HairFire: Electrolysis At It’s Hottest

Just for your records…tweezing and waxing accomplish the same goal. You’ll end up with more of what you’re trying to get rid of–Hair!

Oh, and another thing. You tweeze hair and pluck feathers!

An easy way to remember this: Tweezers tweeze hair, not pluckers.

 Today, I thought I’d share an insight about the misconceptions of waxing and shaving.

One reason people believe waxing creates less hair is because when the hair finally grows in, it comes in thin and soft. After waxing it may look like you have less hair, but you really don’t.

If you remember, waxing creates an immune response causing more blood to come to the area and sustain more hairs. (Waxing = an increase in the number of course hairs)

Since the whole hair was ripped out with waxing, a new hair must begin to develop. When the hair eventually is exposed, the tip of the hair becomes visible. The tip of a new hair is thinner and softer than a hair that is cut at the surface of the skin. This is why we get confused about the process of waxing.

Please do not wax between electrolysis visits; It counteracts the work that has been done.

When you shave, your hair grows in looking thick and feeling scratchy. Some people believe this means shaving creates more hair. That is false.

The blood supply is not affected when you shave, so the same number of hair/hair follicles are present before and after each shave. (Shaving = no change in the number of hairs)

When you shave, you’re cutting through the shaft of the hair. Unfortunately, this part of the hair has the greatest diameter, so it looks like you are really hairy.

Shaving is the recommended method of temporary hair removal between electrolysis visits, if the need arises.

The greatest lesson I learned from beauty school was actually by the owner a few days before I graduated. I remember going to her office to have her explain to me the truth about waxing. The girls in aesthetics were telling me that waxing reduces the hair on your body, whereas the girls in electrolysis were saying the opposite.

This is what she had to say, and it made total sense.

Electrolysis is permanent hair removal, whereas waxing is temporary.

With electrolysis, the blood supply is cut off from the hair by cauterizing (burning) the follicle. The capillaries withdraw from the area, and there is no longer a surviving hair.

With waxing, the actual yanking/ripping of the hair out of the follicle creates an immune response. The body believes it is injured and sends capillaries to the area to heal itself. Having a surplus of blood is great for hair! More hairs are able to develop, grow, and become thick and strong thanks to the excess nutrients the blood releases to the area.

So there you have it…waxing creates more hair–not less.

There is one catch. Every body has areas known to be more masculine or feminine than others. For instance, the upper lip is an area known to be masculine for hair growth. A feminine area would be eyebrows. Over time, if you wax your upper lip (or masculine area) you will see an increase in thick, coarser hair. Whereas if you wax your eyebrows (a feminine area) for an extended period of time, hair may not grow back.