Hair is such an emotive subject and with human nature being human nature, what we wish we can’t have and what we have we don’t want! Curly hair and we wish straight, straight hair and we wish curly, brunette and we wish blonde, blonde and we wish red. Likewise upper lip hair on a female, so valued as an indication of exquisite beauty in certain elements of the entire world, is vilified by our Western society.
Unwanted hair is really a common problem affecting nearly all women to varying degrees throughout their lives and prompting the utilization of various temporary methods of hair reduction or hair management systems. It causes great distress, and it is often associated with feelings of poor self esteem, an expression of isolation and low self worth.
Because the instances when bearded feamales in Victorian travelling fairs were displayed for entertainment and ridicule, Western society has nurtured a stigma about excess hair. Many women are pressured into tremendous lengths to eliminate any trace of hair from any and all of their body as they think it to be unattractive and unappealing. However it is not merely women which can be now affected… increasingly the male gender is susceptible to pressure from the ‘fashion’ and celebrity world and unwanted hair could be in the same way vilified by the male population nowadays since the female.
Different Types of Hair Removal
Superfluous hair growth could be due to many factors, such as for example, hormone imbalance, (during puberty, pregnancy and menopause), genetics and ethnicity, hereditary, medication or topical stimulation e.g. waxing or tweezing. Therefore, electrolysis – the sole permanent approach to hair removal, is a treatment that is in great demand by female and transsexual clients and recently, because of society’s attitudes, the number of male clients is increasing.
To meet up this need there as been many hair removal measures some which go back centuries in history. Hair removal has existed since caveman times but interestingly the elements of the human body we are removing hair from have differed over the ages. Removing hair from the pinnacle and face of men was originally not for vanity purposes but for survival. There’s evidence that cavemen did this but in addition the ancient Egyptians and it was undertaken, we imagine, for protection, as scraping off the beard and hair on the pinnacle would take away the main advantage of an adversary having anything to grab onto in addition to having less mites!
In ancient Egypt, Greece, and Middle Eastern countries, removing body hair was important. In fact these women removed most of their body hair, with the exception of eyebrows. Egyptian women removed their head hair and pubic hair was considered uncivilized by both sexes! It had been also considered uncivilized for men to have hair on the face. Facial hair was the mark of a slave or servant, or of a person of lower class. The ancient Egyptians used a questionnaire of razors manufactured from flint or bronze since the razor wasn’t invented till the 1760’s by French barber, Jean Jacques Perret.
Additionally they used a way of temporary hair removal called sugaring. A sticky paste (bees wax was sometimes used) would be placed on your skin, a reel of cloth was pressed onto the wax and yanked off – the equivalent of waxing today. Wealthy women of the Roman Empire would remove their body hair with pumice stones, razors, tweezing and pastes. There is also another technique used called threading that will be recently seeing a resurgence in popularity. Thin string or yarn would be placed through the fingers of both hands, and quickly stroked over the area. This repetitive process captured the hair and effectively tweezed, ripped or pulled the unwanted hair out. Throughout the Elizabethan times the practice of hair removal, (not of leg, armpit or pubic hair), of their eyebrows and the hair from their foreheads to be able to give the appearance of an extended brow and forehead was fashionable. It is startling to see well-known influence ‘fashion’ has played in hair removal from ab muscles beginning.
Waxing, sugaring, depilatory creams, bleaching, shaving, sugaring, plucking, threading and even battery-powered tweezers multiple-plucking systems, are typical temporary methods that many people try today. In fact new hair removal devices seem to seem like buses – every 20 minutes roughly! However, technology has moved on and with it, it appears that there are some restricted and doubtful methods of hair removal. X-ray and photodynamic methods have been in a restricted category as the former has been banned in a few countries like the USA and the latter are just in experimental stages. Electric tweezers, transdermal electrolysis, and microwaves are some of the doubtful methods in that there surely is no established data on the effectiveness.
Electrolysis remains the sole proven permanent approach to hair removal and many women and indeed many men, have benefited out of this tried and trusted treatment. It is the case that electrologists are privileged to witness a dramatic transformation in their clients, from a timid, introverted personality at the beginning of a program of treatments, to a confident and happy individual once treatment is underway and results become apparent.
Whatever your opinion of hair, ‘removing it’ within our Western society is a multi million pound industry. Such a huge money making machine though can have more than its fair share of misconceptions, misunderstandings, myths and legends none which relate much to the hard reality truth. The huge profit led hair removal industry has its fair share of charlatans and scams all attracted by the huge profit led opportunities.
