Ingrown Hair Removal Treatments
Ingrown hairs can be a frustrating side effect of hair removal for many people, both men and women. The purpose of removing the hair is usually to feel more comfortable, have smoother skin and look nicer; unfortunately uncomfortable ingrown hairs can ruin that for us.
What are Ingrown Hairs?
Ingrown hair is a condition wherein the hair curls back or grows sideways into the skin. It may or may not be accompanied by an infection of the hair follicle or razor bumps. They most commonly appear in areas of the skin that have been waxed or shaved such as the legs or pubic area but they can appear anywhere.
What Causes Ingrown Hair?
The condition is most common for those with coarse or curly hair though it is not specialised to them. The most common cause for ingrown hairs is shaving, the second is waxing, but in fact anything which causes the hair to be broken off unevenly with a sharp tip can cause them, even tight clothing can cause it.
How to get rid of Ingrown hairs ?
Laser hair removal is the deliberate removal of body hair & ingrown hair removal using the technology of laser. Hair generally grows all over the human body, some fine and barely noticeable, with other areas having thicker, more prominent hair.
Laser hair removal uses laser light pulses to selectively destroy hair follicles by targeting the melanin (colour) in them. The pigment in the hair follicle absorbs the laser’s light pulse, which damages the follicle enough to significantly retard hair regrowth. The laser delivers an intense beam of light, which is absorbed by the hair follicle whilst the surrounding tissue remains unaffected.
This process is called selective photothermolysis (photo – means light and thermolysis means to destroy with heat). It is selective as it targets the hair and not the skin. Laser hair removal is not electrolysis, electrolysis works by directing an electric current into each individual hair follicle, which is painful, and time consuming. Hair removal Lasers, on the other hand, can target a large amount of hairs in one go, in a much less painful manner.
Because laser pulses target the melanin within the hair follicle, people with coarse, dark hair and light skin respond best to treatment but dark-haired, dark-skinned individuals, as well as those with light hair and skin, can still achieve the same desired effects with the Nd:YAG hair removal laser used in the pulse Light Clinic. That’s because the Nd:YAG hair removal laser has a longer wavelength and better pigment selectivity than other lasers used for hair removal. It can more precisely penetrate hair follicles, leaving the surrounding skin tissue undamaged. This energy damages and goes on to destroy the hair follicle, thus stopping the follicle from producing further hairs.
Following a laser hair removal treatment, the dead hair needs to come through the skin. It is pushed through and then shed after one to three weeks. During this period the hairs will seem to grow as the new skin pushes them out. After the second laser treatment, depending on skin and hair type, the area can already begin to look patchy as certain hair follicles stop producing new hairs.
The skin may be red immediately after the treatment and the hair follicles where the skin has been treated may be raised and bumpy, this usually subsides within a few hours but can take up to 48 hours for some clients. A very few people experience itching a few days later as the hair is pushed out.
The laser light targets only hair that are actively growing (anagen phase), therefore multiple treatments are necessary to treat all the hair as they are not all growing simultaneously. Different hair follicles will be in different hair growth stages at any one time. For this reason, it requires several laser hair removal sessions to ensure catching all of the hair in the anagen phase.
At Pulse Light Clinic London, our highly experienced practitioners use the laser hair removal system by Gentlemax Pro. This hair removal device is suitable for all skin types and hair types.
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