Bleaching

Bleaching is a process that is used to change the color of the hair.
Bleaching does not remove hairs, but by changing the color of the hair, makes it easy to blend with the skin. It is better of used on thin and short hairs. Bleaching can be every few weeks and causes less or no irritation as compared to the other processes in its league.

Bleaching, in straight terms is done to lighten hairs. The bleach as a chemical; reacts with the melanin pigment of the hair, and removes the color which is an irreversible chemical reaction. The hence obtained oxidized molecule is colorless in its nature.

The yellow taint or color after the process of bleaching is a result of the left keratin in the structural protein of the hair. Hydrogen Peroxide is one of the most common lightening agents. The Peroxide is used as an alkaline solution, which allows the hair shaft to allow the peroxide to react with the melanin.

Discussing the side-effects of Bleaching does bring out loads of variables. Often it has been noticed that Bleaching passes off without a single side effect. Sometimes though Bleaching: may cause allergy of scalp and face, accompanied with the redness of the eyes.

It has often been complained that regular Bleaching causes loss of hair pigments resulting in early white hairs and may even lead to premature baldness.

Depilatory

Depilation is the process that specifically affects the hair above the surface of the skin.

Depilatory chemicals are commonly found these days with their uses being abundant in nature.

The most common form for the same being a depilatory chemical which works by breaking the disulfide bond that links the protein chains, thus weakening the hair, making it easier to remove.

The break down reaction is affected by the calcium hydroxide which is an alkali in nature. The resulting combination of calcium hydroxide and thioglycolic acid is calcium thioglycolate. The calcium hydroxide is present in excess to enable the thioglycolic acid to react with the cystine present in hair protein.

Depilatory Product is inexpensive in nature; the processing is fast as well as can be done at home.

As a part of its disadvantages, Depilatory products effects last for a short time, as the re-growth appears in a five days span. Moreover people with dark skin may develop visible patches of dark hairs under their skins. Since this is a process which involves the use of a chemical, it is smelly in its nature.

A Depilatory lotion is chemically based in order to dissolve the hair above the skin surface. The chemical compound formulation varies with the kind of hair subjected to removal. Their easy availability in the market makes it suitable for removing hairs of all nature. With perfectly different solutions for the hair and the body, it is considered to be quite safe.

But the most important factor is to perform a skin test before the application of a depilatory cream or a lotion. Since this process involves the use of a chemical, it may cause irritations at times for sensitive skins.

Sugaring

Sugaring is a method that has been in use since a long time for the process of hair removal. It involves the application of a sugar paste on the hair. This sugar paste dries up on the hair and thus later can be pulled of.

The area of the body that has to be subjected to the process of Sugaring has to be necessarily dusted with powder prior to the sugar paste application. After the application of the paste a porous cloth is presses against the skin, and just as in the process of waxing it is pulled in the direction opposite to the direction of the growth of the hair.

Contrary to the process of waxing though, this sugar paste does not stick to the skin but just the hairs and is thereby considered to be less painful.

Since the process of Sugaring involves the use of natural ingredients, it is considered to be less harmful in nature but that does not necessarily imply that it is perfectly safe in nature.

Moreover since sugar is soluble in nature, the process of Sugaring is preferred as the mess gets easily cleared by washing the area with Luke warm water. But still; the application of the sugar paste sometimes does evolve an uncomfortable sensation, as it is sticky in nature.

Waxing

Waxing is known to be a temporary process of hair removal. It involves the spreading of wax over an area and then covering it with cloth. This enables the cloth to stick and then it is ripped against the direction of the growth of the hair.

Waxing can be involved with hot or cold wax. A hot wax is softer in nature and when applied: cools and settles down thus hardening and does not even need a cloth.
Generally a waxed area re-grows hairs in a 6 to 8 weeks interval.

Since every thing has a positive as well as a negative aspect, waxing too can be put in the terms of being quite painful, when the strip is removed from the skin. Waxing as a process is tough to perform by a lone person but then again the cost of being waxed by a cosmetologist is quite high.

Hair removal is not permanent in the process of Waxing if not performed regularly. The pull of the strip in a different direction may disturb the hair follicle and force the hair to grow in different directions during re-growth making it look rather uglier than before.

Waxing processes may cause ingrown hairs, red bumps as well as minor bleeding, when applied on areas with thick hairs, especially during the first few times when the hair follicles are quite strong in their nature. The use of an astringent is the most advisable during first time uses.
Waxing if done regularly results in no hair growth eventually.

Electrolysis

Electrolysis is a process which is considered to be the most effective; as of now. This involves a hair-thin metal probe slid into a hair follicle. A proper insertion of the follicle doesn’t puncture the skin pores and thus electricity is passed to the cells damaging them permanently resulting in no further growth of hairs.

Electrolysis guarantees permanent removal of hairs as it is clinically proven and is being used for over more than 125 years.

Electrolysis, a hair removal process depends on the sensitivity of the skin, its condition and strength in addition with the location of the hair to be removed- which relates to determine the treatment plan.

Electrolysis depends highly on the area of skin to be treated and on whether the hairs are concentrated to a small and specific area, which directly affects the period of the treatment process.

There are basically three types of Electrolysis hair removal processes:

Galvanic - An electro-chemical current produces a bit of lye.
Thermolysis- A heat current is produced by a radio wave.
Blend - An electro-chemical reaction is produced more quickly by a combination of both the above methods

Though clinically proven, Electrolysis can sometimes depict common side-effects which include pains, reddening or even swelling of areas. Possible scabs moving on to infections may happen if not taken care of. Tanned or dark skins may be affected by blotches which can be permanent or temporary in nature. It is therefore advisable to consult a therapist, explaining hereditary factors and skin conditions.

