What is epilation?

Epilation is a kind of hair removal process that gets rid of unwanted body hair by various methods like using epilation devices, waxing, sugaring, electrology, lasers and by plucking hair with tweezers. Though women usually go for hair removal, men are also not far behind. A number of men today love to have a clean shaven face and chest. Epilation removes the hair from the follicle, unlike depilation, which removes the hair just from the surface of the skin. If you opt for epilation, know for sure that the hair will take a good amount of time to grow back.

Epilation hair removal can be both temporary and permanent in manner. If epilation is performed making use of procedures like waxing, tweezing, sugaring and by using products like electric epilators, the effect will be temporary and hair will grow back after some days. If you want to go for permanent hair removal, the epilation that makes use of photo epilation, laser and electrolysis processes will be the best choice for you.

Different kinds of epilation procedures

If you do not want to go for the permanent procedure, owing to the fact as it needs to be done by a professional or at a beauty salon, you can go with the temporary hair removal treatment. The hair removal home kits that are available in the market make your job easier; just follow the instructions well and voila! You are all set to remove your own hair.

The temporary kind of epilation entails waxing, tweezing and the use of electric epilators. For waxing hair removal treatment, wax is heated and then the warm wax is smoothed with a spatula-like equipment and a thin layer of the wax is applied over the skin; the hair on the body gets stuck to the wax. The following step is to press a strip of cloth or paper over the warm wax and smoothen with the hands. Ultimately, the strip is pulled off and the hair that was stuck to the wax is also pulled off. Waxing can be bit painful.

Sugaring or sugar waxing is a kind of depilatory hair removal procedure that uses cool sugar mixture instead of hot wax. This procedure removes hair and is less painful than waxing. Sugaring exfoliates the skin when removing hair and also helps in the promotion of a healthy complexion.

Tweezers are used for pulling out hair; this also can be quite painful. These are mainly used for pulling out her from the eyebrows for shaping them. This process is very slow and is unsuitable for use in large parts of the body.

The electric epilators look like the electric razors. These electric devices are rolled over the skin and in this process the device grabs the hairs with its many tweezer-like blades. The blades pull the hairs up and out of the skin.

The permanent kind of epilation process involves laser, electrolysis and photo epilation. Laser hair removal treatment is a process where a beam of laser light is thrown over the skin. The light is attracted to the dark hair color and causes permanent damage to the hair follicle with repeated laser treatments. It cannot be said that a single laser treatment will result in permanent removal of hair, however it is true that a single treatment will result in the permanent reduction of hair. 6 to 8 laser treatments are required before the hair is lost permanently with the permanent damage of the hair follicles.

Electrolysis or electrology is the process of hair removal in which electricity is applied to the hair root by injecting a needle like equipment into the hair follicle for localizing the damage and permanently damaging hair and stopping hair growth. The process is very slow as each hair has to be treated individually, but it is a very effective procedure for the removal of hair permanently.

Photo-epilation is also known as the pulsed laser treatment and is a new process for removal of body hair. This process is quite like the laser hair removal procedure; an intense pulsed light beam is used for destroying the follicle's capacity to produce hair; the side effects are very less. Unlike the laser treatment, which is suitable for people with hair color darker than skin color, this treatment is suitable for all skin types and all hair colors.

The pros and cons of epilation hair removal process

Epilation lasts longer than depilation, as the hair is removed from beneath the skin. With time and repeated epilation treatments, it is possible to stop the growth of hair permanently. Epilation however can be a risky affair for some people; it would be advisable to have a talk with your doctor before opting for epilation. Depending on the method of epilation used, a person can experience side effects such as itching sensation, feelings of pain, ingrowth of hair, allergic reactions and burning sensations.

To sum it up, it can be said that epilation is a wise way of hair removal, either permanent or temporary, provided your doctor gives you the green signal to go ahead with it.