Excess facial hair, especially unwanted upper lip hair, can be a problem for many women, because it can be acutely embarrassing and seem like it is blighting your life. Excess facial hair can appear at any age although there can be specific triggers such as weight loss, menopause and polycystic ovary syndrome. For most women the main issue is getting rid of upper lip facial hair, in the most convenient, permanent and least uncomfortable way possible.
Removing upper lip facial hair
There are a number of ways that women try to tackle upper lip hair removal: Using tweezers can be fine for eyebrows, but it’s a definite no-no for facial hair, as repeated plucking can cause irritation in the hair follicle and, on darker-skinned women, can also result in scarring. So leave the tweezers in the bathroom cabinet. Shaving upper lip hair (or in fact anywhere on the face or body) is not a good idea. The hair will grow back ever more quickly as well as thicker and darker. A definite no! Depilatory creams dissolve the hair at the base of the follicle, but do of course contain chemicals so can be problematic when used on the face because they irritate the skin and usually don’t remove all of the hairs. Waxing the upper lip or threading upper lip are common methods used. Generally, they are effective at removing hair on the upper lip and fine hair on the side of the face, but it is not recommended for the chin area, where hair tends to be more coarse, and of course neither method is permanent and needs to be repeated every two to four weeks. Waxing can also be problematic for darker-skinned women, who sometimes experience discoloration due to irritation and inflammation. Bleaching upper lip hair is another method used but this only last a couple of weeks or so and the new hair then grows back through dark again Electrolysis uses low-level electricity to kill the hair follicles. But the process is invasive as a needle is used to piece the skin and conduct the electric current down the hair to the hair follicle. As one hair at a time is treated the whole process can be time consuming and costly. Laser hair treatment can be more successful than the above but it cannot treat all types of hair and is only really effective on darker hair, light skin combinations. If you have dark skin, beware also, because the laser will target the melanin in your skin as well, which can cause pigmentation problems. Lasers can also be quite painful with a burning sensation. The upper lip can also suffer from swelling or inflammation after treatment with a laser.
A solution for Upper Lip Hair Removal
SkinPulse e-motion (SHR) can treat all skin/hair combinations. It is not painful and does not cause inflammation or swelling of the area. The machine works on all hair colours (including grey facial hair). In our view SkinPulse is the most effective treatment available today and is suitable for treating all areas of the face and body, whereas electrolysis is generally only suitable for very small areas with just a few unwanted hairs. Electrolysis and laser hair removal treatments also only tend to work on very dark coloured hair.
To find out more or book an appointment please use our contact form, phone me on 01732 763250/07740289928 or email me to get in touch.