Is Electrolysis Outdated?
It isn’t surprising that people think electrolysis is extinct, old-fashioned or just plain passe. The average person looks to laser hair reduction as the modern method of permanent hair removal.
In fact, both laser and electrolysis hair removal rely on scientific principles as old as the universe itself. If you understand these principles you realize the limits of laser as a method of permanent hair removal. The success of laser depends on what lies under the skin, that is, the stage of growth that the hair root is in. As an electrologist, I know quite a bit about what happens under the skin. Although the way laser hair reduction works limits what laser technicians know about how hair actually grows.
What electrologists know that laser technicians don’t is how the various stages of hair growth determine the energy level needed to kill a hair follicle.
In a small area you can have hairs in 3 different growth stages that each require a specific level of energy to eradicate them. Laser is not target specific. Laser technology depends on consistency in the hair structure under the skin.
This is part one reason many people go for years for laser hair reduction. Some areas of the body have a majority of the hairs present in the latter stage of hair growth (which can last for months). The root is shorter and lighter in colour during this period, thus, the laser will have have little effect on hair in this stage of growth.
Although electrolysis hasn’t evolved very much in decades, it remains the perfect technology to treat unwanted hair.
If you don’t have a clue how hair growth cycles work you might think that treating each individual hair is needlessly time consuming. In that context a sweep with laser over a large area seems a lot more efficient. And sometimes it is, but it often isn’t.
That’s why I predict an electrolysis renaissance. As the limits of laser become more widely understood, I expect the merits of electrolysis will become more widely known.