Does Permanent Hair Removal Work?

For successful long-term hair removal, the hair follicle must be destroyed along with its growth centres. The challenge to the permanent hair removal process is that hair can be effectively destroyed only during the active phase of the growth cycle. Hair has an active growth stage, a transient stage and a resting stage—much like the growth and flowering of a daffodil bulb, followed by its wilting and dying, and then its dormant phase! Yet there is no way of telling which stage the hair is in before treatment, and so hairs treated in the transient or resting stage will be removed, but as the growth centre was not active, a new hair will grow.

Treatment of this new hair, however, will destroy the bulb and prevent that hair returning, although it is sometimes necessary to treat a follicle more than once if the hair is very strong. Of course, humans do not moult at set times, but instead shed hair at irregular intervals, therefore clients wanting long-term results require multiple treatments over several months to remove unwanted hair. If the client is accustomed to using other methods of depilation, like waxing, sugaring, plucking or shaving, these alternatives are discouraged during the electrolysis treatment period, although bleaching and cutting are permitted. This is because the other methods can actually stimulate hair growth, but clients used to controlling the appearance of unwanted hair often think the electrolysis treatment is not working well, whereas it is just that hairs which were previously removed as soon as the shaft showed, have to be allowed to grow a little in order to be treated!

Electrolysis Hair Removal

Electrolysis is the application of a very small electrical current precisely into the base of the hair follicle.

This destroys it and permanently prevents that hair from re-growing. This is much more accurate and effective than tweezer electrical epilators designed for home use. A special tiny, pre-sealed, sterilised, one-use needle is skilfully inserted into the hole from which the hair is growing. This is painless, as the needle does not pierce the skin and so it is nothing like an injection. Electrolysis needles are quite literally as fine as a human hair! The treatment is equally effective for any hair colour or type. There are 3 types of electrical application: Diathermy, Galvanic and Blend: if galvanic is used, it causes a local chemical reaction in the natural moisture of the body tissues, the solution produced is caustic, and as it surrounds the treated hair, it damages the growth area within that particular follicle. Blend is a mix of a tiny amount of diathermy and galvanic current, which is most successful at destroying the hair follicle. Blend is well tolerated by most clients, as there is little heat felt during treatment, and it takes only a few seconds longer than the pure Diathermy method, and a few seconds less than pure Galvanic. Hair removal over any substantial area requires multiple treatments, which makes it a more costly alternative in the short term than salon waxing, but then, the client will not have to subject themselves to the ongoing cost of waxing every few weeks for endless years.