How do you feel about your excess bodily and facial hair? While most women are concerned by this and ashamed to admit they have such a problem, you need to know that it is a common predicament, that affects women across the world, irrespective of their medical history, ethnic background and cultural heritage.
IPL Hair Removal
One possible cause of excess hair on the female body or face is polycystic ovarian syndrome, an affliction which affects roughly 67% of sexually active women worldwide. PCOS, as the syndrome is otherwise known, manifests itself through the development of an androgynous appearance. If it seems like you’re developing a beard or moustache, don’t worry. Go see your gynecologist, have them prescribe the appropriate hormonal treatment and, meanwhile, treat the development of androgynous characteristics with your beautician. Luckily, the evolution of modern technologies have made permanent hair removing methods much more accessible and pain free than they used to be.
Possibly your best option is to go in for IPL treatment, for hairfree laser removal. However, before you do, there are several things you need to know. Read on below on how it is best to prepare for intense pulsed laser hair removal treatments, in order to make sure you will be avoiding all possible complications and issues.
What Do I Need to Do before My IPL Treatment?
In order to make sure the treatment is actually effective, or can be implemented to begin with, you need to let the hair on your body grow out for a given period of time. Very short hairs cannot be removed with intense pulsed laser. The technician needs to see the hairs as they remove them. As such, refrain from seeing your usual beautician for at least two weeks. This will allow the hair to grow to an appropriate length. What is more, IPL treatments will further sensitize the skin, which is why you don’t want it to be too sensitive from the get-go. Hair removing wax or creams tend to leave the skin slightly irritated or prone to breaking. By using laser on sensitive skin, you risk burns and other skin issues, which will hurt and make you extremely uncomfortable.
Handling the Aftermath of the IPL Treatment
While IPL treatments are nowhere near as painful as you’ve been led to believe, you will experience a certain amount of discomfort immediately after the treatment. You can like the sensation to a mildly intense sunburn. What you need to do is proceed as if you were suffering from sunburn per se. That is to say, you can apply moisturizers and other lotions, as well as cold compresses, to the treated area of skin, just make sure they do not contain any irritating elements, such as strong fragrances or alcohol (scientifically known as alpha-hydroxyl acids or AHAs). Don’t rub the area, but dry it by mildly toweling it. Avoid the use of deodorants, since most of them include AHAs in their composition. You can shower, as long as you don’t use harsh soaps, which will further dehydrate your skin. Make sure you check for redness, swelling and crust formation. Some degree of redness and swelling is normal, but should not last for more than twenty-four hours. Crusts, on the other hand, will require the use of antibiotic creams. There will be no hair growth for at least three weeks, and the stubble that may appear is just dead hair being pushed out of the follicles by the skin. These short, raspy hairs will fall off by themselves.
Author Bio
Rachel Myers is a former beautician, who learned everything she needed to know about beauty and cosmetics in kindergarten—even though she did attend beauty school and ended up a full-time beauty professional of three decades, who warmly recommends hairfree laser hair removal treatments.