Training future electrologists

I get calls all the time from people who want to become an electrologist. My state makes it rather difficult to train someone. I can spend a huge amount of money to open a school, but I have to have at least 4 students at all times, or I train someone “apprenticeship” for double the school hours and for free. (It’s in the statutes - you cannot charge the apprentice for the training.) AND my state does not allow for any online education - all hours must be in the facility of training.

Many discourage the “apprentice” program, but it makes sense to me that more hours are better so that the electrologist can see more of the outcome of treatments.

I’m not ready to retire, but all of my colleagues are getting older, too. Where are the new electrologists going to come from?

Unregulated states :wink:

As flippant as Laurier’s reply may seem, it is more a concise observation of fact and eloquent in its brevity.

While the public relations of the various licensing systems is always to set standards, and protect the public, what they really do is limit access to both those who would seek the service, and those who would attempt to provide the service as well. For those who do comply with the system, they get a drain on their productivity that is out of proportion to what a voluntary system of education and achievement would provide.

I would like to thank Barbara for that piece of information about the authorities saying you should not profit from imparting your pearls of wisdom. It explains to me why someone who would give me training while in California would refuse to accept my numerous attempts to actually pay for the many hours of wisdom imparted while we were thought to be together in the legal fiction known as California.

Perhaps we should arrange for you to meet up with some electrolysis hopefuls in the area thought to be the legal fiction of New York State, or some other place less intrusive on this point, and you can both train the next wave of service providers, AND get just compensation for your efforts without assaults from extortionists and control freaks. I would be all to happy to assist in this endeavor. :wink:

Electrologists are going to become as extinct as a T. Rex. For anyone wanting marathon sessions, forget it. I think there are very few offering sessions that go over two hours. There are reasons for all this, but I won’t belabor points that have already been belabored many posts ago.

Even in the unlicensed states, like NY, electrolysis schools are not getting the enrollment numbers like in the past. I was only successful at helping one school get accredited and tried with 2 others.

It was not shown to be a lucrative endeavor for the schools to develop or add-on an electrology program as there was not enough student interest - however there was more interest in laser study. When I asked why this was so, I was told that the students knew that they were likely to get hired to do laser but there was hardly any possibilities of getting hired to do electrolysis.

I suspect that Dectro is lucrative because they train students as well as keep these students as customers selling them equipment and tools as their supplier. I am wondering if the college in NJ could have continued their electrology program if they got into the supplier business.

Once Berkowits brought Dectro in and stopped manufacturing their own equipment, that school needed to stay alive and had to expand, hence the laser education business and soon, the esthetics business.

I was recently contacted by a laser hair removal facility and they asked me to join them to work on the hairs that laser could not remove. I suggested that the laser tech. take an electrology class and she laughed at me and said that the work was not lucrative enough and too time consuming. She said, “Laser is where I can make the most money”.

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Once again, it is NOT that there are not people who want to learn electrolysis, and there are certainly people capable of teaching it. The problem is doing all this, while attempting to comply with extortionist and outside regulations.

If one could just train who ever was agreeable, and for a price that works for the both of you, all would be well.

As for the teaching of electrolysis to LASER Techs, it seems like the old saw from the exotic entertainment industry, “Dancer’s don’t Hook, and Hookers don’t dance.” While many people think that strippers are all prostitutes, there is usually a psychological rift between the two. While Dancers groove on the idea that they get paid for being desirable, and for people wanting to see them and fantasize about them, prostitutes believe that too much time is wasted in building this fantasy for too little money per hour. The prostitute mentality is get 'em in and get 'em out as quickly as possible. Now I don’t mean to offend anyone, but one should easily see the correlation to the situation here. Everyone outside these communities thinks they go hand in hand, and should be one and the same, however, those in these 4 industries find them to be only tertiary in practical connection.

Ok, I guess I have made my controversy quota for the month.

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Barbara, I remember, a few years ago, the AEA sent out a message to all members: IF YOU WANT TO MENTOR A STUDENT, WE WILL ADD YOUR NAME TO THE LIST. How successful was that program? Plenty of electrologists, not enough student interest?

Regarding marathon sessions, I know that I am very selective as to whom I offer marathon sessions. Last week I had 2 no shows for marathon sessions. They kill my scheduling. I don’t like charging the no shows. I just do not reschedule them.

Other than that, it would be interesting to find out why electrologists are not doing marathon sessions. I have to take breaks every 2 hours, especially when I have to stretch the client’s skin. My wrists hurt. So, I tell clients that they need to give me 3 areas to treat in marathon sessions so that I can get into different work positions.

If you have information to share other electrologists on HOW TO WORK MARATHON SESSIONS, that would be a very good topic.

Thank you.

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I can’t help but wonder if that was because the information about the program was more successful in reaching potential Mentors, while not being able to penetrate the available market for potential students. Strange as it may seem, someone who might be interested in becoming an electrolysis practitioner would not be all that likely to be reading the AEA forum (especially a few years ago, when it was a members only affair)

It might be, but then you expose yourself to being labeled a “rock star” electrologist. And then, someone could have his ass kicked if he dares to suggest some strategic placement, type of strategy, or anything which was read online. It is not right that someone who has trained for a long time and has been working for years expects to receive tips on “HOW TO WORK MARATHONS SESSIONS AND NOT DIE IN THE ATTEMPT”. In the end, no matter how long they finish…

Am I being sarcastic? no, I’m just highlighting something I read recently.

