Hair Removal Techniques

With 80% of all women, and over half of all men admitting they have unwanted hair in various body areas, it is no surprise that hair removal services have increasingly grown in demand in recent decades. To meet these demands, spas and beauty salons everywhere are now offering a wide array of hair removal services, from eyebrow waxing to Brazilian bikini waxes.

Here are some of the waxing services spas and salons may provide:

• leg waxing
• underarm waxing
• bikini waxing
• eyebrow/lip waxing
• laser hair removal
• electrolysis

Here are some of the most common waxing services:

Waxing: A semi-permanent form of hair removal, waxing is a quick, low-cost service that most beauty salons and spas offer its clients. Unlike shaving and tweezing, where hair quickly grows back just days after treatments, it takes between 3-5 weeks for hair to return after waxing. And, even when it does return, less hair grows back after waxing than shaving. Returning hair is also finer, softer, and lighter than before. Waxing is also a better investment than tweezing or shaving because multiple waxing treatments permanently destroy some of the roots of the hair being removed. Therefore less hair will continue returning.

Electrolysis: The only proven method of permanent hair removal is electrolysis. This method involves the transmittance of an electric current through a needle to disable hair follicles from growing back. This process is very time consuming, usually requiring 3-5 minutes to remove each hair. An average treatment costs $60-100 per hour and, even then, may still require more than one treatment to completely remove all the hair from a specific area.

Laser Hair Removal: This is the newest service in hair removal technology, a permanent hair removal procedure that is both faster and less painful than electrolysis. Maintaining the ability to remove several hair follicles at once, the service is a much more convenient alternative to electrolysis for permanent hair removal. The catch comes, however, in its cost as the removal of hair on a man's face averages a total of $800-1,200.