No Hair Removal Works Permanently

Am I A Freak of Nature?

by Eleanor (UK)

I have dark red hair on my head – but extremely blond hair on my lip and chin and am white, white extra-white/pale skin. Although it is blond it is noticeable because there is quite a lot of it…. it used not to be so bad but once I started waxing and then using hair removal creams it got thicker and thicker and more noticeable.

So I went to electrolysis — I am a very disorganised, scatty person — so my electrolysis was sporadic rather than every three weeks or whatever it ought to be but i must have done electrolysis twenty/thirty times over the past ten years or so and my hair is thicker and stronger and more noticeable than ever before and grows back quicker too.

This isn’t a normal result, is it? I thought electrolysis was permanent! It has only made my hair-growth worse. I am beginning to wonder if i am some sort of freak of nature – that whatever normally reduces other people’s hair works in the opposite way for me to encourage extra strong, thick hair growth.

The hairs are on my chin and lip and it is beginning to drive me crazy.

Will laser work better? Did anyone have an experience with electrolysis not working but laser being effective?

Thanks.

Response from Carl: Thanks for the email, Eleanor. The thing to remember is that hair grows in cycles so even if you use a hair removal method such as electrolysis to permanently remove hair, new hair might end up growing in that area was not noticeable when you had the treatment done. It can be an ongoing process where you have to plan your hair removal treatment options to take into account the cycles of hair growth. Certainly your ability to stick to a stated or ideal hair removal schedule can also affect your results.

Electrolysis tends to work best on small areas of hair removal like the chin, eyebrows, underarms. Larger body parts such as back, shoulders, chest, legs and arms might be more suitable for IPL or laser since larger areas can be covered at one time.

When I first started using IPL (Intense Pulsed Light) treatment which is an alternative to laser, I was scheduled by the doctor to come back every 3 months to start with to try to take into account the hair growth cycle. They figured that some of the hair follicles that were not “killed” by the treatment would begin growing back around that time plus new previously undetected hair might also start to appear around that time so they would catch the hair in the growth phase and try to eliminate it. Keep in mind that IPL offers what they often call “permanent hair reduction” which means that the treatment should permanently reduce the amount of hair you have in the treated area. A smart, honest practitioner of IPL won’t offer complete permanent hair removal because they can’t predict my future hair growth cycle or anyone else’s for that matter. I probably had 20 treatments over 5 years and it did reduce the amount of hair but it certainly didn’t eliminate it 100%.

You might consider consulting a doctor such as a dermatologist or at least a doctor who is authorized or trained in hair and hair removal. They might be able to offer a professional, better-organized plan for your hair removal needs than having you try to figure it out yourself. This could end up being more cost effective and efficient for you in the long run.

Finally, your hair might be growing back thicker and quicker but it isn’t because of your chosen hair removal method. Hair growth is determined by genetics. Electrolysis – or shaving, waxing, sugaring, etc – won’t affect how your hair grows back or how quickly it grows.