Electrolysis

Electrolysis is used to remove hair on the face especially (eyebrows, upper and lower lips, cheeks, chin, hairline, bridge of the nose between eyebrows, and sideburns) and also on the neck, shoulders, arms and underarms, breasts, abdomen, bikini line, legs, back, and chest. The procedure is not used to remove hair from inside the ears or nose or from a scar or a mole.

The electrolysis procedure is also slow and painful. A small needle or thin metal probe is inserted into the opening of the skin where hair sprouts from follicles. A low-level electrical current passes through the needle and destroys the follicle. Each hair follicle is treated with an electric current for about a minute. Hair is unable to grow back anywhere a follicle has been destroyed. However it can take between twelve and thirty treatments just to destroy one hair follicle and most salons charge at least $30 an hour for a treatment. Most of the time hair does grow back thinner and weaker but there is no guarantee of absolute removal.

Electrolysis requires a series of treatments to be effective and even then, the treatment does not prevent cells from growing new hair.