Understanding
Hair Growth
Understanding how hair grows and why it appears at different times can help you understand the electrolysis process, the importance of consistent treatments, and what to expect as you work toward permanent hair removal.
Understanding
Hair Growth
Hair grows through a tiny opening in the skin called the hair follicle. Every person is born with millions of hair follicles, although only a small percentage will ever produce noticeable hair.
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During childhood, most of the body is covered with vellus hair. Vellus hair is fine, soft, lightly pigmented, and is often difficult to see. During puberty, hormones cause some vellus hairs to become terminal hairs, which are darker, coarser, and more noticeable. This natural process continues throughout life and varies from person to person.
Hair does not all grow at the same time. Each hair follicle follows its own growth cycle, which means hairs are constantly growing, resting, and shedding independently of one another.
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Because of this, electrolysis permanently treats hairs over a series of appointments rather than all at once.
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The four stages of the hair growth cycle are:
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Anagen (Growing)
The hair is actively growing and attached to the follicle. This is the ideal stage for treatment.
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Catagen (Transition)
Hair growth stops as the follicle begins preparing to release the hair.
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Telogen (Resting)
The hair remains in the follicle but is no longer growing.
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Exogen (Shedding)
The old hair sheds naturally, allowing a new hair to begin growing.
One of the best ways to complete your treatments as efficiently as possible is to treat hairs soon after they appear through the skin.
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As treatment progresses:
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Appointment times become shorter.
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Appointments become less frequent.
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More hairs are permanently treated during their active growth stage.
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Keeping appointments on schedule helps you reach your permanent hair removal goals more quickly.
Once you begin electrolysis, it is important to stop tweezing, waxing, and threading the treatment area.
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These methods remove the hair before it can be treated, increasing the amount of time needed to complete your treatments.
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Shaving or clipping is perfectly acceptable because it removes hair only at the surface of the skin. Please allow at least 24 hours of hair growth before your appointment so the hairs can be treated effectively.
Many clients notice what appears to be more hair after they stop tweezing.
This is completely normal.
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Tweezing interrupts the natural hair growth cycle. Once tweezing stops, hairs continue their normal stages of growth and begin appearing through the skin. These are not hairs that have "grown back" after treatment, they are hairs that were already part of your natural growth cycle.
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Scheduling treatments as hairs appear allows Barbara to permanently treat them before they naturally shed.