Electrolysis vs Laser Hair Removal
If you have unwanted hair that you want to remove permanently, you might be trying to decide which approach is best for you: electrolysis or laser? The laser-electrolysis dilemma is a highly personal decision and depending on what results, the answer could be either one. You need to get familiar with the advantages and disadvantages of each technique before you can make the choice for unwanted hair removal that suits your needs.
Laser hair removal treatment consists of directing concentrated laser light at a patch of hair to impair the follicles that produce it. The pigment in the hair, which gives it its color, attracts the laser first. The laser interacts with the pigment right where it enters your skin and heats the pigment up. The heat travels down the hair shaft into the follicle and damages it so it can’t grow back, or grows back less thick than before.
Laser treatment depends on pigment to be effective, so hair with less pigment is much harder to treat. People with white, gray, or blonde hair aren’t good candidates for laser. Very light “peach fuzz” hair (called vellous hair) can’t be removed with laser. Until recently, dark-skinned patients weren’t candidates for laser removal because the heavier pigment in their skin heats up as quickly as the hair pigment does and causes burning. This has changed somewhat as laser technology improves but still remains a significant challenge.
Like laser, electrolysis eliminates unwanted hair by destroying the follicle. Unlike laser, electrolysis kills hair one follicle at a time. The electrologist uses a hand-held electric needle that she inserts into the follicle and zaps it with a mild electric current. The hair is then pulled out of the dead follicle with tweezers.
Unlike laser, electrolysis can be done on any patient, no matter what color their hair or skin. The problem with laser hair removal vs electrolysis is that electrolysis is so slow. Patients with heavy hair growth will spend a lot of time being treated with electrolysis because it removes hair one follicle at a time.
In comparing the results of laser and electrolysis, you’ll find that electrolysis is permanent—once the follicle has been treated, it will never come back. Laser is considered semi-permanent, not permanent, and the results vary widely depending on the individual’s characteristics. Some people achieve great results with only a few laser treatments. Others are able to maintain their results with a few maintenance follow-up treatments per year. In general, what hair that does grow back after laser treatment is thin, fine, and slow-growing. If you had to shave every day before your laser treatment, you may find you only have to shave every one or two months afterward. However, a few people simply don’t respond to laser and end up with the same growth they had before treatment.
Comparing laser hair removal versus electrolysis shows a very different treatment time for the two methods. Electrolysis is not the best choice if you want to remove hair from large areas of your body. Removing one hair at a time from areas like the legs, the back, and the bikini line can take hundreds of hours. Smaller areas where permanent removal is a must, such as facial hair, are better candidates for electrolysis removal.
Laser hair removal treatment can treat multiple follicles at once. Even though it may take four to six treatment sessions to get good results, laser removal was found in a medical study to be 60 times faster than electrolysis to produce the same or better results. Laser is most effective when treating certain areas such as the bikini line and underarms. The upper lip seems to be the most resistant to laser treatment and may be a better candidate for electrolysis. Generally speaking, thinner hair is easier to treat than thicker hair.
You’ll need more than one laser treatment because laser only kills hair in its active growth phase. Some hair is in a resting phase and isn’t growing. These don’t produce any pigment close to the follicle, so a laser pulse won’t affect them in the least. That’s why you need a cycle of laser treatments to get all of the hairs as they cycle through the growth and dormancy phases. This usually adds up to a treatment session every six to eight weeks.
The choice of electrolysis or laser is a clear one as far as pain goes. Neither process is pain-free, but laser is widely known to be less painful than electrolysis. At worst, laser will feel like a rubber band snapping on your skin. Most patients say it’s not as painful as waxing. Electrolysis, on the other hand, delivers a small electric shock that patients say is more painful than laser. Although it doesn’t stop hundreds of thousands of patients each year from seeking hair removal electrolysis, the slow progress of the treatment means that the pain isn’t over with as quickly than if you were treated with laser. The pain has been said to be comparable to getting a tattoo, which is probably correct since both processes use an electric needle. This is the reason that patients with large areas of hair to treat opt for laser, despite the higher cost.
Laser hair removal is expensive. Although a professional association study came up with the average cost of $429 for one treatment, this figure is almost meaningless considering the variations from one part of the country to another and the different costs depending on the area to be treated. Don’t be shocked if you end up paying twice that much for laser treatment of unwanted hair. Normally it takes four to eight treatments for laser to be effective, plus one to two maintenance treatments per year, which adds up to a hefty price tag.
The cost of electrolysis hair removal is approximately $60 for a session which typically lasts 30 minutes. You’ll need between 15 and 30 visits before you start to see results for the area you’ve selected to treat, which will be much smaller in size than an area targeted for laser treatment.
Do your homework before you choose laser hair removal versus electrolysis and make a good decision about what’s right for you. One way to make sure you’re getting the appropriate treatment is to go to a laser electrolysis treatment center where both procedures are performed and the clinic has no vested interest in selling you one over the other. If you have light-colored hair or vellous hair that you want to remove, you’ll have little choice but to use electrolysis. On the other hand, if you’re looking to remove unwanted hair from a large area, laser is probably the way to go. If you’re working with a small area and have light skin and dark hair, then you have a choice,
The decision between electrolysis and laser hair treatment is a personal one. Most doctors, however, will be upfront with you about which treatment is best for your personal situation. If you have light hair or peach fuzz, you will definitely need to use electrolysis to remove unwanted hair. In general, if you want to treat a large area, it is most practical to pursue laser hair removal treatment. If the area is small, it is a matter of the amount of time and money you want to invest.