Waxing | Shaving | Tweezing | Depilatories | Threading | Laser | Electrolysis

Waxing (temporary)
In waxing, a wax or waxlike product (lukewarm, warm, or hot, depending on the type) is spread on the area to be waxed, in a thin layer, in the direction of the hair growth.

Typically, a cotton or pellon strip is pressed onto the wax, and this strip is pulled firmly back in the other direction, along with the wax and the hair, to which it has bonded. With "hard wax," the wax is spread more thickly, and a cotton strip is not needed, the operator gripping the edge of the wax itself.

This procedure is not without discomfort, but after the first waxing of the area, the discomfort is usually minimal, because in subsequent waxings (every month or so), the hair is (temporarily) wispier and less plentiful.

It seems that ambisexual hair (not hormonally induced), can be discouraged from growing back by repeated waxing. Hormonal hair (on women's lip, chin, sideburns, chest) seems to grow back stronger. There are anecdotal reports both ways in this question.

Waxing cannot be done on the face of someone using Retin-A, Renova, Differin or Accutane, as these thin the skin and it may tear when the wax strip is pulled off.

Consumer quality waxing supplies are available in drug stores and beauty supply outlets.

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Shaving (temporary)
Done with a blade or electric razor. Hair grows back faster than with waxing, because it is taken off right at skin level, rather than by the roots. Also, the razor blunt-cuts the hair, so that all the hairs growing back at the same rate, at their adult thickness, may SEEM to be thicker and darker. This is an illusion. With waxing, a new hair has to grow, and it starts out with a soft tip which you may not notice until it is sun-bleached, and many of the hairs around it may not grow back for some time. Shaving does not affect the growth of the hair one way or another

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Tweezing (temporary)
Often done on hormonal hair, typically on the chin. This hair will come back with a vengeance; therefore tweezing has come to be seen as a desperate measure. Some women have fair skin which shows the hair before it has even broken the surface. This gives her a dark shadow which she can do nothing about. Other women must tweeze so much that they bruise, giving the chin yet another cosmetic problem. If a woman has considerable chin, lip, or chest hair, the best thing would be to see an endocrinologist and an electrologist.

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Depilatories (temporary)
A depilatory is an alkaline substance that is spread on the skin. The depilatory dissolves any hair with which it comes into contact. It also dissolves skin, as hair and skin are both made of keratin. A depilatory is often harsh and can burn the skin. however, the regrowth is not as scratchy as in shaving because the hairs were dissolved, rather than blunt-cut. It takes the hair off at skin level, so regrowth is soon apparent, as with shaving.

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Threading (temporary)
Done with regular sewing thread held in the operator's fingers and teeth and spun so quickly that the hair is caught up in the threads and pulled out. This can be done to brows and fine facial hair without risk to the skin. The discomfort is like that of tweezing, and the area can get as red as after waxing.

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Laser (temporary, striving for permanent)
To date several systems have been cleared by the FDA, but the procedures are expensive up front, and there has not been enough time to see definitive results. So far they seem to be long-term (5-12 months?) rather than permanent. The FDA says they cannot claim permanence, and indeed they do not claim that. The FDA recently invented a term just for the laser claims: "permanent hair reduction." Maybe someday.

The laser still generally works best on fair-skinned people with dark hair, as it targets the melanin.

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Permanent Hair Removal

Electrolysis (eventually permanent)
The modern name for this procedure is electrology, as electrolysis per se is a little-used direct-current technique which requires 3-5 minutes per hair and is now done only with multiple-needle machines. Thermolysis uses heat to disable the hair follicle, and the Blend technique is a combination of the two, using both heat and chemical decomposition. The object of it all is to prevent the hair follicle from being able to grow a new hair.

To do this, a small wire probe or needle is inserted into the follicle alongside the existing hair, and the electric current, which activates at the tip of the probe, kills the dermal papilla, the source of the germination of the hair.

When the procedure is properly done, the papilla is destroyed about (that means sort of, more or less) 2/3 of the time, and the "about" one-third which grows back will have to be treated again. Also, hair grows in cycles, so that what you see on your skin today is only a fraction of the hairs which inhabit the area. The others are just in their dormant phase or are growing but haven't arrived at the surface yet. So, if you have electrolysis done on your chin today, any hairs which appear within the next 5-6 weeks are not the same hairs but different ones which were not showing at the time of the initial clearing of the area. This may seem discouraging, but if you persist over several months, the results are well worth the discomfort and expense.

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