According to Dr. Lertzman, tweezing or shaving certain areas of your face does not change how quickly the hairs grow back or how long the hairs remain on the face.
It's important to note that repeatedly plucking hair can lead to damage to the hair follicle, which may result in thinner or weaker hair growth over time. Additionally, plucking can cause irritation, ingrown hairs, and potential scarring if not done properly (2).
Laser hair removal or electrolysis are the two ways to get facial hair to stop growing. Hormone therapy is another way, but that's as a secondary measure and comes with many side effects.
No, hair does not grow back thicker and darker if you shave or pluck it. The appearance of thicker or darker hair after shaving or plucking is a result of the blunt end of the hair shaft giving the illusion of a thicker strand.
For more permanent results, laser hair removal is a good option. In fact, Sartor says this is the most effective method for permanently removing chin hair.
Waxing and plucking can damage the hair follicles, causing new hair growth to be slower and thinner over time. These methods are not considered permanent hair growth, though.
Standing in front of a mirror with good lighting, hold skin taut with your free hand. Doing so will mean less tugging and pain, so grab onto hair as close as you can near the skin, and remove it in the direction that it grows.
No surprise there are many methods to get rid of it: you can epilate, tweeze, wax, sugar, thread, burn, shave or bleach; use creams, lasers, IPL, electrolysis or make-up. Surface removal methods like shaving are quick and easy, but stubble grows back fast.
Dietary supplements that contain vitamins B6 and E are also believed to help get rid of unwanted hair growth in the facial areas. For one, vitamin B6 is thought to help lower testosterone in women and inhibit prolactin hormone production.
You can shave, wax, sugar, or use a depilatory, too.
Shaving, waxing, sugaring, and depilatories each come with their own sets of risks. For shaving, your biggest issue will be cutting yourself or getting razor burn. With the other methods, you could get a chemical or heat-related burn, says Zeichner.
Trichotillomania can be related to emotions, including: Negative feelings. Pulling out hair may be a way of dealing with negative or uncomfortable feelings, such as stress, anxiety, tension, boredom, loneliness, extreme tiredness or frustration.
Plucking is usually not permanent but there are exceptions. Over-tweezing a non-hormonal area over an extended period of time will cause the destruction of a follicle. If you spend years and years plucking the same hair... bye-bye eyebrows.
If the goal of tweezing or plucking facial hair is to make your face cleaner, tweezing can cause the opposite effect. In some cases, as the skin near the hair follicles become more inflamed, this can cause moles and acne to flare up – and potentially lead to ingrown hairs.
Electrolysis. Electrolysis, in which an electrical current is used to destroy hair follicles, “is the one true permanent way to remove hair,” Davis says. Like lasers, it requires several treatments; unlike lasers, it requires no maintenance visits and works on light hair, according to the dermatology academy.
However, if you still decide to pick up tweezers, it should be reserved for the occasional chin hair or that one brow hair stuck in a pesky spot. Does it last? Results from plucking last anywhere from a couple weeks to six, but there's always a chance that the hairs will never grow back if trauma and scarring occurs.
A hair follicle is a tube-like structure within your skin that produces a strand of hair.