, documents, notes, drawings and such… but yeah I have no clue what treasures Mike holds except for what is on his website and YouTube etc
Picture it: the entire life’s work of Hinkel, simply thrown-out in the trash. That’s essentially what happened when the company decided to “tummy up” without any notification. The entire school’s curriculum was thrown out, records deleted … nearly everything in the dumpster.
I was asked “would you like some items?” Bill drove up to Santa Barbara with 15 historical electrolysis machines (Hinkel had every machine ever made) … and a couple boxes of random materials. I donated the machines to the Arizona Electrolysis Museum. I kept the original Depilatron … what a story there. If you don’t’ know the Depilatron story, you don’t know the history of electrolysis. The tapes (at least 200 hours or more) in disarray: cassettes and reel-to-reel all “durscheinander” (mixed-up and goofy)
To process the tapes, they have to be digitalized … and then the arduous task of editing is monumental. Imagine street noises, cars honking, people coughing … interruptions … skipping subjects … random comments (“can I go to the bathroom?”) and inaudible sections. Point being, the tapes are in such bad condition that I don’t think anyone would be able to make any sense of them: insanely poor quality.
After the editing … I then have to fiddle with all the filters, in Adobe Audition, so that you can understand what’s being said. I figured that I have 10-hours to produce 1 minute of audio time. I then try to illustrate the narrative to make it more interesting. Frankly, I don’t think anyone would be nuts enough to do this. I’M NUTS! I don’t have enough time left to complete this task. That dude with the black hood keeps knocking at my door. GO AWAY DAMMMMIT!
And THAT is precisely why I brought the topic up. I’d like to do what I cn to archive whatever can be saved. These are invaluable treasures. I might possibly know someone who might be up to it if they too havent started pushing up poppies by now. These are international treasures in our industry, and should be preserved to the best of our ability.Digitizing every single tape , including all he “coughs” and “can I go o the bathroom” would be an invaluable first step.
I understand the museum ran into funding issues and had to shut down if I recall correctly.I dont even know how many years I’ve got left in me I’m no spring chicky either and not in the best of health from a hard lived life.
I agree 1000% with you @Iluv2zap!
First logical step would be to find a way to preserve and duplicate it completely unadulterated. Media degrades with time so the clock is always ticking.
I think many (including me) would love to view it that way just as much as the condensed version. “Stop the camera, I gotta take a piss” would have me giggling!
Once finishes, copies could be disbursed and others could pick up the baton and do or continue to do what you have already tediously and graciously done for this community @bono.
I don’t know what the cost is to have a whole box of tapes digitized without editing but I will throw down the first $500 to help make that a reality. I don’t think the first step is that costly maybe $2000 - $5,000 max. I would almost bet that amount could be raised in a single day with contributions from people here who would freely and gladly participate financially.
Now, the second step of editing and restoration of degraded portions after the first step is done I assume would be very costly if done professionally. But who knows, many people here have skills we just don’t know about. Their family members and friends may be willing to help in this arena as well. If they are working on copies then there is no need to worry about destroying the actual originals.
Having the initial duplication and transfer done so others have copies might even release a bit of the pressure / stress of being the only one who has them (if such is the case.)
I am sure there are high quality local firms around your area that would be able to do it so that shipping them is not needed, as shipping is a huge risk in itself.
I don’t know @Bono how you feel about it… but like I said before I will put my money where my mouth is to help further the future of this profession… and now my profession (once I graduate).
As someone who is a bit late to the ballgame (I’m 47) I aspire once I am finished with school to join the ranks who can carry it to the next generation and hopefully have history (including this very old media) to share.
I’ve not even used a machine yet but my goals are big and hope to one day open a small school or small training facility up here in WA because it is so desperately needed in our region. We really need several but that is a discussion for another thread.
If you had the financial backing (and actual dollars sent to you) @Bono would this help with your vision of what you have had in mind for this valuable information?
I love your enthusiasm; and you’ve inspired me. Mostly you hear nothing from people who watch or read my stuff. Thanks.
