Too Much Facial Hair?

Unwanted Facial Hair Is Nothing New

Facial hair removal is an ancient art practiced since the Egyptian civilization. In more recent times,  electrolysis or waxing was the only answer. Then the lasers got better and now the Gold Standard is the Alexandrite laser, which we will discuss in later in this post.  In the last few years, our practice seen a dramatic growth (bad pun) in not only laser facial hair treatments but unwanted hair procedures on various parts of the anatomy with this new technology.

Mankinds hair removal progression has been fairly predictable:

• Plucking
• Waxing
• Depillatories
• Shaving
• Electrolysis
• IPL (Intense Pulsed Light)
• Laser

There always have been gimmicks and products that want to combine or ”improve” each step. One example would be Nair®, which is quite effective but unfortunately has caused some incredible skin irritations. Another is the famous Epilady®, sold by the millions on infomercials. You could almost hear the screams in the night as these poor people endured the pain of having their  hair ripped out by its evil spring.

Light Frequency And Laser Hair Removers

IPL was one of the first light technologies for unwanted hair. Unfortunately, IPL frequencies  are too broad for predictable success on hair. Alexandrite lasers dramatically improved  on the IPL capability and have become the Gold Standard.  By the way, Alexandrite is not a trade name. It is actually the name of the synthetic gem used inside the laser to focus their frequency at a 755 nanometer wave length. This frequency is the best frequency for hair reduction. Many manufacturers make Alexandrite lasers. Since they are attracted to pigment (the chromophore), they work best on lighter skin with dark hair.

For light colored hair on your upper lip or other facial areas, there’s are a few things we can do. A YAG laser operates on 1064 nanometer frequency and will probably reduce it by better than 50% .  The YAG frequency laser is basically color blind.  There’s also a prescription product known as Vaniqa®. It’s a prescription medication that inhibits hair growth. By the way, if you have lighter hair and darker skin, which is kind of uncommon,  you’re also going to want to  use a YAG.  As a last resort, there’s always electrolysis. It can be slow and painful but it does over time help to reduce the amount of unwanted hair.

Get The Latest Technology

When talking to a practitioner about unwanted hair, know the basics we talked about above.   Unfortunately, lasers are very expensive and if the practitioner’s office has old technology, or still only has IPL machines, you are not getting the advantage of the technology available.  Find out first, before you have any treatments.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Bonnie

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