Electrolysis is often considered to be harmful at times of pregnancy, or persons who run with pace-makers. Since this process involves passage of charge, it is best advised to opt for a consultation before arriving at any decision.

Epilators

With a row of tweezer like module attached at the head, an Epilator is known to be one of the most sophisticated devices for hair removal. Its working process varies highly from an electronic razor, though it appears to be the same.

An Epilator induced with its row of tweezers actually is devised to pull out the hairs from their roots, eradicating the fast growth of hairs or any harassing stubs.

The head of an Epilator incorporates a series of metal plates mounted in a plastic housing. The ends of the plates are exposed at one or both sides of the housing. As the head rotate, the tips of the plates move together and apart once per revolution. This creates a tweezer effect, where the hair between the plates is pulled as the plates rotate away from the skin, then released as the plates separate. This allows a continuous cycle of gripping, pulling, extracting and discarding the hair as the Epilator is moved across the skin.

An Epilator, as a hair removal devise is considered good for legs and arms and its effect lasts several days to several weeks; depending upon the interval of use. But its use can only be effective on long hairs which allow the grasping aspect.

On the other hand, an Epilator can be hard at times to use on the back of the legs. Moreover with the motion of the tweezers, it becomes necessary to pull the skin tightly in order to avoid getting pinched.

An Epilator is at times uncomfortable to use on sensitive areas as well as on fine hairs.

The Alexandrite 755nm laser works much faster than other types of lasers such as the ruby and diode lasers, and effectively targets the hair root.

Still Alexandrite 755nm laser beam is limited in other ways. It is not the best and safest laser to use on darker skin types or tanned skin.

The Alexandrite laser systems categorize into GentleLASE, Apogee, and EpiTouch Plus.
Alexandrite 755nm comes in 12mm/15mm/18mm spot sizes.

The Alexandrite 755nm laser has a shorter wavelength system. Moreover as a side effect it frequently produces side effects such as pigmentary changes could be lightening or darkening, or in extreme cases for patients of all but white skin.

There have been claims regarding safety in treating darker skin types such as brown skin, it is not recommended to use this laser devise for treating unwanted hair in any skin type other than one which is very white skin.

Ruby (694 nm wavelength) was first used to help clients who had undergone re-constructive plastic surgery. It was developed by Professor Marc Clement at the Swansea Institute.

Ruby (694 nm wavelength) uses the melanin extract of the hair shaft to absorb the laser light, attacks the follicle but passing without causing any harm to the nearby surrounding tissues.

The wavelength used is highly absorbed in the melanin and only minimally in the surrounding tissue and the pulse length is carefully pre-set to create sufficient heat to prevent re-growth without damaging the skin.

Clinical tests show an average 80% reduction in facial hair after six months and just two treatments.
The 694 nm ruby laser has been used clinically for the removal of tattoos, treatment of congenital nevi and has recently been developed and put to use for the removal of unwanted hair, termed under the process of laser hair removal.

Laser-assisted hair removal is quick, painless, and potentially permanent and has application in reconstructive surgery, treatment of pilonidal sinuses and of unwanted hair resulting from hormonal imbalance in polycystic ovary disease.

Melanin is the major chromophore within skin absorbing at this wavelength and the ruby laser targets melanin containing hair and cells of the hair follicle.

Hair destruction is done with the logic of a process believed to be selective photo-thermolysis, with damage being confined to the hair and hair follicle and minimal thermal damage occurring to the surrounding tissues.

Nd: Yag (1064 nm wavelength) is considered to be ideal for targeting blood vessels, especially the deep rooted veins. The delivered light of the specific wavelength catches up to 700 J/cm2, for the purpose of powerful vein clearance.

Nd: Yag (1064 nm wavelength) includes six different types of equipment for the effective implementation of the process which include CoolGlide, Medlite IV, Varia, Athos, Lyra, and Image.

The actual process of working for a Nd: Yag (1064 nm wavelength) is by heating the heamoglobin within the vessels by the supplied energy, which in turn causes the vessel walls to constrict. This leads the vessels to shrink and therein it fades from the view.

Nd: Yag (1064 nm wavelength) as an equipment has an added feature of a footswitch control which allows rapid pulsing of the equipment for quicker treatments, where else the efficacy of the equipment adopts for the process of better vessel clearance after a very few sessions.

With high margin visibility of the equipment, the popularity and demand is growing fast amongst the physicians. With the assistance of a red aiming beam the positioning of the laser pulses over the vessels gets even better cultivating a successful result of treatment.

As for now Nd: Yag (1064 nm wavelength) systems are using longer pulse durations without any tar. There have been cases which have reported these systems to be very painful in their terms. Also, due to lack of proper evidence there are speculations with the use of this form of treatment.

The Diode Laser (800nm or 810 nm wavelength) is the most recent introduction in the hair removal department. As such little is known about it’s functioning as of now.

The Diode Laser (800nm or 810 nm wavelength) emitted wavelength enables light to be practically safer and enforces the energy to penetrate deeper because in this way it avoids the melanin pigment in the skin’s epidermis.

With technical developments in the Diode Laser equipment, the new models of the machine are enabling themselves to deliver the light source for longer periods enroaching on preventing side-effects at all cost but still producing better results with hair removal.

The diode Laser system of treatment includes F1 Diode, Light Sheer, SLP 1000, MeDioStar, Epistar , LaserLite and Apex 800.

These new machines emit wavelength which move in with the hair follicle without causing any injury to the epidermis which enables this machine to be used on dark skin colors which has been seen to be a huge advantage of its kind.

With experts waiting on the total review of the equipment, it is as of yet considered to be the most effective for short term skin treatments.