The decision to add Teresa Petricca to our short list of front cover electrology heroes and back it up with a full feature story inside the magazine, was not made lightly, impulsively, or without good reason: for Teresa Petricca is not without detractors. It would be virtually impossible to be in electrology association politics for 18 years, as she has, without making a number of enemies along the way.

While planning this story, the editors at Hair Route were well aware that there would be political fallout. Teresa Petricca’s extraordinary passion, her enthusiasm, and her dedication to the unusual field of permanent hair removal, has brought her many personal rewards and many accolades from her peers. But her position with the American Electrology Association, coupled with her tenacity and her sometimes-intractable way of doing things, have also made her a human lightening rod for criticism and a variety of epithets from her adversaries.

On the positive side, Teresa Petricca has been fondly nicknamed Sister Teresa , Ms. Electrolysis, and Superwoman of Electrology, but she has also been called arrogant, a busybody, a pushy broad, a battle-ax, a dinosaur, and worse. “I’ve been called so many things” she told us during the Hair Route interview. The title she refers to most often is “Wicked Witch of the Northeast,” a term that some of her friends suspect she herself may have made up, to anticipate the reactions of those people who dislike the way she does things.

International Hair Route is a totally independent magazine, not affiliated with any particular electrology group or association, which has thankfully enjoyed a reputation for fairness and unbiased reporting. Hopeful of keeping this reputation intact, Hair Route was, at first, reluctant to write the Teresa Petricca story without getting some contrary opinions and comments from opposing individuals or groups. This, we thought, would underscore the Magazine’s independence and preserve its integrity, and give the final article more credibility with all its readers. We did not want to be accused of being in cahoots with the AEA!

Those were our first thoughts. But shortly after getting started on the article we knew it was the wrong thing to do. We had it in mind originally, to pay tribute to this person: Why would we now want to solicit negative comments from known disbelievers? Were we going to dole out compliments with one hand and take them back with the other – to satisfy a few Petricca critics and confirm the Magazine’s neutrality? No, if we put this person on the front cover of Hair Route it is because everyone at Hair Route believes that she has done more good for Electrolysis and the Electrology Profession over the last 18 years than any other individual or group.

Everyone at Hair Route agrees that Teresa Petricca is Electrology’s First Lady. We hope our readers will agree.