Chicken and egg situation regarding NVQ 3

Hi all

I need some brain power, help and advice regarding my situation!

I'm NVQ level 2 qualified, plus I am qualified level 3 in massage, plus the usual add on's e.g spray tans, eyelashes etc etc but I now want to qualify to the full NVQ 3 level re facial, body electrics.

I've been in touch with the Carlton Institute who have said "yes you can do the training BUT you will need to go home and do 25 case studies on Galvanic, Micro Current, Electro muscle stimmulation, Micro - Lance, Vacumm suction and high frequency, so will have to get the equipment". Fair enough, however I work for myself so I do not have this equipment so I phoned several companies and they have all said "you have to be qualified in order to buy, rent or lease" which is understandable re insurance but not helpful for me.

So what do I do?? I'm thinking maybe I'm going to have to try and raise £2k and go back to college and do my level 3 but an awful lot of what their syllabus includes I'm already qualified in, not to mention the £2k I would have to raise!!!

If anyone has any better suggestions I will love you forever!!

Oh my goodness!

Please please please don't do facial or body electrics with the Carlton Institute.

I used them for my level 2 and I got what I wanted out of it but support was limited in terms of supervision. They were good with the portfolio help when I phoned them but in terms of the practical work there were times when it felt a bit hit or miss.

I did facial electricals at college (full time) and this was necessary in terms of getting the supervision and confidence I needed. You need to be somewhere where you can get access to the machine and be supervised in your use of it because there is too much that could go wrong otherwise.

The good news is that lots of colleges offer this qualification (college as in where you go in for a minimum of one day a week) so I urge you to do the qualification but with somewhere that can meet your needs in terms of getting the practice in and access to the machines.

I think it's worth remembering here that not only do you need the qualification but also the experience and practice behind that and I think the Carlton Institute provides a limited service in this respect due to the nature of their courses.

I'm not saying "don't use the carlton institute at all" but I am saying that some treatments are best learnt with more contact time in class and I feel the facial electrics is definately one of those treatments.

Edit: If you don't want to do a whole level 3 and just the facial electricals part, I recommend phoning your local colleges and asking if you can do this bit as a separate unit with the full time students. I was looking at doing this for electrolysis at one point and it was an option.

Hey !!

It's a really hard situation to be in, I understand your pain lol.

Have you tried your local college? They sometimes do courses like electrical facials on its own, so the work would all be done at college not home assessments. Also local colleges tend not to be as expensive my local college did one say a week level 3 for under 100, well in my area anyway xx

Hi i was in exactly the same situtation as you, im now at college doing my level 3 which is a bit of a bore at times as im already qualifed in level 3 massage and also hotstones which is being covered on the course, however i get to go over things i have already trained in 6yrs+ ago which is not a bad thing, i like to think of it as perfecting my skills that i already have.
Theres a heck of alot to learn with all the electrical facial and body equipment and you really do need those classes where you are supervised and supported in your learning to be really good at what you do (and safe! but thats not to say anyone who has gone through carlton isnt so please dont shoot me) id also urge you to try go through a good college it'll be worth it in the end and most colleges do a payment plan after an intial deposit usually interest free

Thanks guy's for your reply.

I have been in touch with my local college and they won't do it in just the units, it's full time for a year and costs £1820, no help or concession as I'm older than 25. They say I would have to enrole now with a deposit of 40% £728 and then 3 seperate payments £364 which is monthly, not much help for a lot of mature students.

I have been in touch with my local college and they won't do it in just the units, it's full time for a year and costs £1820, no help or concession as I'm older than 25. They say I would have to enrole now with a deposit of 40% £728 and then 3 seperate payments £364 which is monthly, not much help for a lot of mature students.[/QUOTE]

Hi,

I did the Carlton Institute training for facial & body electricals in a slightly different way last year. Not sure if this is still available, or an option for you...

I have done all of my beauty qualifications as separate courses , and I wanted to train with Environ to offer their facials with their Ionzyme machine.
I did my 5 day training with Environ and then I did the 2 day training at Carlton in Windsor that covers facial & body electricals.
I got to use all of their machines over the 2 days and left with a diploma in this area. It was perfectly sufficient for me, as I only wanted to be able to offer the Environ electrical facials which I was already trained in anyway. But there was another lady training with me who wanted to offer the MDA and all of the other types of facials as well.
I was able to buy Environs machine then and get insured etc. once I had the Carlton diploma.
I think to make the Carlton qualification up to an NVQ, that's when you need to do all of the modules, case studies etc. But they also offer diploma options.
I live in Brighton so it'd be a bit difficult to travel up to the training centre every time you want to use one of their machines, They same problem for you being in Bournemouth I guess.
hth

Carlalouise said:

Thanks guy's for your reply.

I have been in touch with my local college and they won't do it in just the units, it's full time for a year and costs £1820, no help or concession as I'm older than 25. They say I would have to enrole now with a deposit of 40% £728 and then 3 seperate payments £364 which is monthly, not much help for a lot of mature students.

Click to expand...

I did just look on the Carlton website they do say that they can help you.


Get NVQ qualified and improve your employability
You can also obtain an NVQ qualification in electrical facial treatments, however you must compile case studies and will require access to the equipment listed in the course content, which we can assist you with.
you bee. To borrow the equipment

xxlouiseshanexx said:

I did just look on the Carlton website they do say that they can help you.


Get NVQ qualified and improve your employability
You can also obtain an NVQ qualification in electrical facial treatments, however you must compile case studies and will require access to the equipment listed in the course content, which we can assist you with.
you bee. To borrow the equipment

Click to expand...

Thanks for looking into it, I did phone the Carlton and they said if I lived in the area I could take my case studies there and rent the machinery but I live in Bournemouth so not much help for me.

Id really like to do level 3 but like many others ive doen massage and hot stones, I really only want to be able to do facial elecricals. I think I will have to go back to College and do the whole level 3

I am off t look into enrolling

Different colleges offer different things in terms of course costs and the units covered within the level 3. I would shop around to see which course would offer me the mot experience. For example, most level 3 courses include massage but not hot stones so you may be able to look futher afield for a college that offers a different range of units within level 3.

Can you try a few other colleges further afield ?

When I did my NVQ 3 there was a lady that just came in for the electrolysis unit so I know some colleges will do this.