Permanent facial hair removal is a very cut and dry, no pun intended. Sorry. But the fact of the matter is that there is sadly only one true way to permanently remove facial hair, and this method is called electrolysis. It should be considered and thought about extensively, mainly because it is an experience that can vary from person to person from tingling to downright uncomfortable. It’s also an expensive method for permanent hair removal, requiring anywhere from 5 to even as many as 15 treatments to remove unwanted facial hair. These sessions can and will last from 15 to 60 minutes depending on factors such as coarseness of hair, how easy your follicles are to work with, and how much discomfort you are feeling, your diet, and many more.
The procedure of electrolysis is simple in nature and in practice, but at the heart of the science is a very different story. When you receive electrolysis, a very fine hollow needle (or probe) is inserted into the hair follicle, and is embedded with either a chemical preparation or heat energy. The procedure actually kills the root of the hair, and must be done on each follicle individually and again, can and will take multiple treatments to fully work. An important sidenote about hair is that it has three phases that it can be in at any time, the Telogen phase, the Anagen phase, and the Catagen phase. The Telogen phase is the hairs ‘rest’ phase, and up to 15% of all hairs are in it. If you have ever tweezed a hair and you see a hard white material at the root, it was a telogen phase hair. These are difficult to treat in the world of electrolysis. The Anagen phase is the active growth phase of hair follicles, and during this phase it may grow up to 1cm every 28 days. At the end of this stage, the Catagen phase begins and lasts for 2-3 weeks before the Telogen phase begins. Shaving 3 to 4 days before an electrolysis treatment can greatly increase the effectiveness of electrolysis by ensuring the maximum number of hairs in the Anagen phase and possibly reduce the number of repeat visits you may need in order to achieve permanent facial hair removal.
Electrolysis is very much a grey-area practice, not due to the ethics, but due to legal rulings on its absolute effectiveness. For example, the FDA and American Medical Association recognize only electrolysis as a permanent hair removal option. It is because of this and other regional legislature or lack thereof that its essential that you do research extensively to spare yourself possible side effects or damage to your body. Remember, your skin is a huge organ just like the rest of them. Be sure to look into the electrologists qualifications. Not all places require them to be licensed or certified to practice. Be sure they proudly display their certificate if you live in a place that does. Be certain to have a (preferably free, if they aren’t recommended to you) consultation and ask any and all questions you may be unsure about, ask them for their input about things such as discomfort or duration of the procedure. If you are told a specific number of treatments will be needed at your consultation, this should be a red flag. Be certain that the practitioner uses the right equipment, which should needle based. Some businesses may say they conduct electrolysis treatments, but actually use things like photoepilators or electronic tweezers instead, which are banned or illegal in some places. Or even worse! Of course, use your own best judgment, and if anything simply does not feel right about the treatment, do not go through with it.
This is for certain the most drastic method of hair removal. It is not for people with low pain thresholds. You can expect your electrolysis treatments to have to continue over a period of 12 to 18 months. It Is because of all of these factors mentioned above that you must give a lot of thought to this, and I have not even addressed price, which will vary from person to person. Generally speaking, a full electrolysis treatment regimen over a period of a year and a half to two years on a small area will cost somewhere in the area of 5-600$ to start, but can cost up to $1500. If you are happy with the results, most people who undergo electrolysis will use it more frequently, and over a broader period of time. You could perhaps liken it to being tattooed over and over in the same spot, but 3 or 4 times as expensive. It is impossible for the electrologist to tell how many treatments will be needed for each person. A treatment of mid to heavy growth on the male face may take as much as a year over as many as 10 treatments.
That said, if you are of a certain combination of factors, and have to shave too often, but feel like you could go through with this process, proceed with knowledge and research. I cannot imagine how glorious it would be to not have to shave another day in my life due to electrolysis, but I would not go through this process. As your treatment progresses, you will notice less hair growth, and you will want to feel out how you progress. For permanent facial hair removal options, you can only go with the best. But make sure you treat this hair removal option as what it is, a trans-dermal new beginning for your skin, the largest organ of all.