I have tons of YouTube subscriptions, and recently I stumbled across a vlog on epilating, which is the process of removing hair by its roots. (I totally admire her by the way; it takes a lot of self-confidence to epilate your upper lip and under arms in front of the world). I had never even heard of an epilator before this video, thus it prompted me to write this entry (my first on this blog!) about different methods of hair removal.

There are the three basic hair removal methods that most people use: tweezing, shaving (which isn’t epilating), and waxing. Shaving can cause the hair to grow back thicker, and you definitely don’t want that to happen on your eyebrows, hairline, or upper lip (or maybe you do?!). Waxing can clog pores, exacerbate acne, and you should avoid waxing if you are using retinols (it can irritate your skin). Tweezing takes too long for me (I’m pretty impatient); I only do it for touch ups between my personal favorite hair removal method, threading. I really love the eyebrow shape that I get from threading and it’s really not that painful. Not to mention, it’s pretty cheap. A threading session for eyebrows usually ranges from about $10-15 (upper lip and hair line is also around the same price). For more convenience, you can also buy an at home threader (http://www.karmissie.com), which ranges from about $120-$150, and usually lasts about 6-9 months. To me, threading strikes the perfect balance between waxing and tweezing. Since threading removes hair in rows, it’s a lot faster than tweezing, and much less painful and messy than waxing.

So what’s new in epilating? It’s a device called an epilator that removes hair, and you can do it conveniently at home. An epilator has a bunch of little tweezers that rotate to remove hair, leaving you with finer and less hair regrowth. A disadvantage of epilating is that for some, an epilator is more expensive than tweezing or shaving. The price for an epilator ranges form $50-$150. You also need to grow out the hair so that the epilator can pull it out, and some find it quite painful (especially on the upper lip). However, I have heard that after a while you get used to it, and it’s not as uncomfortable. Since epilating pulls the hair out from the root, you also will not need to epilate as often after awhile.

Last but not least, we have laser hair removal (or “photoepilation”). Laser hair removal gets rid of unwanted hair by killing the hair at the root so that it doesn’t grow back again, and the treatment is pretty comfortable overall. The price of laser hair removal is about $200 per treatment depending on the area(s) being treated. The length of treatment needed also varies by how thick or how much hair you are trying to remove, and most people are typically recommended about 3-6 treatment sessions to remove all the unwanted hair growth. In addition, darker hair is easier to treat than light hair, because it tends to absorb more of the laser energy. The long-term effects are definitely worth it. Imagine not having to shave, wax, tweeze, thread, or epilate ever again!

I am new to this blog, so feel free to comment and add your thoughts. I would love to hear what you guys have tried and what works best for you!