Hair Removal

Can you still remember the first time you tried shaving your legs? I recall appropriating a razor that did not have a specific male owner and was just lying around the bathroom, pinching a Minora blade from my dad and then set about getting rid of my hairy legs. Needless to say that my mother would have had a fit if she had caught me!

Afterwards my legs felt smooth and wonderful, except for my shin where I nicked the skin off and got the fright of my life when it wouldn’t stop bleeding. Lesson learnt for life – be careful with a razor around the bony bits! It was only years later that I discovered waxing, but of all the beauty routines, a discovery I could gladly have done without. It hurts and it’s uncomfortable!

A year or so later it was time to start plucking eyebrows and every hair that got torn out of its follicle was followed by a mad little dance to neutralise the pain. No pain no gain? Well, that was then and nowadays there are much better options available for removing unwanted hair.

Laser Hair Removal

The advent of laser therapy for hair removal was truly a wonderful step into the future, and the new lasers available these days have many and varied applications to make life easier. These machines use an infra red light to target the germ cell above the hair follicle, so hair must be present in the follicle for it to work. Grey and white hair removal can be improved at the Skin Renewal Rivonia branch with the Syneron Emax laser system.

Although there is some pain associated with the procedure, most people find it mild and tolerable. Besides, some topical anaesthetic applied before the procedure will take care of that, and why not? Pain is no longer a prerequisite to being beautiful.

Excessive Hair

Abnormal unwanted hair is known as hirsutism, and is caused by high levels of male hormones. For some women unwanted hair can be embarrassing and even problematic, e.g. hair around the nipples, excessive facial hair- commonly around the chin and lips, thick body hair around the pubic area and dark haired women generally have more difficulty with dark hair on their legs

CoolGlide Excel and ProWave

CoolGlide Excel laser is one of very few lasers that can treat men and women of all skin tones safely and effectively, even those with a suntan, and can be safely used on African and Asian skin as well as for ingrown hairs. However, the lighter the skin when going for this procedure, the quicker hair removal will be because if there was sun exposure prior to treatment, a lower setting must be used which makes the treatment less effective. Depending on a person’s hair growth, a series of 3-10 treatments may be necessary, but just think about the wonderful results afterwards. You may only have to go for a touch up treatment every now and again for those hair who weren’t in the growing phase at the time of your treatment. Some follicles ‘rest’ and at that time are not producing hair which can obviously not be treated as there is no hair present.

ProWave is a light based treatment used to permanently reduce hair anywhere on the face or body. Because it can treat a fairly large spot at a time and with fast repetition rates, large areas can be quickly and effectively treated in as little as 4-6 treatments. ProWave is part of a class 4 medical laser system and cannot be compared with an entry level IPL system for hair removal, so it is to your advantage to ensure that the treatment offered is the best available.

Data has shown that about 30-90% of the hair does not grow back at the end of the treatment cycle, but 100% hair removal cannot be guaranteed. Light hair may require more treatment and maintenance and more modest results should be expected. However, I do think I speak for the majority out there when I say that it is mainly the dark and visible hairs that really bother us!

At Skin Renewal clinics all of these revolutionary hair removal treatments as well as various other more traditional treatments are offered. Their professional team will design a treatment program around your needs and offer the best therapy or combination treatments to suit your lifestyle.