Is Hair Removal Permanent?

"All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field." (Isaiah 40:6)

Like everything in life, hair removal is not permanent. How could it possibly be, when your body is constantly renewing itself? However, different options for hair removal offer different periods of hairlessness and different degrees of permanent hair reduction.

Shaving

Shaving offers the shortest period of hairlessness because it does not remove the hair from the follicle, meaning that hair continues to grow. Essentially, shaving offers no period of hairlessness and no permanent hair reduction.

Plucking

Plucking removes a hair from the follicle, which immediately stimulates that follicle to produce a new hair. Although it takes some time for the hairs to emerge from the skin, the period of hairlessness achieved by plucking is also relatively short, and, because plucking does not target the follicle, it achieves no permanent reduction in hair in the treated region.

Depilatory Creams

Depilatories work by chemically breaking down the hairs. The creams can remove all hair on the surface, along with some level of penetration below the skin, giving as much as 3-5 days of hairlessness.

Intense Pulsed Light and Laser Hair Removal

Both Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) and laser hair removal work by a process known as selective photothermolysis, in which the heat energy of the laser is absorbed by the melanin in the hair follicle, leading to the destruction of the follicle. However, because the treatment only targets follicles in the anagen (growth) stage of the hair cycle, several treatments are necessary to kill the majority of follicles. However, once completed, both IPL and laser hair removal give you long periods of hairlessness and up to a 90 % permanent reduction of hair in treated areas.

Electrolysis

Electrolysis is the process of delivering electrical energy to the hair follicle, killing it. Two modes of delivering the energy are the thermolysis method, which delivers the energy via radio waves, and direct current electrode, which delivers the energy directly. According to published studies, patients can see 6 to 36 months with no hair growth, and it is the only FDA recognized treatment for permanent hair removal. The main drawback for electrolysis is the length of treatments. For a man to receive electrolysis on his back can take as long as 225 hours, and cost nearly $20,000