Is Permanent Hair Removal Permanent?
Permanent hair removal has been a long time goal for both men and women. 20-25% of North American women have unwanted or excessive facial hair which for many has an adverse effect on their lifestyle. Men have also jumped on the band wagon to get rid of excess body hair. Today’s popular culture has levied appearance anxieties upon men with what is considered sexy or good looking. In the long run the rough, gruffness appeal of a burly hairy man has been replaced by a more metro-sexual look. What was once considered manly is now cause for embarrassment. This whole culture shift has made laser hair removal for men a very lucrative business.
Between 2002 and 2007 the hair removal and shaving industry rose by nearly 8% in the US roughly pulling in 1.8 billion dollars a year. During that time the whole laser hair removal process was only adequate for dark hair light skinned people, but sense then new advancements have been able to include a larger segment of the population. (i.e. lighter hair with dark skin)
There are many temporary solutions to removing unwanted hair:
Manual plucking:
Quick and easy for small areas but can activate the hair follicles growth stage resulting in fast re-growth and more of it. It is rare, but plucking can cause scarring
Shaving:
While this is quick and effective for larger areas it is the most temporary. While acceptable for men, women shy away from this method around the face and neck because of the thick blunt end left on the surface of the skin becomes more noticeable. They may get away with this on their legs or pubic area, but they still risk ingrown hairs and cutting themselves.
Waxing (sugaring):
Application of a warmed wax or a sugary paste to areas of hair-bearing skin and then removing it, along with the unwanted hair, is a popular method of hair removal and is commonly performed at salons and spas. This method may be used over large skin surface areas (eg, legs, arms, back) or small controlled areas (eg, face, eyebrow, and bikini area). New hair growth appears more slowly than with shaving, as the hair must grow to the level of the skin surface before it appears. It is too easy to get thermal burns and scarring.
Depilatory creams:
Depilatory creams like Nair use chemical depilatories whose sole purpose is to dissolve the disulfide bonds that hold hair cells together. While the results look better, the hair is only gone at the skin surface like shaving so it will grow back in short order. When these products warn about leaving it on longer than 6 minutes they mean it. The same chemicals that melt the hair can burn the skin or at least cause a rash or significant itching.
Electrolysis:
When done right, electrolysis is the second best option for permanent hair removal next to lasers. It is successful on a wide 20 – 80 percent of the patients that undergo it. A weak electrical current passes through an electrode that has been inserted into the pour were the hair lives. Then one by one, an alternating current is directed to the hair follicle destroying it. This is very VERY slow and not practical for large areas.
In 1996 the Ruby laser first showed up on the scene as a permanent hair removal solution. The original lasers were only suited for light skin because the original lasers would take advantage of the dark pigment in the hair. Dark skin was susceptible to being burned along with the hair. Years later the Nd:YAG laser was adapted to be used in laser hair removal. Its wider wavelength opened the doors for customers with darker pigment to benefit for the same quick path to hair free skin.
Why Organic Cosmetics Are So Trendy
Organic cosmetics are one of the hottest trends of the past few years, if you have been reading makeup magazines or following what the best-sellers are in any makeup counter, you’ve probably already figured this out.
Many of these organic makeup options are not only all-natural in their ingredient list, but they aren’t tested on animals like other types of makeup.
Look for recycled packaging, environmentally-friendly ingredients, and natural mineral compositions to make the most of this hot organic trend.
The use of fresh, natural ingredients can yield some unique color combinations, and be less likely to irritate sensitive skin than using synthetic makeup might do.
What Qualifies as Organic?
Although a lot of products might be labelled as organic or natural, this might just mean that there are one or two ingredients in the organic cosmetics that aren’t derived from synthetic sources.
Truly organic products will be completely derived from raw materials, such as plants, essential oils, minerals, or herbal extracts.
The use of synthetics, genetically modified materials, and exposure to radiation is usually prohibited to qualify as organic.
While the exact standards for certification will vary depending on what country you are buying your cosmetics in, generally speaking you will find those that use fresh, natural ingredients to be the best choice when you’re interested in buying organic.
Look at the ingredients list on the back of your makeup. If the list looks like a phone book, it’s probably not organic.
The Appeal of Fresh Cosmetics
Made from natural pigments, vegetable dyes and plant extracts, fresh organic cosmetics are popular because they can soothe the skin while still giving you those pops of color that help enhance your appearance.
While many of these cosmetics are available in powder forms, you might also want to look for organic creams, blushes, gels, and lipsticks.
The organic certification should be on the packaging, but if you don’t need to go wholly organic, you could also look for makeup brands that place an emphasis on fresh or all-natural ingredients. These are quite popular at the moment and should be available both in drugstores as well as higher end makeup counters.
Natural Mineral Makeup
One of the most prevalent types of organic cosmetics that you are likely to run across when you are testing out samples of different products is natural mineral makeup.
Mineral foundation can be swept onto the skin, for an all-natural look that blends into your pores better than synthetic layering would do. These are often enriched with soothing botanicals and vitamins, so that they have the effect of nourishing your skin while hiding blemishes.
Mineral makeup may also blend into your skin better, because it contains so many different natural shades in each batch. These are brushed and absorbed into the skin.
So Then, Is Laser Hair Removal Permanent?
Having very smooth and hairless skin is something that many people want to have and are willing to pay good money for it. Thanks to the advancements of technology, removing unwanted hair can be done without going through the hassles (and discomfort) that come with shaving, plucking and waxing. That convenient solution is none other than laser hair removal (LHR) which has been practiced for many years now all over the nation and for hundreds to a few thousand dollars, a patient can finally have that super smooth hair-free skin he or she wanted.
To put things into perspective it is best to keep in mind how LHR works and what its process is. First the laser is aimed at a certain spot that has hair that need to be removed. Hair that gets hit with the laser gets heated dramatically and the heat travels down the hair, reaches the root and eventually destroys it permanently. With the permanent destruction by laser, no new hair will grow.
Back to the question at hand – The crucial answer is this – using a laser to remove hair is actually 98% to 99% permanent, not 100% permanent. This is because the laser itself is attracted only to hairs that are in the growth stage and there are also four stages of hair growth to keep in mind. The laser also cannot destroy hair that has stopped growing, nor can it get rid of hair in the new follicles. These details reveal the weaknesses or limitations of laser hair removal itself and these explain precisely why patients keep coming back to the LHR clinics months after getting treated.
Theoretically, the only way to achieve 100% permanent laser removal is for all the hair to grow together at the same time which is scientifically not possible at all. At any random moment, countless strands of hair grow at varying paces, they each have different growth cycles and they also have reached different levels of their growth by the time an LHR procedure is performed.
At the same time, there is still no laser hair removal equipment that has been approved for complete and permanent hair removal until now. It is also important to keep in mind that the change and development of hormones in the human body can create all new hair follicles and even spots that were treated laser hair removal procedures can eventually grow hair again after some time. As such, further visits to the clinic for more LHR treatments, touch ups and scientific analysis are inevitable and unfortunately for patients wanting smooth hairless skin the visits mean more expenses. The number of visits may also vary from person to person as well as the needs at hand.