Permanent Hair Removal via Electrolysis
Discussion on Electrolysis
I previously posted about:
medium-term hair reduction
While laser can do a lot to help reduce hair growth, it’s rare for it to completely fix the issue. It also has limitations based on
The only currently known way to permanently remove hair is via electrolysis. I will describe the main advice briefly, then yap a bit more about other things.
This requires your hairs to be growing in order for them to be easily accessible, which means no plucking/waxing for 4-8weeks prior, and no shaving for ~48 hours prior.
Electrolysis TL;DR
Electrolysis is the only method FDA allows to be labelled as “permanent hair removal” rather than merely reduction.
It involves, one-by-one, applying a needle-like probe into a hair follicle, and killing the hair follicles with heat and/or electricity, then plucking the hair out.
As you can imagine, this killing hair follicles one-by-one is slow and painful.
Usually one goes to a clinic, and pays in intervals of, eg, 15 minutes. I have found a typical pace to be an average 1 hair follicle per 10 second, or like 3-400 in an hour-long session. So with 1000s of hair follicles on the face it can take a long time, and you need to come back as the different hairs grow in their different cycles.
For many, you probably want to apply numbing cream before going, probably AMETOP cream and take an ibuprofen before going.
Electrolysis in depth
Types of Electrolysis
There are tree main types of electrolysis:
thermolysis - this involves heating the root of the follicle, and damaging the hair follicles locally
galvanic - this involves using electrical current to cause a chemical reaction that locally damages the follicles. rarely done alone anymore
blend - you can also do a combination of the two, which also allows the heat to speed up the the chemical reaction.
The most common method by far is thermolysis, it is the fastest and cheapest of the methods.
The other option is to do a blend of galvanic and thermolysis, which is less common but still sometimes available in north america.
An old study from 1996 found that galvanic blend works better then thermolysis, mostly meaning that a smaller portion of incisions lead to regrowth.
If you want to minimize how many electrolysis insertions you can get, a galvanic blend is the best method, but in practice it depends on availability, and thermolysis will usually get you the same results but with more sessions.
Pain Numbing
It depends a lot on clinician and machinery and the person, but many find electrolysis quite painful, and there are ways you can reduce the pain. The simplest way is to take ibuprofen/acetaminophen. But the reduction in pain is not that pronounced for this kind of procedure, so more topical solutions are helpful.
Before using these, you should check you don’t have pre-existing conditions that might mean they are not recommended. Most people are fine when applying to a small area such as lower face, but if applying numbing cream to much larger areas or to your whole body, there is additional risk of complications.
A common thing that helps, is to apply a numbing cream before the procedure. The two most common ones are:
ELMA cream (2.5% lidocaine + 2.5% prilocaine) applied 60 minutes before
AMETOP (tetracaine 4%) applied 30-45 minutes before
The difference is not huge, but AMETOP is is slightly better (lasts longer/reduces pain more), so it is the preferable of the two options.
To apply, you put it on clean skin, then cover with a film to prevent it from evaporating (you can use included applicator strips or standard kitchen cling film) some time before the procedure. Then go to the clinic and remove immediately before the procedure.
In some places, it is possible to get a stronger numbing cream, though availability can vary, and often a prescription is needed. For example:
Pliaglis (7% lidocaine + 7% tetracaine)
Occasionally, it is also possible to get a stronger numbing directly by the clinician, by getting direct lidocaine injections near the site of electrolysis. Though for this you will need to search for a clinic that provides this.
Scarring
One possible issue from electrolysis is that you may get some scarring. In theory, electrolysis should not cause scarring, but technique is not perfect, and so this depends somewhat on clinician. Thermolysis has higher risk of this than galvanic and blend. And it is probably slightly better to try to distribute the electrolysis over the whole area you are getting processed to reduce inflammation.
Other Electrolysis Options
It is possible to do electrolysis DIY, but the method for this is pretty sketchy, and less safe than clinical. You can see this guide by Lena as one possible method. I don’t recommend this.1
Additionally, clinical electrolysis machines are not that expensive, that it is possible to get a community project to fund a location and train someone to do electrolysis.
Closing
Overall, electrolysis is pretty effective. It is incredibly annoying to do, but means that generally all the hair is gone permanently. You still need to potentially worry about hormonal driven future hair growth, which can also be controlled by managing DHT as mentioned in a previous post.
I am also not in a position to judge what is viable for you or what your risk tradeoffs are, make your own judgement based on your own circumstances.