Having said that, I don’t want to quell your enthusiasm, but for a number of reasons (too many to enumerate) your idea will not work. You did, however, give me an idea for the next Hinkel lecture(s). I’m going to try just editing his talk and eliminate the written text and illustrations. Doing this will cut my work down by 75%? Maybe just a photo of Art … and that all … just the lecture alone. I’ll see how that goes!
Uncle Mikey says, thanks again! Keep your “head of steam” as you enter your new profession. I’ve been “at it” since Warren G. Harding was president … and, I’m still enthusiastic! (Who the hell was Warren G. Harding?)
It is the “100% certain” statement that negates you from being a good candidate for electrolysis.
Groups and committees? Hummm … I have lots of experiences on that subject. Bottom line, it’s always one person with good “Sitzfleish” (sit on your butt-meat and get it done), that completes the project. Virtually nothing is ever accomplished by committees (except, usually the agreement to have another meeting). Oh boy, do I have lots of examples in our own field. But, here’s goodie.
I took many trips to New Zealand … teaching/lecturing. I spoke about local anesthetic and the association was beyond enthusiastic. So, I had a meeting with their Medical Board and stated my case. The decision was that if we can develop a course of, say, 1,000 hours then the Medical Board would certify electrologists’ use of anesthetic without a physician being present. (e.g., dentists, etc.)
The group was ecstatic and we had a year to come up with a course. I offered to design the course … the group said they could do it themselves … you know a committee. So, a year later I returned. Nobody even remembers what “they were going to do” … it was totally forgotten. Case closed and lost opportunity. As Howard Hughes once said, “He only believes in committees of ONE!”
Additionally, now the richest man in the world, and genius of our century … Elon Musk says he has no meetings at all (unless it’s a specific problem). No meetings, the best electric car in the world, leader in Space … and going to Mars! Genius Sitzfleish!
Actually Mike , I’m with Demdetermined.And I too am willing to put my money where my mouth is with a matching donation to the cause. Further, I had my Ontario Association meeting this morning,. and what came up was a discussion of the CPE exams , and along with it, discussions of Hinkels book from which much of our CPE exams are derived. I talked a bit about this issue in the meeting and tried to emphasize that whatever support w can lend, would in fact be a contribution to the international Electrolyysis Community on a gigantic scale.I suspect, my colleague in Ontario Marie Brookes Brown will be contacting you at some point to discuss the issue.Digitizing the audio is still a huge step in making such a thing happen, and I’m certain we can come up with the resources to make it happen with enough support.
We also at the FCEA have a corporate zoom license, and it’d honestly be terrific to sponsor a discussion with you on this and other topics.We are a small organaization, but not without our contacts and resources.
Seana
This might satisfy what is required to produce video work; including the Hinkel tapes.
This is a photo of Mike’s station (only). Here’s where we digitalize cassettes and reel-to-reel (upcoming 8MM and both format video tapes). Edit and illustrate with voice-over and titling (if needed.) The software is, Audition, Premier, Word, PreSonus, Photoshop and, well all the other Adobe software: all of it!
Eric, in another room, does the special effects and preparation for uploading. Our new computer allows us to upload 4K in only a few seconds … it used to take an entire day (24 hours+) to render and upload. Eric’s station (for the techy people here): Computer: Main Frame Threadripper, CPU: 3995WX, 64 Core over-clocked to 4GHz, Liquid cooled 132G RAM 30TB Hard drive, 4TB m.2 Flash SSD OS drive. GPU with 33G Video RAM. We are scheduled to buy a new 4K camera (Sony A9), so we can do highly detailed work. And (brand new) Fiber Optics internet connection.
As you can see, I’m invested in these projects. Indeed, I just need to get back at it; now that I’ve killed off all the termites that were eating my house. I doubt that few of you have the hardware, software and understanding of these programs to do this work. (I don’t, and rely on Eric.) However, I love your enthusiasm and you have inspired me.
Thank you so much for this incredibly thoughtful reply! I appreciate it so much! I actually had never considered letting my hairs grow out to tweeze them all at once and I very much appreciate that suggestion. Your current clients are lucky to have you. If you’re on the West Coast in the USA, message me when you’re done with electrolysis school. You just got yourself a new client. I’m not even joking. Anyone who puts the thought, time, care and effort into a reply like you did is someone who really cares about their clients.