The client who makes a long and expensive trip for marathon sessions usually does not miss any appointments. In four years, I just had a case, and this person insisted on paying for the lost time, despite my refusal to accept the money. Therefore, the client´s commitment who travels from far away is as real, as it should be real the electrologist´s commitment who accepts the challenge.

63 hours after the death of my mother, I was working at a customer who made a long journey from Germany. Not sure if I did the right thing, but this is certainly what was expected of me and what my mother, a woman with a great sense of responsibility, would have wanted me to do. Still today, 2 years later, I have not been able to accept this loss.

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I am fairly new to the field of electrology and unfortunately the school that I went to seriously sucked and it was only there to take my money and tell me that the only thing I need is a rusty Sterex #3 and an old analog machine that really does hook up to a car battery to work. I dumped a lot of money on school and except for actual probe insertion on real life clients the place I have learned the most has been here, and of course buying a bunch of books. Seriously, Hairtell not only saved my ass but it also saved my clients ass. As far as marathon sessions go I love them and Jossi seriously you have to stop calling me a ROCK STAR \m/ :wink:

I must echo you there.
I did not cancel on my out of town clients the week of my Grandmother’s death, even though I had 1600 miles worth of driving to do, and two funerals to help with, in addition to all the other insanity of a major death in a family.

At the same time, my client from India would lose much if I had canceled the treatment time, as it was last minute, as most deaths come with no prior notice.

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he he he, I’ll try harder Gretch. Although it will not be easy. Find someone who has enough guts to challenge the “common thinking” and who decides to think for herself is not very common in this profession. :wink:

On another note, I would just like to say that part of the problem we face is that getting overly focused on authority and outside certification of knowledge is part of the problem.

While the “respected authorities” insist that the Kennedy assassination(s) were the work of a lone gunman unassisted by others, the average man on the street is sure that if it was a lone gunman, he had co-conspirators, and most who do any research conclude there was more than one gunman.

In the same way, we must understand that official sources don’t always turn out to be the best place to get information, because they give you the official story.

When it comes to science, I have found more than one instance of the very method utilized to test being the reason why the correct answer cannot be found.

Think about it; if you are testing a headache treatment against a sugar pill, you are still adding more water to the person’s diet than they were drinking before, and dehydration is one of the causes of headaches.

In a recent study on protein and nutrition, the researchers discovered that the fact that the standard method of using milk protein to do any tests for nutritional protein has caused many tests to say that “too much protein” is bad for you, when in fact, their companion tests on plant proteins showed that it was in fact a property of the animal proteins that was the problem. As animal protein raises above %5 of intake, problems begin to be more likely. Cancer turns on above 20% and is a certainty above 50%. On the other hand, plant protein even at 50% caused no problems, not even feeding cancer in an animal purposely exposed to carcinogens that went wild when animal protein above 20% were used.

Hello All,

Thank you for this thread. I am based in the UK and I studied electrolysis in July 2012. I only recently handed in my coursework, however I am having electrolysis done on me because of an endocrine disorder and I love the results. My electrologist is caring and my experience made me want to study it. I expect to receive my certificate in the next few weeks. I want to become a very good electrologist. I don’t own many books but the information here on HairTell has been so helpful. I want to buy the Apilus Platinum but I will have to start with the Sterex Blend machine. Its just out of my financial grasp right now. I am not sure of the demand for electrolysis outside of transgendered men but I do hope it is enough for me to make it a job/profession. I think that the world of electrolysis is so vast and I really do want to learn more. My Beauty school was ok, the tutor to her credit is caring and thorough. I feel I was trained quite well.

I want to start my own business doing electrolysis and I think that if I am smart it may just do well. I also want to train to do laser so that I am able to appeal to clients who have an interest in Laser hair reduction. People like me do exist but maybe there are not very many because electrolysis is not considered to be as lucrative and profitable as Laser. There is an electrologist who offers people the opportunity to spend a day with them but it is over £300 for one day. I have heard of the Dectro convention things in Europe but I have just graduated and I am still in poor student mode.

This is long but I just wanted to let others know that there are people with an interest in electrolysis.

Thank you Josefa for the videos you have on YouTube I like watching them and James thank you for responding to the message I sent you last year.

Take care everyone.

GJ

IGJ, I hope you will join our closed Facebook group; Hairshoot. Here is the address:


Just send a ‘request to join’ and give me some evidence that you are an electrolysist and I will add you to the group.
Members love it; it is not affiliated to any ‘official’ organisation or college. It simply exists to provide a private place for professionals to exchange ideas, ask questions and share best practice.
Hope you join.
June

If I recall correctly, there were no student volunteers.

I’m currently reading Lean In by Sandberg of Facebook fame. She talks about “mentoring” and how it happens accidentally even though people try to “sign up” or even to ask directly, “Will you mentor me?” she writes that it doesn’t exactly work that way.

I would wonder how a potential student would have ever had access to the AEA to know about the program, or to sign up for it in the first place. :crazy:

That’s funny James, your awesome :slight_smile:

It wasn’t for potential students. It was directed at new electrologists (and new AEA members). There was at least one article in EW.

The mentoring was not intended to teach someone how to be an electrologist, but for bouncing off ideas and techniques, perhaps for improving techniques…