If there is one thing that I know about, its hair! I’ve seen my share, and removed a lot of it. From curly to straight, thick to thin, and black to white. The good news is no matter the color or texture all hair follows specific growth patters, and phases. We can use these to our advantage when planning your hair removal approach. The key is timing. You’ll want to schedule hair removal so that it removes the hair at a specific phase of growth. We also aim to get all of the hair on the same schedule to thin it out and minimize pain.
Lets look at the anatomy of your hair.
No Matter what part of the body it’s growing on or how it looks all hair has the same basic parts. There is the lower segment which includes the bulb and suprabulb. Moving up the hair we then have the middle segment (isthmus), and finally the upper segment (infundibulum).
Your hair moves through 4 phases before you find it stuck in the shower drain: anagen, catagen, and telogen. The Anagen phase is when your hair is actively growing and for head hair usually lasts 3-4 years in humans. This determines how long the hair will grow. Did you ever notice how some people can grow their hair as long as they like while others gets a certain length then stops? That’s because of the length of their Anagen phase, and the rate of hair growth. Next the hair enters the Catagen phase in this phase the hair releases from the follicle – it lasts about 10 days. Now your hair enters the Telogen phase at this time the hair is just resting and waiting to be pushed out by the new hair that has begun growing in its place. This lasts about 3 months and 10- 15% of hairs are in this phase. This brings us to the final phase called Exogen.
When we sugar the hair its best to catch it when its in the Anagen Phase. The hope is that pulling the hair at this stage will damage the follicle and poof hair won’t grow there again. This is how laser hair removal works the laser targets the hair and burns the follicle so it wont grow back. Keeping a regular sugaring schedule of about 6-8 weeks between treatments will ensure that you can catch all the hair in the Anagen phase and reduce overall hair growth.
Hopefully becoming familiar with your hair and its growth stages will help you better manage and care for it. I know though years of experience that regular clients have better results, less pain, and less regrowth. Call me today to make your next San Diego hair removal appointment!
