Journey to become a Pro

Hair Removal Methods Do-It-Yourself Electrolysis
#1

I started 2 months ago the research for a device and that have let to the attendance of a basic course in electrolysis plus a professional new device with flash, termolyse and blend option.

Now the journey continues with creating a customer friendly room at home and bringing my skills to a level of top performance.

To start with, want to reach full clearance of my both too upper arms.
In overall 4 hours of practice have just cleared 10% of one arm and was surprised how difficult it is to treat oneself. It’s very hard especially for the neck to keep focusing for hours on one area.

Thats all for now, maybe some information about me. 23 years old male, located in Nuremberg Germany, working as an Electrician and created a passion for the skin after having severe problems with ingrown hairs. Have in about 3 years gained experience in home and professional IPL treatments, tested a variety of chemical peels and kinda skin picking addicted. That’s the reason getting high from pulling out hairs.

#2

You may want to send a private message to Beate Ritzert for Germany on this board. She is the most familiar with electrology licensing and education here I think.As I understand it germany has some pretty restrictive practises when it comes to electrology and Beate would be in the best position to let you know about those.

Seana

#3

Second Update:

Hello Seana, offering this service seems legal without a special license. You just need to get a confirmation from the customer for understand risks and complications.

Now after maybe 10 hours of practice, maybe about 40% of one upper arm is clear and want to finish both in following days.

Have nearly complete the customer room, but won’t go public until have treated myself to the maximum of what’s possible.

Also will try out Laurie Probes which seem to be kinda expensive? Additionally a magnifying glass which should replace the magnifying lamp, because takes comfort away with its size.

Yeah, overall treating myself feels just incredible. Every hair zapped out creates feelings of freedom and joy. On the contrary the time needed to invest is much higher than imagend.

#4

Working on yourself is a good feeling isn’t it? I used to have a nightmare every once in a while that hair was growing out of the palms of my hands, after I learned electrolysis I’ve never had that one again.

#5

First of all: becoming an electrologist is not regulated in German. We have restrictions on using numbing, and strange enough, on sterilizing out instruments. Otherwise people ambitious people like Christa Kuderma in Nuremberg or others would not have had any chance to start their business - including me.

Despite the difficulty in DIY treatments - treating foreign people is a wholly different story.

I would advice You to seek professional training - i know, hard to achieve. Maybe You ask Elipa. But please do not mention me. My business approach is too different from that of Iris Gminski, and my impression is, that is actually incompatible to hers. So incompatible that she suggested me to buy an apilus machine instead of the Instantron distributed by her. And so incompatible that she refused trainings to all people coming from me and asking.

I know - difficult fo further reasons - Elipa seems to refuse trainings to Non-Cosmetologists. Maybe You ask Tina Reuther. AFAIK she trains fast thermolysis with simple manually controlled epilators - an interesting approach for those who want to start a buisness with limited resources.

There are no other official training possibilities by now, at least not for non-cosmetologists. In the past i did a few trainings for potential employes (since recently there is a minijobber helping me, but she is still at her beginnings). Unfortunately i do not have the resources to set up an electrolysis school - although i must admit i would like to do so within the forthcoming years. (Today, i lack all of the necessary basics: sufficent space, a sufficient number of working places, official training material in German, and a reliable distributor of equipment in the back who is not in competition to me as Iris Gminski obviously would be in all aspects.)

BTW: in Nuremberg (and not only there), You must provide some parking lots for You and Your client or pay a lot of money.

#6

I actually am happy I asked Beate to comment here, because I apparently had it all wrong, or at least the details thereof anyway :slight_smile:

DIY is always rewarding. Regarding treating others however I feel I can offer up some advice here.Having made the transition from DIY’er to “not so DIY’er” I’m in a position to point out some of the challenges it can present.

I want you to pay particular attention to what Beate said about regulations on how we sterilize our equipment.I face similar regulations here in Canada. There is no regulation on doing electrolysis but the tweezers we use must be sterile ( as do need to be our probes and equippment). Often places will put restrictions on who can operate an autoclave and what must be done to test it regularly. Here in Ontario Canada for example in order to run a heat sterilizer or autoclave and sterilize instruments with it, one must perform a series of “spore tests” to prove it is working as designed. The records of such tests being performed by an accredited laboratory must be kept onsite and it must be repeated biweekly. Chemical strips are insufficient. These kinds of regulations must be paid attention to when one goes from DIY’er to working on others. Spore tests can get expensive, a couple hundred dollars a year easily plus shipping costs to send the spore tests.

Of particular concern should be ergonomics. A proper treatment bench you can get your feet underneath is crucial, you cannot be leaning over to see your client. You will kill your back. As is proper seating for yourself ( usually a saddle stool) and height adjustability of both to get the right positioning is critical. As part and parcel of ergonomics is your magnification and lighting. Lighting you can control the direction of and in many cases, magnification can mean expensive optical loops or medical microscopes. Getting the client in the ideal position so you can see and work on them comfortably is fairly critical.

Good luck on your journey!

Seana

#7

@iLikeDIY

Yes, when the hair is pulled out very slowly with it’s surprisingly deep root its just an incredible feeling.

@beate_r

Thanks for your reply. I attended the basic course in Electrolysis near Cologne with a women called Fidan. She explained me everything from hair cycles to properly use of equipment and probes. Gave me an certificate but don’t know the value of that paper.

Actually wanted to visit Elipa first but as you mentioned only Cosmologists are allowed for attendance. Also was not comfortable with the prices.

My current device works awesome on termoblend and be overall satisfied with the results.

@Seana

Thanks for your advises. It will take some time to be fully prepared for the first customer so looking forward to keep making progress on that whole journey.

Third Update:

This weekend I am planning about 15 hours of zapping and already did a lot of mistakes. Have cleared 20% of the other upper arm in a hour and was very happy that speed and precious increased. Finally wanna mention that the Skin feels cleaner afterwards, because of long term use of wax and ipl.

#8

4th Update:

This weekend was sick. Managed about 10 hours of zapping and maybe 4 of skin picking.

First I use a mirror for areas can’t be seen directly which slows the process tremendously. At the moment their should be on each arm 30% left but on those difficult spots.

Second have pulled out mostly stuck and ingrown hair from waxing and laser treatments.

To be honest my right upper arm looks like a battefield, but in my experience it will heal completely within 2 weeks except two spots I was too aggressive and damaged the skin one or two layers to deep.

Also electrolysis left the skin with quite a lot unnecessary damage due to my lack of experience and the difficult position.

But overall as mentioned it was just awesome. Zapping this long gave me valuable insights about pain and duration, for example that the sensitivity increases with each treated pore. That sets limitations or keeping the posture for hours was also a good experience.

Summarized still surprised how long it takes and can’t even tell when the upper arms finish. Underestimated the whole DIY projects enormous, but be positive about the results.