Permanent Hair Removal

All the above mentioned depilation methods are temporary. Some epilation methods are temporary too, and include: tweezing, waxing, sugaring, threading...

Human hair grows all over the body, but is most noticeable on parts like head, face, legs, pubic parts, chest. Removing hair is a practice known to almost all cultures, but reasons and methods of removal may vary.

Cultural reasons

Society dictates what lenght and style of hair is accepted, according to the cultural context. For example many men from Western cultures shave their beard, while in some Eastern cultures beards are symbol of wisdom.

Religious reasons

Some religions inculude hair removal on some parts. Example are Buddihist monks, who shacve their heads.

Medical reasons

Body hair may be removed before surgery.

Methods that are considered to be permanent are still somehow imperfect, because it is hard to destroy only hair, without damaging surrounding tissue. They work too some degree, but may need to be repeated many times, because of hair growth phases. All method can remove grown hair, but don't influence "sleeping" phases of hair growth.

Permanent methods are considerd to be:
Electroepilation - electrolysis (electrology) and thermolysis
Photoepilation - laser hair removal, intense pulsed light removal and diode epilation
ultrasoundepilation

Laser hair removal is generally accepted efficient and safe method of hair removal. Primary principle of laser epilation is selective photothermolysis, which basicly means that laser effects only dark targets that hair are. They cause localised damage in the follicle - area that grows hair, by heating melanin.

Laser energy ranges from visible light to infrared radiation, depending on wavelength. Different lasers use different pulse light which effects the kind of hair it's effective on. Short pulsewidhts are more effective but are safe only for pale skin, while longer are not so effecting at disabling hair follicles, but are safe for darker skin too.

Duration of laser hair removal treatments

To be most effective, multiple treatments are needed. Typically treatments are 8-12 weeks apart. Number of laser treatments depends on type and color of a hair and skin. Easiest to treat is dark hair on white skin. Removal difficulty also depends on areas we treat, for example men's faces need more treatments than other parts of body. Laser treatment take 6-8 sessions on average.

Side effects of laser removal

There are some normal side effect while removing hair with help of a laser, includeing redness, itching and sometimes swelling of the treatment area, but should not last longer than a few days. Some people with low pain treshold may also experience some pain.

Unwanted side effect may occur if wrong type of laser is used (too strong for this type of skin and hair). These can be hypo or hyper-pigmentation and burning in some extreme cases.

If numbing creams are used to ease the pain in the process, practitian should check the patient for possivle allergies.

Electrolysis or electrology means epilation with use of electricy. This process practices sliding a hair-thin solid metal probe into hair follicle. With proper insertion skin is not punctured. Then electricity is delivered into each follicle, and it does damage to areas that grow hair. Damage is done by either caustic lye for galvanic method or by heat for thermolysis method. Some tehniques include both effect, heat and lye for maximum effectivness.

Procedure

Practitioner uses the probe which easily slide in the hair follicle. Probe diameter is similar to hair shaft or even smaller, and must be inserted at the same angle as the hair is growing. Duration of insertion is small at first, then turned up, untill the hair comes out easily. Settings are also lowered if patient has low pain tolerance.

Treatment duration

Since each hair must be treated separately, this is one of the longest hair removal methods. Electrolysis treatments are therefore divided in many sessions. For example average treatment lenght for facial hair removal is 2 years.