Regrowth after electrolysis is possibly the most difficult concept to explain to clients. I think the main reason for this is that it is difficult to understand how more hair can grow after you’ve cleared an area using a permanent hair removal method like electrolysis. The explanation for this lies in an understanding of the cycles of hair growth.
Regrowth After Electrolysis- Is It True or False Regrowth?
If you come in for an electrolysis appointment less than a week after you’ve shaved your chin or your legs, only the fastest-growing hairs will be on the surface (they are generally the darkest and coarsest ones too). There will be numerous hairs just under the surface that cannot be treated until they break the skin in a week or two, or even a month or two. Many clients will see this as evidence that electrolysis does not work because they think, “YIKES, LOOK AT THIS! IT’S GROWING BACK ALREADY!”.
This is what’s known as false regrowth after electrolysis. The hairs that appear in the weeks following an effective electrolysis appointment were hairs that did not appear on the surface of the skin at the time of the appointment. There are multiple stages of hair growth and hairs in the active stage of growth will grow at a much faster rate than hairs that are getting ready to shed. The slow-growing hair can take several weeks to a month to emerge after shaving. Hair that has been tweezed previously will take even longer to grow back, as long as 8 to 12 weeks. (There are some hairs on the body that take almost a year to go from barely invisible to coarse.)
Image showing hair that was shaved at the same time – notice the mix of long and short hairs.
The rate of electrolysis regrowth is determined by type of magnification used but it’s also a matter of skill and even ethics. The most important thing to understand about the electrolysis process is that the hair you see today is definitely not the hair that will surface in 3 months, or 6 months, or 9 months. I know it’s hard to believe because you know your face so well and you’re certain you’ve seen this exact hair in this exact spot. But you haven’t. The reality is that your face has far more hair-producing follicles that you can imagine, and some of them are separated by less than a millimetre which is a distance imperceptible to the naked eye. Furthermore, not only can hair follicles be densely situated, particularly on the face, but not all hairs are in the active growing phase at the same time. Hence the confusion about whether you are truly looking at electrolysis regrowth.
Unlike many animals that shed large amounts of hair at one time, human hair cycles are not coordinated. Each follicle is independent and sprouts hair when and where it chooses. The length of the total growing cycle varies from person to person and even within different regions on the face and body of one person. You can read more about the hair follicle and stages of hair growth here.
Since hair grows in cycles it means that each individual hair goes through a cycle of growth that takes it from an active growing phase, to a resting and shedding phase over the course of several months. This cycle is repeated for every single hair on your face and body, thousands and thousands of cycles, only a handful of which are accidentally coordinated to the same date and time.
Reducing the chance of electrolysis regrowth really depends on your electrologist treating most hairs visible on the surface of the skin.
This is especially true for the body where even the finest hairs will eventually become coarser and longer and more bothersome. Sometimes it’s these fine hairs that appear to be regrowth when in fact they’ve just grown longer and coarser over time. I’ve seen hairs that are coarse and dark except for a very fine blond tip. At some point that fine, blond tip was invisible on the surface of the skin, however, you might mistake it for regrowth.
If you’re not seeing a reduction in your hair growth by the 6-8 month mark then you may be dealing with true electrolysis regrowth.
On the body electrolysis regrowth can come in the form of little ingrowns that you may not have had before. Often clients start noticing the fine undergrowth that was invisible to them before the started treatments. The finer hair is often perceived to be electrolysis regrowth.
The first few months of electrolysis treatments are often the most difficult to endure because of the phenomenon of false electrolysis regrowth. If you’re following the advice of your electrologist to stop shaving/tweezing and to keep regular appointments then you may very likely think that electrolysis is causing even more hair to grow! Don’t despair, it is only that your existing hair is all coming to the surface and once they’ve been treated you’ll not have to see them again.
The best way to judge your electrolysis progress is to take a before and after picture once every few months. Most of the time you will be amazed at the difference!
Further Reading:
https://www.follikill.com/2013/06/11/regrowth-after-electrolysis/
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