If you make the choice to remove your hair, you should do so in the most efficacious and the safest way possible. Some hair removal methods will suit your needs better than other hair removal methods.
Some methods are more convenient for men and women on the go, such as shaving. Others have longer lasting results but require a larger upfront time and fiscal investment with less convenience.
But before you spend your hard-earned money on a hair removal method, you should make sure that you are spending your money on something that will achieve your desired results.
False! Shaving does not cause hair to grow back thicker. This myth is something the women in my family perpetuated for a long time. They all warned me to put off shaving for the first time as long as I could bear it in my teens for this reason. They said that the first time you shave your body hair, it will begin to grow thicker from that point onward.
While this is just a myth, there is a reason people believed hair grows back thicker after shaving. Unlike depilatories, laser hair removal, or waxing, shaving only removes the hair growth visible above the skin and does not remove the hair in the follicle.
By shaving off the tapered end of hair, what remains behind is a blunt, square edge. This blunt edge appears thicker and thus makes hair seem more noticeable on the body.
Shaving Makes Hair Re-Grow Thicker
BikiniLaser Hair Removal is Permanent
Laser hair removal is complicated to explain, because it tends to affect different hair growth patterns differently. But for most people, laser hair removal is not so much a permanent removal of hair growth as it is a permanent reduction in hair growth.
Laser hair removal affects the hair follicle so that regrowth is increasingly sparse over time. For some people, they may achieve the desired result of total and permanent hair removal. People with coarser hair growth will be less likely to see these results.
In most cases, you should be advised that most “permanent” hair removal solutions are just much longer lasting than conventional methods of hair removal. Some products, however, like permanent hair removal cream can make a huge difference in the degree of growth you experience without the price tag that comes along with laser treatment.
Plucking ingrown hairs is risky business. When hair that has grown beneath the skin is removed, you are creating an opening in the skin that is at risk for bacterial growth and infection.
There is reason to believe that, in most cases, you should allow ingrown hairs to run their course. If you experience any tenderness or swelling at the site, you should use an antibacterial ointment. On the other hand, if you choose to remove the ingrown hair, just take care to disinfect the area before and after removal.
The best way to treat ingrown hairs is not to get them in the first place. Exfoliate well before hair removal—especially when shaving–and follow removal directions on your chosen product to the letter.
You Can (and Should) Pluck Ingrown Hairs
You Should Always Shave with the Hair Growth
While shaving with the hair growth helps prevent ingrown hairs and causes less irritation, you might also be aware that you will achieve the closest cut by shaving against the growth. If your hair is particularly lengthy or thick, you should shave with the hair growth for the best shave.
All in all, you can achieve the closest shave by exfoliating first and shaving regularly so that hair does not have time to grow too lengthy. This way, the razor blades can reach the base of all hair strands reliably.
Shaving does not dry out skin under normal circumstances. In fact, shaving and most other hair removal methods will actually exfoliate dead skin cells on the surface of skin and reveal the more hydrated layer of skin beneath.
That said, shaving too often and too vigorously can irritate skin. Especially in harsh climates such as dry winter weather, you do not want to over exfoliate skin.
Shaving Dries Out Skin
Your Hair Needs to be a Certain Length for Removal
There is actually some truth at the base of this myth. While shaving doesn’t necessarily require a certain length, razors do tend to be more efficacious when hair is at medium length or less.
But when it comes to waxing and some depilatories there are actually specific lengths hair needs to reach for the removal process to be effective. When it comes to waxing, the wax needs something to grip, so hair must be medium length in most cases. This also prevents undue skin irritation.
