Joanie says she can not see any actual cost savings using laser over electrology. Well let’s pull some numbers out just to have an example (yes, everyone can dispute the probabilities and everyone’s numbers will be different).
Suppose Kitranti here wants to get his back done. Let’s say he does electrolysis and it takes 2 one hour appointments per week for 10 months (42 weeks) and is charged $50 per hour, but that the last 21 weeks only takes one hour appointments due to his progress. That’s 42 appointments, 63 hours, and $3,150 to the electolygist.
On the other hand he might go to a Laser practitioner where they charge $600 per session and it takes him 7 sessions that take 1.5 hours. So 7 appointments, 10.5 hours, and $4200 to the professional.
However, the client’s time also has value. Suppose he’s making $40,000 per year, then his time is worth $20 per hour which if he has to take time from work without pay, would be another expense. Then there’s travel time and expense. Perhaps one is lucky enough to be only half an hour a way from their hair removal specialist. Now let’s look at the costs.
Electrolysis: 42 appointments times 2 trips of 30 minutes each way for 42 hours. 63 hours sitting at the electrolgysts office. Thus 105 hours at $20 hour and you’ve got another $2,100 of expense for a total of $5,250.
For Laser, 7 appointments would take 7 hours of travel plus 10.5 hours at the office gives a total of 17.5 hours or an additional expense of $350 for a total of $4,550.
Of course the advantage to Laser would go up with a higher income and farther distance to get to the office. And then there’s the additional physical expense of travel (car, subway, etc) that again favors the fewer trip scenario.
This is all assuming that both yield the same satisfactory results. Some people go to IPL (not laser) and have poor results. I had hair on my back very similar to kitranti (I think, hard to remember after 6 years) plus a dark patch at the lower back and 6 appointments of Laser with GentleLase produced almost perfect results (guess I should have been in a clinical study so that it could become official). Yet there are others who may not respond as well.
I agree that overall electrolysis has a better track record, but from real world experiences that have been discovered on this excellent forum, we’ve found clients that had barely any results and others that have taken so much longer than expected. So the few pro’s that report fantastic clearance rates can not always be considered representative of the industry and a few will have less than satisfactory results, either due to a professional that is lacking the skills or just bad luck in how their body reacts to it. Also, it may be trickier to maintain a good schedule for 42 appointments as compared to 7.
It’s all a gamble and an expense, but all the factors need to be considered. More than for most endeavors, research on the general subject and even more research on the individuals that will be performing the actual hair removal, must be gathered with careful diligence.
People such as kitranti are wise to consult this forum and ask questions prior to jumping into a major commitment. Thank you all that contribute to this knowledge base. And good luck to those that take the plunge (it’s usually worth it).
