You remove hair because you want it gone. Your face, your legs, your arms or back or chest. Your most intimate areas. There are lots of ways to remove unwanted hair, from tweezing them individually to addressing larger areas by shaving or waxing or applying creams. You might see really great results immediately, but in no time at all you’re going through the process all over again.
What’s the problem here?
Shaving simply cuts the hairs off at the skin surface. It has no effect on growing hairs below the surface, so almost immediately you see new hairs emerging. Similarly, depilatory creams dissolve only visible hairs.
Waxing (done properly) pulls the hairs out by the roots – no wonder it hurts so much! But waxing does not destroy the growth cells within the follicles, so hair grows back. It takes a little longer for new hairs to reappear than with shaving, because they first have to grow from the follicles through the skin before reaching the surface.
These hair removal methods can leave your skin irritated and rashy-looking. You can get painful ingrown hairs. You can accidentally cut yourself, and those little dabs of tissue you use to stop the bleeding? Not cool. Plus, since you have to keep doing these things forever, the time and cost can add up to more expense than you imagine.
All in all, it’s a lot of work for results that don’t last very long.
Laser Hair Removal Is a Game Changer
With the right laser hair removal treatment, we can achieve results that are virtually permanent. We have to say “virtually,” because it is possible that a few new hairs may grow back at some point in the future, typically related to changes in hormone levels, menopause, etc.
At Eterna Cosmetic Surgery, we use the Triton laser system to remove hair because it can produce better results across the board, and because it is safe and effective for far more people. Unless you have very fair, gray, or certain shades of red hair, you’re a great candidate for Triton laser hair removal even if you have a darker complexion.
Triton works differently than other types of lasers. It incorporates three wavelengths of laser-produced light which can be adjusted as needed, and the strength of the laser pulses is also adjustable. That means we can individually tailor the treatment to each patient’s skin tone and thickness as well as their hair type and color. Triton treatment is safe, and it is highly effective.
Not Quite One-and-Done
In a perfect world, you’d need just one laser hair removal treatment to get near-permanent results. But hair is not that cooperative. Hairs actually grow in phases:
- Actively growing
- Transitional (growth slows and stops)
- Resting (during which hairs are naturally shed)
Not all hairs are on the same growth cycle, or you’d be bald during the resting/shedding stage. Furthermore, growth cycles vary considerably on different parts of the body – your scalp versus your face or body, for example.
Lasers effectively target and destroy only actively growing hairs. This explains why we have to do multiple treatments, to catch hairs while they’re in that particular phase. Once your treatment regimen is complete, however, you can count on virtually permanent results.
