HairFire: Electrolysis At It’s Hottest

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.