The Predominance of Laser

Recently I was at a bank speaking to someone about whatever small business service they wanted to sell me. Although I told him that I perform electrolysis every time he referred to my work he said something that made it clear to me he was thinking about laser rather than electrolysis.

Such is the power of marketing that even when people hear electrolysis, they think laser!

Electrolysis simply isn’t on the radar. Anywhere.

Laser adverts are posted everywhere in every available medium. The ads are often dishonest and promise permanent hair removal that is fast and virtually painless. Furthermore, laser clinics often have an air of medical authority about them, as in 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 the effectiveness of laser hair removal. In short, everyone thinks that laser hair removal is an established method of permanent hair removal that has undergone rigourous scientific testing to ensure its safety and effectiveness.

That’s not exactly the truth but that will be the topic of an upcoming post. For now the point I want to make is that the biggest reason the electrolysis profession has been all but annihilated by the laser industry is due to the fact that it was the medical profession who first bought and used lasers for hair removal. People generally trust doctors and assume that if a doctor is performing a treatment then it must be good. Or at least it must be based on sound scientific principles because in the practice of medicine there is the implication of not only expertise but also honesty and good judgment. A doctor’s opinion is given a certain value based on the perception that they have specialized knowledge unavailable to anyone who doesn’t possess an MD degree. Medicine is also a highly regulated profession with high barriers to entry, and although that doesn’t ensure quality care or physician infallibility the belief that doctors are unilaterally smarter than average is firmly rooted in the public imagination. (Medicine wasn’t always such an esteemed profession however. Until the 19th century local healers (usually women) were the experts, it took decades (and quite a bit of political manoeuvering) for medical men to supersede the authority of female folk widsom and home remedies.)

In contrast to the medical field, electrolysis is a vocational program that can be completed in weeks, rather than years. It is an unregulated profession and courses are generally linked to a broader program in esthetics and, thus, are not academically rigourous and don’t include any worthwhile instruction on business. There is no journal of electrology and there are only 2 half-decent English language books written on the subject (and only 3 or 4 not-so-great ones). Not an insignificant number of electrologists have part-time home businesses, or in the words of the owner of the company where I purchase supplies, “the electrology profession tanked because it was done by housewives looking to earn extra money.”

While that attitude might be a tad dismissive (ok, more than a tad), it’s not so far off the mark if you’re looking for an answer as to why the electrolysis profession must work so hard to stay afloat in the new millennium. Simply put, there have been too few electrologists who’ve treated it like a proper business and put in the time and money to perfect their craft and present it in a professional, respectable manner.

I’m not making a value judgment on who practices electrology or how they set up their business, I am simply pointing out why the most challenging part of our job is often convincing people that electrolysis actually works and that there is a difference between me (or possibly you if you’re an electrologist reading this) and the other electrologists who “didn’t really make a difference because the hair grew back”.

The evolution of the laser industry was not by happenstance. When laser manufacturers started courting doctors they offered seminars on how to finance the purchase of a laser and strategies for marketing their new device. Laser hair services are an absolute goldmine because people buy now, ask questions later, and sign away their right to sue if the treatment doesn’t work. The saturation of the public conscious with laser this and laser that is akin to Big Pharma’s wooing of doctors with promotions and bonuses if they prescribe their patients certain drugs.

Sadly, electrologists simply could not compete with laser companies and the speed at which they took over the permanent hair removal marketplace. We can, however, rally ourselves now and work together to educate the public on the continuing relevance of electrolysis.

Further Reading:

Electrolysis Didn’t Work For Me

https://www.follikill.com/2014/01/20/an-electrolysis-outdated-old-fashioned/
https://www.follikill.com/2013/05/06/laser-hair-removal-permanent/