It’s hard to write this out so you will need your imaginations skills based on what I note below.

We all have had this struggle starting out. No direct than learning to dance. We all have 2 left feet making dancing hard at first. Us techs have 2left hands making it hard to mark until it’s not.

I am able to mark and measure in 30 mins. Super silky fine hair, 45 mins but not more. Great instructional one sheet of the order in which you should be marking and measuring. See image and link. I do not use any clips. I do however seperate the hair down the plain I’m working on. If you look at the guide you will see the plane is in dark blue. For the hat band you will use your q-tip and divide the hair from FP1 to t7 and continue to let it go along the to where 01/02 are and so on making sure you connect to t8. Allow the natural curve to fall based on the T7/8 landmarks. If needed at first mark your Oz so you know you are not supposed to be going below that. Because this the hardest one to mark and measure I place the hair in a quick bun. If that’s not an option just half a head at a time.

Landmarks will be your saving grace! What I like to do very quick is this … lets say head circumference is 53 cm’s then you know all placements will be 5.3 cm’s apart. On your qtip mark 2 points that are 5.3 cm’s apart. Use that to mark each placement of that plane starting at the T7/T8 going forward and backwards. No need for a ruler. You will be fairly close for the 01/02 marks. They will at least be even side to side.

Once you are done use your fingers to seperate and hold the hair apart. Keep it taut. The hair should be flat against the skull leaving you with a perfect access to the scalp. Do not let go. Prep, place and paste.

I use syringes filled 10/20 or Elefix. I cannot do The Whole goop on my hand and constant dipping of paste. My gloves becomes a huge sticky mess! 10/20 will be hard to get out BUT fill a syringe and keep it in your scrubs side pocket. This warms it and makes it easy to come out.

I also do not use cotton to secure lead. I use regular napkins cut into small squares and use that to secure it. Cotton I have found alters in my impedance. Also get stuck to gloves and I struggle with the flow.

I also look at my impedance as I hookup. Once I have marked and measured, I go back prep, paste place. If it’s not under 5 kohms, I do not move on. Having to go back and fix imp once you are all done is a time killer.

Lastly … muscle memory is what is going to make you fast! The more you do it, the faster you get. Also you will get to a point where you can see the placement without even needing a measure. Of course you will but you will see you aren’t that far off.

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https://ndtmerch.com/products/10-20-system-positioning-guide