Long Term Hair Removal: Lasers and Electrolysis
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Long Term Hair Removal: Lasers and Electrolysis
Jenifer Reid blogs about all things to do with male hair removal on her site at: http://www.hairremovalformenhq.com
Modern technology has introduced new ways of removing hair from all parts of the body. Lasers, electrolysis, IPL, pulsed diodes….The list goes on, and the technology can be quite confusing to somebody who is just looking for the best way of getting rid of face and body hair. So, I’ve created this article as a high level overview of two of the most popular long:term hair removal methods that are currently on the market to help you decide what’s right for you.
Electrolysis Hair Removal
Electrolysis is the only method of hair removal that can be labelled as “permanent” – as decided by the FDA. The great thing about electrolysis as opposed to some of the other long term hair removal methods is that it is effective on all hair and skin types. The disadvantage is that each individual hair needs to be treated, which means that it’s pretty much impossible to have electrolysis performed on larger areas of the body.
Here’s how electrolysis work:: a hair thin like needle is placed inside the hair follicle and electricity is released into the root of the hair. This produces a chemical reaction that thermally and chemically denatures the hair follicle so that the hair can’t regrow.
It should just be mentioned that even though electrolysis permanently destroys hair follicles, your body does continue to produce hair follicles (the rate of this follicle generation depends very much on your genetics) – therefore multiple sessions of electrolysis are usually required for that permanent hair removal effect.
Laser Hair Removal
Laser hair removal is a slightly more controversial method of hair removal. The FDA has approved “some” lasers as offering permanent hair “reduction” – not “removal”. This is because most laser hair removal treatment won’t actually permanently remove hair from your body – rather reduce the growth by a certain percentage.
Laser hair removal works by sending a concentrated beam of light through the skin. The light is absorbed by a substance called melalin in the hair, which raises the temperature of the follicle to around 27 degrees centegrade – hot enough to denature the follicle for regrowth.
Unlike electrolysis, most lasers only work on people with light skin and dark hair. If a patient has dark skin then there is a high risk that the laser will be absorbed by the melalin in the skin – if this happens the patient can be left with quite serious burns and scarring.
Lasers come at a variety of different wavelengths. Some of the longer wavelength lasers don’t target melalin, and instead use a solution that you rub into the pores into the skin. The idea is that the solution soaks into the hair follicle and rests at the base of the hair – the laser then operates at the optimal wavelength to target this chromophore. These lasers can be used on most skin types (even darker skin types) simply because the high wavelength laser can pass through the melalin without being absorbed.
In summary, laser hair removal can be used for larger areas, offers results that vary from one person to the next and may not be right for everyone. Electrolysis on the other hand is suitable for anyone, however can’t be used on larger areas of the body simply because it takes so long to perform the treatment.
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