The Predominance of Laser
Recently I spoke to someone at a bank about small business banking. Although I told him my business was electrolysis, when he referred to my work it was clear to me he thought it was laser hair removal.
Such is the power of marketing that even when people hear electrolysis, they don’t hear electrolysis!
Electrolysis simply isn’t on the radar. Anywhere.
Laser ads are everywhere. The ads are often dishonest when they promise fast and painless permanent hair removal. Laser clinics often have an air of medical authority about them, they put their staff in lab coats even if they’re the housekeeper. This association with the medical profession has a powerful effect on the public perception of laser hair removal. In short, most people think that it is an established method of permanent hair removal with rigourous scientific testing to ensure its safety and effectiveness.
That’s not exactly the truth. The main reason laser annihilated the electrolysis profession is due to the fact that doctors first offered laser hair removal.
People Trust Doctors A Lot
The public trusts doctors. A doctor’s opinion is given value because medicine is a regulated profession with high barriers to entry. Although that doesn’t ensure quality care or physician infallibility, trust in authority is definitely the default. This carries over into trust in laser hair removal.
In contrast to the medical field, electrolysis is a vocational program completed in weeks, rather than years. The profession is unregulated and the courses are not academically rigourous. There is no barrier to entry. You just need to graduate high school. In the words of Horst, my long time supplier of needles and tweezers,”the electrolysis profession tanked because it’s done by housewives looking to earn extra money.”
While that attitude might be a tad dismissive, it was not so far off the mark. Until I came on the scene no one had an informative website or even good branding. Very few electrologists treated it like a proper business.
The evolution of the laser industry was not by happenstance. Laser manufacturers courted doctors and offered seminars on how to finance their purchase. They also provided marketing resources for the new devices. Laser hair services are a goldmine because people buy now, ask questions later. Clients also sign away their right to sue if the treatment doesn’t work. This is akin to Big Pharma’s wooing of doctors with promotions and bonuses if they prescribe their patients certain drugs.
Sadly, the electrolysis profession could not compete with laser manufacturers and the speed at which they took over.
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