A question around choosing a practitioner and priorities for male facial hair removal:
If you live in an area where you can find some good local practitioner but with limited experience with this type of hair and the practitioners that have extensive experience will require more time spent in a car than actual treatment…
…would it make sense to select the best local partitioner you can find?
I found some people that made a good first impression (no test treatment yet, so can’t tell) and that were happy to admit that they had limited number of clients with similar treatment.
Would it make sense to do some test treatments with the top local picks and see how they do? Or is it advisable to spend a few hours in a car for each treatment - kinda “it takes even a good practitioner a long time to really kill this type of hair effectively and without causing any unwanted damage?”
It would make much sense to maybe get a quick First Clearance with a speedy far away practitioner, and let the local person try to maintain the clearance. You may find that some subsequent far away treatments would help re-jump start your work when the local person falls behind the pace of your hair growth.
This is the reason we suggest one sample as many practitioners as possible, and not be afraid to venture outside of those who are located closest to your home or work, as the difference between practitioners can be VAST, and the price charged per hour doesn’t really begin to tell the story of cost effectiveness. After all, ASSUMING EQUALITY OF RESULTS (and that is assuming a mouthful!) does it matter if one charges $20 per hour, but only removes 50 hairs per hour, and the other charges $100 per hour and removes 250 hairs per hour? Well, in this case, one would be paying the same amount of money per hair ($100) although one would be spending more time in the chair, and burning more resources going to and from multiple appointments with the assumed to be cheap practitioner, while one would actually save time and travel expense going to the assumed to be expensive practitioner.
James;
What do most electrologist consider a good hair removal rate? I was thinking that I was on the slow side, but based on the above rate, I am in line with the expensive electrologist. I do not like to rush, but have been checking my counter after sessions and I have been averaging about 250 hairs per hour. Usually I am either using flash or a little slower thermolysis modality.
All this and I have only been charging $30/hour while using an apilus machine. I know my rates are far below the norm, but I do enjoy what I am doing. Just wish I had more customers, as I am just starting out. I would really love to hear from others, the effective means that they have used for getting the word out that you are in business.
The numbers I used there were just to make the point of the same number of hairs for the same amount of money, although different amounts of time.
Please pass the cup from my lips on the question of what work rate makes an electrologist slow, average, fast, or warp speed. I got enough grief around here for just stating what I believe are the statistical limits of the modalities (you can find that using the search feature) and that was well founded information that even seems to pan out when those who use the modalities can agree on some basics to use for what constitutes good work practices.
Although I would not suggest someone removing 250 hairs per hour in any form of thermolysis charge $100 per hour, I would say that a person moving at that rate should be charging $60 for sure. In my opinion, the only way a person seeing that electrologist should be paying $30 is if that person is buying time in bulk, up front, with a 24 hour notice cancelation policy.
I know people like to know the cost, time and amount of hair removed per hour before they start the electrolysis process, especially men for some reason. So we try to answer questions about what is a good hair removal rate and never seem to satisfy anyone.
I know I can go faster if I’m not talking as I’m working or the client isn’t trying to talk as I work. Too much activity makes for a moving target and it stresses me a bit. If one is working on a difficult area, such as under the chin/neck area, then one will go slower with the insertions. If the area is flat like the back, then one can speed along. Sort of like going 10 miles an hour down an alley (unless you’re a teenager) as oppossed to 80 miles an hour if you traveling through the state of Kansas.
We are all different with our speed, and there are so many variables that increase or impede our speed, but I think if I were a client and I put in one hour of my paid time to leave with an area the size of silver dollar cleared, I would be looking onward to sample other electrologists.
Thirty dollars an hour is too cheap after paying taxes and numerous other expenses, including retirement savings. I love what I do as well, but it has to make economical common sense to stay in practice, unless someone has a million++ dollar trust fund on the side.
It is funny what developed out of my original question - this is a great place…
To get James into even more trouble I move on an compare a $100 per hour practitioner with a 80% kill rate to a $50 per hour with a 30% kill rate…
…which actually gets me to my follow up question:
While you are out trying your 15 minutes at different practitioners it is easy to tell how fast they are, but how do you know how effective they are, i.e. what their kill rate is. Having read a bit on a site called hairtell.com I would examine the end of the hair (see plug vs. treated hair) - are there other indications, other things to look out for that would tell you how likely the treated hair is gone for good or may make an uninvited surprise visit?
Lagirl, I totally agree with you about the tweezing issue here. If you feel too much of that tweezing sensation, that is not a good sign [color:#FF0000]especially when most of the hairs on the face are in the anagen stage.[/color]
Also, price is often determined by overhead and other factors. There are some highly skilled electrologists who charge lower end and some not so good ones who charge high end; speedy or not. [color:#FF0000]How many hairs one can remove is not an indication of skill at permanently disabling the follicle. [/color]
Travelling great distances for an electrologist who claims to remove 300 hairs an hour is not an indication of receiving good treatment especially when the electrologist has a technique where nongrowing hairs are tweezed out. After that initial clearance, you go back home to use a local electrologist who continues the hair removal and you have no idea how much of the initial clearance is returning as regrowth. So, the entire concept of speed for an initial clearance is a risk when the tweezing of “nonanagen” hairs is administered.
I believe it is a smart move to clear an area as quickly as possible and travel for the initial clearance with a highly skilled electrologist if necessary but NOT with any tweezing of nonanagen hairs. You see, you will have no way to judge if each and every one of those tweezed hairs is nonanagen. Furthermore, the follicle can be partially treated in nongrowing phases so [color:#FF0000]I suggest having every follicle treated in every stage of growth.[/color]
