New Text & New profession?

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

During the decade my Association fought vociferously against laser my (very unwelcome) opinion was: “never vote against technology” and — “the marketplace will decide if it wants laser or not.” Indeed, that’s the way all products and services succeed or fail.

The public has spoken and the hair removal industry has been permanently transformed. Yet, the whole industry is unsettling to me. It must be doubly frustrating to prospective clients who only want their hair removed.

Clients, all of them, are forced to navigate a labyrinth of objective data, innuendo, misinformation, advertising and opinion to finally find the right solution for them. I find it pathetic and intolerable. Electrologists have, for generations now, argued about the various methods (it’s tiresome) — add to that all the various laser devices and, well, just imagine the poor client!

Presently, every client that “ends up” with me has gone to several other therapists — often suffering more than a year or so of method-experimentation. Do we really want our patients to have to do this? How odd, really.

My vision (certainly not original) would be the establishment of a new profession — a hair removal expert that would be master of both electrolysis and laser. A professional that would understand all the techniques and methods and be able to select the correct treatment for the individual patient. Doesn’t that seem appropriate?

Of course, the industry is moving in that direction. But there is still a patchwork of schools, manufacturers, associations, etc., that has no definitive direction. Again, pity the poor client! Hinkel’s text “Electrolysis, Thermolysis and The Blend” (1968) was a landmark book that, in effect, defined and created the electrolysis industry we once had. It is certainly time for a brand new text that is inclusive of all modalities — objective and data based. Once an authoritative text emerges, teaching intuitions will have the means to launch a new profession. It’s time!

Who is working on this new text? Who wants to?

#2

I gladly volunteered, if my ability to write resembled my ability for insertion of the needle into a follicle (it is not my case).
In my humble opinion, the readers deserve respect and I am aware of my limitations. It is necessary and advisable to be an expert in all modalities to write a book so ambitious. And who is? I am not, that’s for sure.

I know few people who can excel in all the projects they proposed. In fact, I only know one, you.

#3

A unified hair removal center would be a great concept but there are regulatory isses. Its my understanding that commercial laser practioners must have an MD on hand while for electrology, some states don’t even require a certification. Either the regulations for laser will have to be reduced or the regulations for electrology would have to increase. How do you see this working? I think though that allowing the same person to offer all forms of hair removal may not lead to that much better of a consumer experience. Just in the photonic world alone the matrix of choice is pretty big: IPL vs laser and then with laser there are all the various wavelengths. Practioners are faced with a similar plight as their clients but in terms of choosing which equipment to buy. Every manufacturer claims to have the best system. I figure most hair removal centers would not be able to afford one of each type of equipment.

#4

Actually this would lead to Electrologists or Cosmeticians as employees of Dermatologists - not uncommon in Germany, but (luckily) most of them are only interested in the small jobs.
Nevertheless i am well aware of a few Electrologists here in Germany who are doing laser as well, and i must admit that i am also open to both approaches. Laser (and high powerd IPL) if done right and applied where appropriate is IMO very attractive both for the customers as well as it is for us. Actually i have seriously considered starting a business with photoepilation before i decided to learn electrolysis.

Anyway: mastering (!) electrolysis and having set up a stable business with it appears to me as a prerequisite to start doing photoepilation as well, simply because electrolysis is a) more difficult to apply and b) photoepilation requires a much larger investment than electrolysis.

Another model might be a joint venture of two specialists on each method?

Beate

#5

Yes Beate, many years of hard work have a reward: the people end up by trusting finally in you and in the Electrolysis, in spite of the fact that “others” before that you destroyed this confidence with a bad practice.

All this effort cannot be left in hands of the luck or controlled by the brain of a machine. All the expectations are satisfied by the Electrolysis, we can say the same thing with the Photoepilation?

Many of my clients ask me for the Laser, and I say: "You have a laser on each corner, if I use my time to give laser, who will destroy the remnants of hairs that the laser does not see? or with fine hair? who will help the grandmother with gray hair on her face?