Hair Removal methods are both permanent and temporary. The English dictionary definition of ‘permanent’ states: perpetual, everlasting. With this in mind there’s only one system on the market today that can totally prove ‘permanent’ hair removal primarily because of its longevity, client testimony and satisfaction and that is electrolysis. Invented in 1875 electrolysis offers permanent removal of hair for many hair types and colours and all skin types and colours. It remains utilised in hospitals by surgeons and ophthalmologists for trichaisis and other distortions of the eyelashes as well supporting the hospital laser hair removal departments. It can be considered a significant tool in the job of veterinary surgeons for animals (primarily horses and dogs) for the permanent removal of distorted and in-growing eyelashes. It gives cosmetic relief for the customer with mild hirsute problems to the individual with seriously hirsute problems and for the transgender patient who may require many hours of treatment.
Apparently there’s been confusing messages from the regulatory bodies on definitions of what the words ‘permanent’, ‘removal’ or ‘reduction’ in the hair removal industry actually mean. Agreement was reached when 激光脫毛價錢 the hairs that have been removed do not grow back for an amount of one year after the last treatment, permanent reduction could be claimed. Electrolysis, invented in 1875 remains even today, usually the one method legally permitted to claim ‘permanent removal’ ;.
The newer technologies such as for example LASER (Light Amplification Stimulated Emission of Radiation) and IPL (Intense Pulse Light) were initially launched as competitors of electrolysis and initially marketed as THE answer for many permanent hair removal. This, it is now realised, reaches best, somewhat nave and at worst, certainly misleading. The reality is that this is wishful thinking and nowadays ‘claims’ are more realistic. The simple truth is that whilst they have their successes they likewise have their limitations – they can not treat all hair colours and types and all skin colours successfully and they now accept their limitations and embrace electrolysis and electrologists as their back up.
Laser and IPL are allowed by the FDA to claim permanent ‘reduction’ but not permanent ‘removal’ of hair. The simple truth is this newer technology is brilliant for large areas and for dark hair. For grey or white hair it just simply doesn’t work. Laser and IPL target the melanin in the hair and if the hair is grey or white there’s no melanin remaining in the hair because of it to target. In addition to this, for unknown reason(s) not all of the hair reacts to treatment and results vary from 85% – 95% success. The residual 5% – 15% hair will be stripped of its melanin (thus appearing white) but nevertheless stubbornly continues to grow. This then leaves the sole option of ‘permanent hair removal’ down seriously to additional electrolysis treatment to perform the job. Laser and IPL are now actually recognised to be a hair ‘management’ system and clients are advised that regrowth may occur.
Photoepilator light energy was launched in 1969 and was developed from research into laser hair removal. Photoepilators use a burst of filtered light targeted at one hair at a time. Following the focus of the light, the hair is tweezed. Like any laser and light instrument, the light used in the unit is targeted from the blood and melanin pigments in the hair and heats them up. Allow this method, fibre-optic probes were inserted to the hair follicle through which the light was flashed. There’s no clinical data published so far to guide any permanency claims and there’s no established data on its effectiveness.
The tweezer method with its unsubstantiated claim of ‘permanent hair removal’ was first patented in 1959. This method functions passing an electric current through the tweezers, which holds the hair at first glance of your skin by grasping them for many minutes. Electricity enters through the hair to its root and claims to permanently damage it. The scientific community has reservations since the claim of electricity destroying the root of the hair has no scientific backup.
Transcutaneous and Transdermal offers ‘permanent Hair Removal’ but no clinical data has been published currently to ascertain the declare that permanent hair removal is possible using these methods. In 1985 when the utilization of AC electric tweezers was stopped, the manufacturers made some modifications in the apparatus. Adhesive patches in place of cotton swabs were introduced and a name change into transcutaneous hair removal. It uses the notion of direct current (DC) for transdermal delivery of drugs (iontophoresis) without the utilization of a needle. A DC electric current is passed through a conductive gel at first glance of your skin via an adhesive patch positioned on the skin. The hair root is claimed to be damaged permanently by the electric current that travels down seriously to the hair follicle.
Currently no clinical data can be obtained and the laws of physics do not support the claims made by the manufacturers. Hair does not conduct electricity but skin does. As electricity passes through the medium of poor resistance, it will spread along the top of your skin as opposed to passing through the hair. Therefore, as with the tweezer method, the argument that it will reach the root of the hair to destroy it has no scientific backup.
Ultrasound hair removal claims that ultrasound waves are channelled precisely down the hair shaft and along the way they transform to thermal energy that super heats the hair growth areas and inhibits regrowth. It is stated that the waves are bound to the hair shaft and do not dissipate into your skin prevents any side effects.
Ultrasound hair removal offers ‘total hair removal’ and claims to function as ‘next generation of long haul hair removal devices’ ;.It states in its marketing material it is ‘The hair removal solution’ and that ‘no additional hair appears in the exact same follicle proving that this can be a long-term treatment’ ;.The FDA has not given the outcome currently regarding a credit card applicatoin to market in April 2010 of the latest device.