Unwanted hair can be annoying, unattractive and downright embarrassing. Luckily, there are a variety of ways to get rid of hair you don’t want on your body. But because of all the options available, it can be hard to decide what’s best for your body.
That’s why we here at Dr. Chernoff’s office have rounded up a list of the best ways to remove unwanted hair from your body. You won’t have to worry about how to get rid of your body hair ever again.
Number 1: Laser Hair Treatments
Laser hair removal is the quickest, most efficient and least painful hair removal treatment available. It involves using light energy to progressively damage hair follicles, making the hair follicles smaller or causing the regeneration of much smaller hair follicles.
About the Procedure: Treatment time can take anywhere from several minutes to several hours to complete, depending on the number and size of the areas being treated. The lasers have been reported to be less painful than other hair removal processes. After your treatment, there is usually a slight amount of redness in the treated area. Only rarely does any adverse reaction occur. Most patients can return to work either the same day as the laser hair treatment or the following day.
Hair Removal Results: Hair is removed from the area treated, and, after the required amount of treatments, results may be permanent. Over time, the thick dark hair transform into fine peach fuzz. With each laser treatment, less hair grows back. And when it does grow back, it is typically thinner and finer. This is why Laser Hair Modification has been FDA approved for permanent hair reduction. In any given area after a period of time longer than the normal hair growth cycle, there is a minimum of a 35 to 50% reduction of terminal growing hairs.
Number 2: Waxing
For years, waxing has been depicted as one of the most painful ways to remove hair from your body. Though it is intensely painful for a short period of time, waxing can quickly remove large areas of hair from a variety of places on your body. Strip waxing, the most traditional kind, involves applying a thin layer of wax over the skin and then firming placing a cloth or paper strip to that wax. Then, the strip is pulled as quickly as possible in the direction of the hair growth. Strip-less is applied to the skin, allowed to harden, and then removed. Both kinds of waxing remove the hair from the root to allow for semi-permanent hair removal.
About the Procedure: Depending on the number of areas treated, waxing can take a few minutes to an hour or more. It is one of the most painful hair removal treatments, but also one of the quickest. New technology, such as strip-less waxing, aims to make the process less painful. Waxing can lead to redness, bumps and infection. It’s best to get the treatment done by a professional.
Hair Removal Results: Because waxing removes the hair at its root, its results can last up anywhere from three to six weeks.
Number 3: Tweezing
Tweezing is one of the best options for temporarily removing a small amount of hair. When you tweeze, you pull out each individual hair by the root. Most people use tweezers to treat small areas of the face.
About the Procedure: Tweezing usually only takes a few minutes, as the area being treated should be small. There is mild pain involved with tweezing, but it is much less painful than waxing because you are only removing one hair at a time. It’s best to use clean your tweezers with rubbing alcohol before and after plucking. This will lower your chance of infection. Tweezing can cause ingrown hairs and infections.
Results: Like with waxing, results last three to six weeks because the hair is removed at its root.
Number 4: Shaving
Shaving is an easy and pain-free way to rid your body of unwanted hair. It’s also the most popular form of removing hair. Shaving involves cutting the hairs at the surface of the skin with a razor or electric shaver.
About the Procedure: Shaving usually takes only a few minutes, depending on the area and number of areas being treated. To avoid cuts, it’s best to use water and soap or shaving cream while shaving and replace your razor often. Shaving can result in ingrown hairs, especially in the bikini area.
Results: Unlike the treatment options above, shaving only cuts hair instead of removing it from its root. This means that you have to shave more often than you would tweeze, wax or receive laser treatments. Results usually only last one to three days.
Number 5: Electrolysis
Another more permanent hair removal treatment, electrolysis actually destroys the hair cells that make hair. An experienced professional uses a very slim needle reach each individual hair follicle. Then, the needle sends an electric current into the follicle, killing the cells.
About the Procedure: Each individual treatment usually lasts 15 minutes to one hour, but you can need up to a year of weekly treatments to remove hair from a large area of your body. Each treatment involves working on one hair at a time, so it can be a very long process to remove all of the hair from one area. For those looking for permanent hair reduction, laser therapy is a quicker and less painful option. Laser treatment can cause the same amount of damage to hair follicles that electrolysis does.
Results: Each hair cell that is treated will be permanently destroyed, meaning that hairs can no longer grow.
Number 6: Hair Removal Creams
Depilatory creams are chemical compounds that work to dissolve the proteins that build up hairs. This causes the hair to loosen and then fall out. All you have to do is apply cream to the area of hair you want to remove, wait about five minutes and then wash the cream off with a cloth. Usually these depilatories come in creams, but you can also get them in the form of gels, lotions, roll-ons and aerosols.
About the Procedure: The entire hair removal process usually takes 30 to 60 minutes, though the cream should only stay on your skin for about five minutes. If you leave the cream on for too long, it can harm your skin. Also, the harsh chemicals can irritate sensitive skin. It’s best to not use hair removal creams on or near your genitals. If you have sensitive skin, speak to your dermatologist before using a hair removal cream.
Results: Hair removal using cream usually lasts longer than shaving, but less than the other treatments. You should expect hair to grow back between one to three weeks after use.
Removing hair can be a weekly frustration, but it doesn’t have to be. If you would like to learn more about unwanted hair removal, feel free to contact us at Dr. Chernoff’s offices today. We would love to speak to you about how we can help you get rid of embarassing hair for good.
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