It is not easy to risk so many years of work and much less when you play the confidence of the clients.

You are succeeded, Beate, Electrolysis’s business would be absorbed by one of laser and finally the Electrolysis would disappear because it is less profitable.

In my city, a clinic of laser has contracted a doctor to do Electrolysis with local anesthesia. Is it working? It should be, but not. The doctor will need years to be competitive with the Electrolysis. On the contrary, if you are an expert in Electrolysis any doctor can serve for the infiltration of anesthesia. The success of the business is assured, with or without Photoepilation.

Josefa

#6

I agree with the above posts, of course. However, we also need to look toward the future (by looking at the past). In the very early days of electrology, the technique was performed by medical doctors. Because of the tediousness of the work, the skill was eventually “passed on” to non-medical practitioners.

The forces I see at work (as Beate and Jossie correctly mention) are initial costs. However, without doubt, as the laser market becomes saturated in the medical field, the laser companies will drastically reduce prices. It’s already happening. Independent “electrologists” will be able to afford a laser. Also pushing down the cost of laser is the continuing drop in treatment fees. If laser cannot command high fees, there is less incentive to purchase an expensive unit. The doctors in my area that used to do laser are no longer interested in it at all (for a variety of reasons).

Furthermore, the skill required to operate a laser is, no offense, not exactly “rocket science.” If a non-medical person can perform actual electro-surgery (electrolysis) why not also a “point and shoot” laser? Medical degree? I don’t think it’s at all necessary. It would all depend on appropriate training — easily done in a school offering both.

And so the various economic and social forces will come into play. Non-medical “hair removal” experts will absolutely want laser, and electrolysis, to “round out” their field of practice. This is already happened in Aotearoa (NZL — just being politically correct!) and Australia. (Aber für Deutschland, ich weiss nicht. Es ist immer schwer mit “the doctors?” Nicht? BTW, “Beate” is my favorite German name — and yes, there was a Beate in my past! Meine Gute!) The only certainty is that nothing is certain.

#7

I like your vision. The current system has electrologists spreading misinformation about laser and laser clinics spreading misinformation about electrolysis, when they shouldn’t even be in competition with each other since laser only works on certain type of hair.

#8

Michael

(btw. my former name, and still living as my 2nd name in its female form…)…

Apparently here in Germany the trend goes to the opposite direction:
more and more dermatologists concentrate increasingly on the beauty business instead on their medical profession. And meanwhile they start to become interested in Electrolysis.
We have to be a bit careful that the physicians don’t take over control on Electrolysis - and that is easy regarding our training and certification situation (the best offerings ending with just face technic following Your book - ideal to start on, but not good enough for a full curriculum, no certification possible (which would be great as an option), no mentoring possibility to raise standards of work and to speed up the time newcomers need to become really good).

Anyway, there are also some collegues with good reputation offering both methods. One of them has recently sold her business to her employees because the perspectives of income were decreasing too much.

BTW: german translations of Your books might be helpful to raise standards as well.

Beate

#9

Michael

(btw. my former name, and still living as my 2nd name in its female form…)…

Apparently here in Germany the trend goes to the opposite direction:
more and more dermatologists concentrate increasingly on the beauty business instead on their medical profession. And meanwhile they start to become interested in Electrolysis.
We have to be a bit careful that the physicians don’t take over control on Electrolysis - and that is easy regarding our training and certification situation (the best offerings ending with just face technic following Your book - ideal to start on, but not good enough for a full curriculum, no certification possible (which would be great as an option), no mentoring possibility to raise standards of work and to speed up the time newcomers need to become really good).

Anyway, there are also some collegues with good reputation offering both methods. One of them has recently sold her business to her employees because the perspectives of income were decreasing too much.

BTW: german translations of Your books might be helpful to raise standards as well.

Beate