Electrolysis is an effective and permanent form of hair removal. As the only procedure that directly targets and permanently kills each individual hair follicle, be sure that your electrologist uses needle electrolysis instead of electric tweezers or photoepilators.
After treatment, you may experience temporary redness or mild swelling which should subside within several hours. Some individuals may even see tiny reddish brown pinprick scabs.
How Does Electrolysis Work?
Electrolysis involves inserting a needle or probe into hair follicles (small sacs beneath your skin that produce hair), then passing a low-level electrical current through them, depriving them of blood and shutting them down; once incapacitated, you can destroy them using heat or another method; once destroyed, they no longer produce hair and pose no risk to health or hygiene.
Electrolysis offers permanent hair removal. While shaving, plucking, threading and waxing may temporarily take care of hair growth issues, electrolysis has the ability to permanently eliminate each hair follicle – however it may take multiple treatment sessions as each hair follows different cycles of growth, rest and shed.
At each session, an electric current will be passed through your hair follicle with a probe inserted. Depending on your individual pain threshold, this process may feel hot or uncomfortable – most clients find it less painful than laser hair removal; though results may differ between individuals. Most often you won’t even feel the insertion of the probe; just the current application.
If you’re considering electrolysis, take care in selecting a practitioner. Select one who offers numbing for comfort during treatments and is familiar with the process; inquire as to their training and expected number of sessions necessary for an ideal result.
Before your appointment, ensure your skin is cleansed thoroughly to minimize risk of irritation. On the day of treatment, avoid lotions, oils and deodorants as these could increase stress levels further and make treatment more uncomfortable for you. Furthermore, caffeine consumption two hours prior could add additional discomfort during this appointment.
Bring something to keep yourself occupied during treatment sessions – books or devices can make the experience less painful by keeping you from dwelling on how uncomfortable things may be. Reading, napping or working on computers during treatments sessions has proven helpful for clients in making treatment sessions less uncomfortable – while keeping attention off any pain levels that might exist during a visit.
Does Electrolysis Stimulate Hair Growth?
Hair growth is controlled by hormones; therefore tweezing, waxing and shaving only remove the shaft of a single hair while leaving dermal papillae alive to continue growing more. Therefore you may notice more hair in hormonal areas like your chin, face, breasts and abdomen than usual. Electrolysis destroys follicles’ entire growth structure to stop future production of hair follicles from producing it altogether preventing further hair growth cycles from taking place.
At a medical electrolysis session, an electric current is applied directly to the hair follicle using a fine needle heated with a small probe. Once heated, its tip becomes hot enough to destroy hair follicles without damaging surrounding skin; the process works on all colors, thicknesses, and types of hair.
Galvanic electrolysis is the most frequently practiced form of electrolysis. This technique employs direct current (DC), sending electricity directly from a needle directly into the follicle via direct current (DC). When entering, this DC current changes salt and water present within the follicle into sodium hydroxide or “lye,” thus disabling its ability to grow hair further.
Electrolysis treatment sessions may be necessary in order to permanently eradicate unwanted hair in specific areas of your body, though this will depend on an individual’s specific circumstances and needs. A qualified electrologist will be able to give an estimate as soon as you start your hair removal plan.
Permanent results require capturing each hair at its optimal growth phase, usually only four out of ten at any one time being in this state. Resting or dormant phases exist and won’t start growing back until their time comes around to be exposed again in full sun light again. Your electrologist will set up regular visits until all desired areas have been completely cleared off.
Some minor redness and swelling may appear immediately following your electrolysis appointment; this is entirely normal and will dissipate rapidly. It’s essential that the skin remain clean and sterile post-electrostimulation treatment; refraining from applying makeup or other harsh products can assist. Your electrologist will also provide information and tips during their initial consultation visit.
Is Electrolysis Painful?
Many people mistake electrolysis for being painful; however, the truth is that it does not cause as much discomfort compared to some other hair removal methods like bleaching and laser therapy. While other permanent hair removal solutions like bleaching or laser treatment can be extremely painful and require harsh chemicals that irritate and damage skin cells – with electrolysis using only non-toxic anesthetic cream which only causes temporary reddening of skin tissue.
Your electrologist can also offer over-the-counter products to desensitize the area prior to treatment and ensure you feel more at ease during the appointment. Most clients report feeling electrolysis similar to snapping of a rubber band against skin, or experiencing slight stinging sensations during their sessions.
Electrolysis offers one of the many advantages over other hair removal methods in that once completed, any unwanted hair will be gone for good. Your electrologist will work to permanently destroy each follicle’s growth center to make it impossible for it to produce hair again in that follicle.
Due to this, it may take multiple sessions before achieving the desired results, but once done your hair will be permanently reduced or eliminated. Furthermore, this procedure makes life much simpler since no time will need to be spent waxing or shaving the area.
Keep in mind, though, that even after electrologist treatment of hair follicles has taken place there may still be factors which stimulate their regrowth. Heredity issues, hormone levels and certain drugs all can have an impact on your body’s ability to produce hair.
If hairs appear where you had electrolysis performed, this may be because you have been tweezing or waxing that area frequently; this causes dermal papilla cells to produce new hair follicles which then lead to hair growth in those spots again. To ensure lasting hair removal from this appointment with your electrologist, adhere strictly to your treatment plan and schedule and visit regularly; sooner you will become hair-free for good!
How Long Does Electrolysis Take?
Electrolysis can be an extremely time-consuming procedure. Usually requiring several sessions over several years in order to achieve permanent hair removal results, electrolysis takes several treatments in order to do its job of targeting and destroying follicles rather than just reducing or eliminating their presence or pulling it out using tweezers. Results typically become visible anywhere between several sessions and years depending on size of area being treated and type of hair (soft or coarse).
Reappearing hairs following electrolysis treatments isn’t uncommon, and must be kept to an agreed upon schedule in order to be effective. This happens as some follicles will still be growing unlike the ones targeted and destroyed by current, and new hairs will arise from any remaining follicles on a person’s body – this is why keeping up with treatment schedule is so crucial!
An experienced electrologist can assist in identifying your individual needs and devising a tailored treatment plan to address those needs during a private and confidential consultation. This gives the best sense of how much time will pass before reaching your goal of being permanently hair-free.
Electrolysis involves inserting a small needle into each hair follicle and passing an electric current through it, cauterizing or burning each individual follicle using various degrees of current available until cauterization or burning occurs – using this process, your electrologist can then use tweezers to remove your unwanted strand of hair from its root. There are three forms of electrolysis currently used: galvanic, thermolysis and microcurrent; galvanic is usually best for all forms of hair growth while thermolysis works great when dealing with finer and softer facial and body hair growth while microcurrent can work great when dealing with finer or softer body hairs on face or body areas such as face/body areas where there may be excessive hair growth.
