Should electrolysis stop being taught in an NVQ?

[pazzy]

As my course was exam practical and paper (about 3 practicals and 3 papers)- I wonder if the pressure to pass made us learn more. Might not have made us better therapists but it certainly gave us better knowledge.

I feel that nurses were better at their job in the good old days because they really had to work hard too.

I know I can teach but I'm so passionate about the beauty - I would still feel I wasn't giving them enough info.

 

[Lucy-s]

I think part of the problem is they are trying to fit too many other things into beauty courses, such as sports massage & 'spa treatments', without getting the basic cornerstones right, namely waxing, eyebrow shapes, nail painting etc.

Sorry to go off topic but I think that is so true. Colleges busy up their courses to make it more attractive for students when really theyre just missing out.
At my college we learn the basics, facials, mani & pedi (including how to paint nails if you cant do it, you dont get passed!), waxing, and eye treatments; perm, tint etc.
They even divided up the Level 3 into electricals and massage because up until recently it was combined (but they didnt do microdermabrasion which they have now included).
We also have the option of taking part in training days. I recently did one with Fake Bake.

There are a few things I could complain about with my college but I know the standard is high. I think smaller classes are the way to go for treatments such as electrolysis!

 

[Lady_Stardust]

Electrolysis is always going to be one of those treatments that will sit on the border line who whether inexperienced therapist should be taught. The college I went to in Wales was a fantastic college. I only see that now I'm up in North Scotland and the quality of new therapist is shockingly bad, including the amount they learn in college. I did an NVQ 2 & 3, with aromatherapy, electrolysis, UV treatments, heat treatments, Caflon piercing, Guinot and some others I cant remember. This was on top of all the standard, waxing, tinting, mani/pedis, facials, face & body electrical, Swedish & L&P, fibreglass and gel nails. I HAD to be competent at dark red and French polish in order to pass the basic NVQ. The girls I see coming out of college here are not even taught a French polish!

I must be one of the only people who wanted to do electrolysis! Sterex came in to train us which ended up with me going to the student of the year competition. Only made a regional finalist for Wales though :cry: Approx half of the class didn't pass electrolysis (but then out of 30 of us, 3 graduated at the end of year 2!)

I think it should be taught and I think it should be a compulsary section. Too many girls came onto the course I did thinking beauty was a cop out and an easy job. Electrolysis and treatments of the like soon made it clear it wasn't an easy course. These kind of treatments are the core of who we are and what we do for our clients. I for one love being able to give clients a full picture of the different treatments out there, whether I offer them or not, at least i can advise in my own experience. I hate it when clients mention laser treatments to me as I've no knowledge of this and can't help them with their queries! Everyone should do electroylsis if only for the knowleddge of the treatment and ability to advise their clients whether they do the treatment or not.

 

[laurakate]

So I know I'm resurrecting an old thread here but it will be interesting to see what people think four years later.

So now most colleges offer a choice between nvq massage route and nvq general route when it comes to level 3. I think this is a good thing because it allows students who don't want to do electrolysis to focus on other treatments instead. The disadvantages of this however are that some colleges only offer massage route and as a result of this, it is possible to be nvq 3 qualified without having easy access to the electrolysis and facial and body electrical units.

I am massage route qualified and this luckily included the facial electrical unit. However I want to do body electrical and electrolysis to fill any gaps in my knowledge. I am glad I'll be learning these treatments later on in my learning journey as a more experienced therapist but on the other hand it is going to be very expensive and not easy to find a course that covers these units (there are too many one day type courses for these units too which doesn't help! urgh!)

So overall I think a college course should include as much as possible but then again I could see why something "scary" (needles and electricity!) could alienate those learners who would make fantastic beauty therapists who just don't want to do these treatments.

What are your thoughts people?

Edit to add: It's good that BTEC covers a lot of what is on both massage and general route nvqs but BTEC can be less accessible for part time adult learners.

 

[gillian w]

I am even more inclined to say it shouldn't be taught at level 3,as I think experienced electrologists are becoming fewer and fewer so the lecturers may have little to no experience at all.
I think now there is a level 4 to 5 degree qualification which generally teaches management and usually includes advanced treatments like laser,semi permanent makeup,microdermabrasion it should be included in this.

 

[essentia]

I am even more inclined to say it shouldn't be taught at level 3,as I think experienced electrologists are becoming fewer and fewer so the lecturers may have little to no experience at all.
I think now there is a level 4 to 5 degree qualification which generally teaches management and usually includes advanced treatments like laser,semi permanent makeup,microdermabrasion it should be included in this.

I agree although skin blemish removal is now level 4 so they will have to re-grade that as well. I think electrolysis should be a separate course - it is under trained and girls can now go out with very little experience. Not in all cases but beauty education generally is poorer than it was 30 years ago.

 

[laurakate]

I am even more inclined to say it shouldn't be taught at level 3,as I think experienced electrologists are becoming fewer and fewer so the lecturers may have little to no experience at all.
I think now there is a level 4 to 5 degree qualification which generally teaches management and usually includes advanced treatments like laser,semi permanent makeup,microdermabrasion it should be included in this.

This is so ironic in the sense that it's starting to feel like electrolysis and facial/body electrical units are being taught for the sake of a qualification and that nobody is using them in real life unless they teach. Very ironic!

I don't know many people who are working in beauty and using electrolysis and facial/body electric skills.

The above would all be reasons for me to not bother learning the above treatments. It's not cheap that's for sure! Thing is though, because I want to teach, if I can't do these treatments then I feel that it could put me out of the running for a job because I'm not qualified to teach an nvq3 general route course. Still though...this adds weight to the theory that it is learnt to be taught but not used in real life.

I think the best thing I could do with these treatments is that if I'm serious about being a teacher would be to pay to do these courses but promise myself that I must must must find a job where I can use these skills (I'm much more spa route at the moment!) in order that when it comes to teaching, I know what I'm talking about. I've done lots of massage, facials, mani, pedi, holistics in my career so maybe to become a good therapist in the long run, it's about seeking a variety of employment roles where you can use a wider range of skills well in order to teach people as a good generalist?

 

[laurakate]

Not in all cases but beauty education generally is poorer than it was 30 years ago.

I'm not sure if I agree. I wasn't there 30 years ago to be fair lol! But yeah, I have done courses where they refuse to pass you if you're not completely competent and courses where they are so short of time that they will pass you if you get the general gist of it and carry out most of the treatment.

The best way to overcome a course where the teaching has been less than good is to do further training with a product brand. This can make you a more knowledgeable therapist with more qualifications to you name but it can also be very expensive and feel like you're having to pay for your education twice over. A good example of this is how I didn't feel that I really started to understand how to do a good nail treatment until I trained with Jessica/cnd/nsi at a later date post nvq 2 beauty/nvq 3 nails. Thing with electrolysis though is that I would love to do the VTCT with Sterex but it's out of my budget (sadly! ).

Thing is, if training with Sterex would definitely open doors for me in an electrolysis based job then I would be less reluctant about the cost of it. Thing I though, unless I'm looking in the wrong places I don't see many electrolysis based jobs available?