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What is your go-to way to get rid of unwanted hair in your body? Do you shave them, pluck them out one by one, or use wax to pluck multiple hairs at the same time?
When you compare the results of shaving the hair vs plucking it, it seems that plucking them is a more permanent solution because the hair seems like it stops growing.
But does hair really stop growing when you pluck them? How many times do you have to pluck hair before it stops growing?
Unfortunately, there is no answer. Often follicles will keep growing hair, even if regularly plucked.
It is very rare for hair to stop growing simply because you’ve plucked it. Although possible, when there is enough damage in the follicles, you might only experience this with a few hair strands after plucking them out for years.
If plucking the hair out doesn’t stop it from growing, what does plucking really do to the hair? And why do some people think that plucking it multiple times can stop hair from growing?
Those are only some of the questions that we will answer in detail below. Through this, we hope we can help you understand that plucking is not the answer if you want to permanently remove your hair.
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What Does Plucking Do To Hair?
Are you one of those who dread their armpit hair? Or maybe you obsessively pluck your leg hairs. Shaving can do the trick of removing that unwanted hair but only for a limited time. After a few days, you’ll be seeing regrowth of your hair.
That’s because shaving only cuts the hair that is exposed on the surface of the skin. There is still hair in the deeper layer of the skin that protrudes or grows longer after several days.
If you want to remove hair for longer, you could choose to pluck it out. There are various ways you can do that.
Tweezing It Out
You can use tweezers and pluck each and every single hair you see one at a time. That would take a long time, though.
Epi Pluck
If you want a more efficient way of plucking the hair out, you can also try epilators. Epilators act like tiny tweezers and they grab multiple hair strands to pluck them all at the same time.
They work well, but many find them painful (less so in water). When used improperly, they can be harmful to the skin.
Wax On
Another way of plucking hair strands out is to use wax. Whether you use cold wax or hot wax, it will still act the same way.
The wax grabs the exposed hair strands and pulls the wax plucking out multiple hair strands (as well as skin!) at a time.
Usually, when hair strands are properly plucked, the hair is removed from the follicle. However, there are times when the hair breaks and not the entire hair from the follicle is removed.
When plucking it is best to remove the hair from the follicle because doing so will prevent it from growing back for up to 6 weeks.
When hair is plucked out from the hair follicles, it could damage the follicles. There could be a variety of things that could happen when the follicle is damaged.
How Many Times Do You Have To Pluck Hair Before It Stops Growing?
As we’ve mentioned, the hair follicles can get damaged when the hair is plucked out. When this happens a few changes in the hair are possible.
Some believe that plucking hair too much will eventually cause it not to grow. There can be some truth to that.
It is possible for the hair follicle to be severely damaged due to plucking it multiple times. When that happens hair may not grow on that certain hair follicle.
However, that doesn’t always happen. There is no guarantee that if the hair is plucked for a certain number that the hair would stop growing. Completely damaged hair follicle due to plucking is possible but is uncommon.
There is no guarantee that if the hair is plucked for a certain number that the hair would stop growing.
What is more common is that the hair follicle gets damaged which results in hair that doesn’t grow as thick as it used to be. It is possible that thinner hair grows out of the said follicle.
This may not be too obvious that’s why some people might have mistaken this for their hair not growing at all. However, if your goal is to make hair less obvious in the area, growing thinner strands does help achieve that goal.
Aside from thinner hair, it is possible that the hair that’s plucked grows inward. In such a case, you’ll have ingrown hair, which can be unsightly, painful, and uncomfortable.
You have to remember that hair has a growth cycle.
Sometimes, there are hair follicles that are in the resting phase so they don’t grow hair at the same time as the others.
It is possible that the hair that was plucked doesn’t grow again immediately simply because the hair follicle has entered the resting phase.
Eventually, hair will grow again from that follicle.
How To Properly Pluck Hair Out
Have you ever tried plucking hair out? Did all of the hair strands you plucked outcome with the translucent bulb in the end? or did most of the hair strands break?
If you want to make sure that hair doesn’t grow immediately after plucking it, you should know how to properly pluck out the hair. Here are a few pointers that could help you with that.
1. Don’t Dig Out Hair
In case you failed to completely pull out the hair strand from the follicle, you could break the hair in which you can’t get to it anymore because it is too short. When that happens, resist the urge to dig it out.
Although you have tweezers, digging out the broken hair could just lead you to develop irritation or infection. The hair strand could coil and grow in the wrong direction, causing ingrown hair.
2. Make Sure Your Tweezers Are Sterilized
The last thing that you want to do when plucking out hair is to cause an infection. Avoid that by making use of tweezers that are sterilized.
This helps make sure you don’t contaminate the skin.
Also, make sure that the tweezers you are using are really capable of gripping the hair. If they aren’t properly aligned, it will be difficult for you to remove the hair strands. Hair strands are likely to break when they aren’t properly gripped.
3. Pull Hair In The Right Direction
When pulling out the hair, make sure that you pull it out in the right direction. Pull it out at an angle that goes with the hair’s grain.
Doing so will help make sure that you pull it all out and avoid breaking the hair strand. Checking your angle and direction prevents you from developing ingrown hair.
Additionally, pulling in the right direction can lessen the damage that the hair follicle takes.
Permanent Hair Removal
It can be disheartening to know that no matter how many times you plucked the hair out, it won’t result in permanent hair removal. Hair will eventually grow if you just give it time.
At most hair that has been removed through plucking will last for up to 8 weeks until you see growth again.
However, through modern technology, there are a few ways on how you can remove hair more permanently as compared to plucking it out such as the following.
Electrolysis
This is a procedure that is done by professionals. This involves a tiny needle inserted in each of the hair follicles to destroy the root with an electric current.
One of the ways to prevent hair from growing again is to damage the root and this procedure does that through an electric current. However, it cannot be done in just a single session.
Treatment sessions with electrolysis are usually repeated every 1-2 weeks until you observe that the hair is mostly gone. Possible side effects of the said procedure include scarring, swelling, and redness over the area.
Laser Hair Removal
Another way to remove the hair in the long term as compared to plucking them out is through the use of laser hair removal or IPL hair removal. Similar to electrolysis, this procedure, whether done in a salon or using an at-home device like the BoSidin, also damages the root or hair follicle to prevent it from growing hair again.
This procedure can be done in different areas of the body except for the eye area. It works best for people who have lighter skin tone and darker hair.
This procedure targets the dark pigments found on the hair. Light energy is used to travel to such dark pigments and damage the follicle.
This procedure requires several sessions to become effective. Most of those who undergo laser hair removal sessions can expect growth to stop in a few months to a few years.
Sometimes, some hair still grows but it is finer and lighter than the usual hair that grows in the area. Although many claims that laser hair removal is effective, there is still no guarantee that will could permanently remove hair.
Hair is pretty persistent stuff!
