Electrolysis & Laser Hair Removal

If you don’t like the idea of shaving or waxing your hair, then you may prefer electrolysis or laser hair removal instead.

Both of these hair removal techniques work by destroying the hair follicle, thereby preventing hair growth.

Although neither electrolysis nor laser hair removal are permanent solutions, they can be extremely effective at not only removing hair but also inhibiting the rate at which it returns.

This means you will remain hair free for longer, and won’t have to shave or wax so often.

How Effective Is Electrolysis Or Laser Hair Removal?

The effectiveness of electrolysis or laser hair removal largely depends on how your hair grows and how your skin reacts to this much stimulation.

Some people for example may only require a few treatments to get good results, whilst others may need many treatments and will still have rapid hair regrowth.

This is why it is impossible to say how well these treatments will work for you, as you won’t know until you try it.

Laser Hair Removal

The people who tend to respond best to laser hair removal are those with light skin and dark hair. Although if you have light skin and light hair, pulsed light laser treatment may be effective for you.

The trouble with darker skin tones is that laser treatment may cause discolouration of the skin and pigmentation.

So even if the treatment did work out well for you, the damage done to your skin would detract from the hair removal benefits.

However do not think that just because you have light skin you won’t experience any negative side effects from laser hair removal.

There is still the possibility of your skin swelling, becoming inflamed or your hair follicles getting infected.

Laser treated skin is also much more sensitive to the sun, and so you will be required to protect treated skin for the rest of your life with sunscreen or sunblock to avoid an elevated risk of skin cancer.

In general you can expect to have four to six laser hair removal sessions spaced four weeks apart to see around an 80% reduction in hair regrowth.

Electrolysis Hair Removal

If you find that you have the wrong skin type for laser hair removal, or that it didn’t work for you, then you may want to consider electrolysis hair removal instead.

Electrolysis tends to work well for all types of hair and skin, the only exception to this is skin that scars easily which electrolysis is generally not recommended for.

Before you begin any electrolysis treatment always make sure you have a test patch done first, as this way you will  be able to get a rough idea of how effective the treatment will be for you and the way your skin will react.

It is also worth talking to people who have had electrolysis treatment before, and asking them their experience of it, how well it worked for them and whether or not they would do it again.

Normally you can expect to have anywhere between 15 to 30 treatment sessions, although this can vary depending on how much hair you are treating.

Electrolysis Hair Removal At Home

One of the advantages of electrolysis hair removal is that it is possible to do it at home, providing you have the right equipment and experience.

Although the home use electrolysis machines use a weaker electric current than what you would find at a salon, they basically do the same thing by destroying the hair follicle so that hair grows back at a slower rate.

However in order to destroy the follicle you need to locate the follicle for each individual hair and then zap it with the needle.

As you can imagine this is a long and tedious process, especially if you are treating large areas of hair such as your legs or bikini area.

So whilst home electrolysis treatments can work out cheaper in the long run, if you want to treat anything larger than your upper lip, you would probably be better off going to a salon and being treated by a professional.

Summary

Both electrolysis and laser hair removal can be very effective at removing hair and slowing down the rate at which it returns.

This means your body can remain hair free for longer, without you having to worry about shaving or waxing so often.

However these treatments are not effective for everyone and carry certain health risks. Treatments also take a long time to complete and are usually expensive.

In addition to this neither electrolysis nor laser hair removal are permanent treatments, so it’s up to you to decide whether you should opt for this type of hair removal or stick with the more traditional methods such as shaving or waxing.