Why Hair Removal?
Although many believe it is just a recent trend, hair removal has been around for centuries There are a few medical purposes but most hair removal is done for social, cultural and aesthetic reasons. Just as many men remove their facial hair daily as a preference, many women choose to remove unwanted hair because they simply want to do so – a personal choice. I’ll leave it up to you as to your reasons…
Check out this comprehensive article at Wikipedia.
Hair Removal Methods – What’s best?
Ultimately your satisfaction is what is most important. Although I provide only Laser Hair Removal as a professional service, I will try to address some key issues when considering the various methods of hair removal. Let’s take them 1 at a time:
Shaving – probably the most common method, shaving is a right of passage for just about every teenager regardless of the body area and continues on through adulthood. Shaving is economical, although blades sure seem to cost a lot more these days, and fairly easy to master. Satisfaction seems to be a function of hair density and location. If you have a lot of unwanted hair in tough areas to shave, such as underarms and the bikini area then you may not be too happy with the results. Contrary to popular opinion, shaving does not make hair grow thicker or faster. Here is the Wikipedia article on shaving and here are “Top 10 Shaving Tips” from About.com. WebMD has a nice article for “girls” about shaving that has some good basic information.
Plucking - a slow but cheap way to shape eyebrows, plucking is really not a viable method to deal with other areas of excess hair. If you’ve got the time, patience and tolerance for the discomfort then I see no reason why you shouldn’t pluck a way. A good pair of tweezers and a magnifying mirror are essential – check out Walgreens or DrugStore.com.
Waxing - think of it as mass plucking, waxing is quite popular these days. Some might caution that waxing causes big problems – I haven’t seen many. Good clinicians will use top quality products, good technique and have reasonable prices. A couple of drawbacks include discomfort (ouch!), ingrown hairs on regrowth, and the need to let hair grow out prior to treatment.
Electrolysis - A fine needle is inserted into the hair follicle and an electric current is applied to damage the root. Drawbacks include difficulty finding a qualified electrologist, the need for multiple treatments, slow treatments, discomfort, potential infection and scarring.
Laser - Back in the 1990’s a few lasers were found to damage hair follicles sufficiently to slow and, in many cases, permanently stop hair growth. The concept was simple – target the dark root of the hair with laser energy and heat it up to damage it while somehow preventing burns. Now, after a decade or so of experience, we know that the simple idea is a bit harder to accomplish. Lasers are very effective for hair removal when: the right laser is used on the right patient by the right clinician. The right laser – I like the Candela GentleLASE best. The right patient – best results are with light skin, dark hair and no suntan. The right clinician – someone with experience and knowledge. Please explore my website for more information.
