Hair removal for teens is a growing trend. Teenagers are generally first in line when it comes to removing unwanted hair. As fine and light-coloured as it may be, hair is simply not tolerated. Young girls compare with each other: one friend shaves, the other doesn’t, one sees an aesthetician for waxing while the other is undergoing electrolysis. One question remains in the minds of many parents: at what age should we allow teenagers to begin hair removal and which method is the best?
There is no ideal age to begin hair removal; the best course of action is to discuss the subject openly with teenagers before they pick up a razor in the bathroom and shave all unwanted hair with unfortunate consequences. Here are a few methods of temporary hair removal, pilosity reduction and permanent hair removal available to today’s teenagers. We qualify certain techniques of “temporary”, because in these cases, hair is bound to grow back in the short or medium term, and it may even become darker and stronger than it was before.
Temporary Methods
Razors, clippers, depilatory lotions and abrasives are readily accessible low-cost methods. It comes as no surprise that they are very popular with teenagers. However, they generally stimulate hair regrowth, especially in sex-specific areas and the results are short-lived. In most cases, we can see the hair shaft stick out of the skin as early as the next day. As far as shaving is concerned, there is also a risk of cuts and infection if the razor is not properly disinfected or if it was borrowed from another family member. Mechanical epilators that use a coiled spring are a fairly painful method that yields mixed results at best. When using this type of device, the hair can become highly distorted and often breaks in its follicle, which promotes the formation of ingrown hair with or without infection. And hair regrowth is still stimulated and fairly quick. Bleaching creams give the hair a yellowish colour and open its scales, which increases its diameter. Even if a teenager has facial hair, it would be much better to use a different method, since this method makes the hair more noticeable once the effect of bleaching fades. Waxing and plucking are two hair removal methods that provide slower hair regrowth (up to three weeks), which is very convenient for teenagers. However, they can be painful for certain people. There is also a risk of distorted hair follicles or ingrown hair with or without infection if the technique is not properly executed. Hair regrowth is stimulated, regardless of the type of wax used: hard, soft, hot or cold, or even sugar.
Photoepilation
Hair removal by LASER or IPL (intense pulsed light) is not effective on all skin and hair types. The ideal situation is fair skin and dark hair. It is a costly technique that yields a reduction of pilosity rather than permanent hair removal. Moreover, remember that teenage hair is often quite fine and barely pigmented. For this reason, it would be better to wait until the end of adolescence before resorting to this method.
Electrolysis
Electroepilation (electrolysis) is, to date, the only permanent hair removal method known to be effective on all skin and hair types, regardless of the treated area. And with new technologies and the 27 MHz ultrarapid frequency now at our disposal, we can offer teenagers highly effective treatments with hardly any feeling. There are even insulated probes that can protect the skin surface while providing extra comfort and effectiveness. Electrolysis is therefore the ideal method to rid teenagers of unwanted hair for life. Particularly in the facial area, electrolysis is the method of choice for young women, because unlike LASER, there is no need to shave the face prior to treatment. Although it requires discipline, electrolysis is safe and has no side effects. For young girls, we do recommend waiting until the first menses before starting an electrolysis treatment to be certain her pilosity has reached maturity.
In short, regardless of the selected hair removal method, the most important thing is for teenagers to feel good about themselves. However, when the budget allows it, the ideal would be to offer them permanent hair removal. It’s an intelligent investment for which your teens will be eternally grateful.
1 Comment
Thanks for the article, it’s useful as when we first notice a zone of the body where unwanted hair is growing, a moment comes for everyone to decide which hair removal methods to choose, especially for younger people, of course and the more we are informed of the benefits, risks and disadvantages of every one of them, before that decision the better!
Some people choose the same method for every zone, other choose a different method depenging on the zone of their body, of course assuming there’s enough hair for them to want or need it.
I think shaving and waxing can be considered the best complete temporary methods. By complete I mean that they can be used effectively and in a reasonable period of time to remove hair off the whole body, except, for shaving, usually on women’s face and on men’s back if needed, although mini razors are often used to shape women and men’s eyebrows :). While waxing is usually avoided on underarms and eyebrows are preferably tweezed. But lots of people indeed exclusively shave or wax their whole body including underarms except the mentioned zones.
Waxing is done preferably in a beauty aesthetician center and if done professionally, means the whole hair follicle is temporary removed and has to form back from scratch, which will take some weeks and in most of this time the skin will stay smooth and mostly hair free and unlike shaving you won’t have to think much about it for this time. Yanking the follicle from the root might be quite a bit painful, but that varies on personaly sensitivity or the professionality of the beautician :), plus there’s a change of hair becoming weaker and less painful to wax, with time. You will have also to wait for hair to be a certain length to be waxed, which can be annoying depending on the type of hair you tend to grow, but not all of it will be growing and will be much softer than with shaving, completely the opposite, we can say. You will also like never get 100% of hair off, but that won’t be noticeable when just waxed, don’t worry. Might not be very cheap, but if the aesthetician is skilled it will be a good investment.
Shaving is cheap, almost painless and the most comfortable method, with experience it can be very quick skilled people are able to shave their whole body in around 10 minutes or just more and we are talking about the whole legs, foot to bikini, arms hands to underarms and stomach, for those who need or want to have no hair there.
It potentially takes 100% of hair off a zone of your body and you don’t need to wait for hair to grow to a certain length and instead can shave at the first hint of regrowth. Depending on the consistence, speed and visibility of hair, you might need to shave very often to maintain your skin smooth as if it was waxed, a bit more often if you are shaving for a long time, as there’s a chance hair might get temporarily bit thicker with time, but, now I want to ask you, if we let the shaved hair fully grow back, it won’t remain much thicker isn’t it?
Compared to waxing the risk of change of ingrown hairs has a bigger incidence than with shaving, but that’s contrasted with scrubbing and exfoliating before shaving.
Waxing is said to contribute to a change of skin thinning with time, but that can be avoided, if you prefer, with sugaring, which won’t adhere as much to the skin and just cling to hairs :).
This of course, just talking about temporary methods.