Types and rules of hair removal and depilation at home: how to do waxing, shugaring at home
Typically, the armpits, pubic area and legs are treated. Types of depilation that can be used at home include sugaring, waxing, shaving, and electrolysis. It is also possible to use technological types of hair removal, which are described in this material.
Fashion canons require a woman to have an ideal appearance: beautiful healthy hair, a thin waist, impeccable makeup and, last but not least, smooth, well-groomed legs.
What is the difference between epilation and depilation: what is the difference?
In the current cosmetology, there are two methods that allow you to get rid of unwanted hair for a particular period – epilation and depilation. The difference between epilation and depilation lies in the methods of removing unwanted hair. It is proposed to understand in detail how epilation differs from depilation, and which method to choose for home use. Depilation is a short-term procedure for removing unwanted hair, in which the hair is cut off, pulled out or exposed to special cosmetics. The effectiveness of such procedures may be different, depending on the type of effect on the hair. For example, when shaving, unwanted hairs will again cause inconvenience after 2-3 days, depilatory creams will please you with a slightly longer effect, and electric depilators,
Epilation is a process of getting rid of hair for a long time. The effect in this case is achieved by influencing both the hair and the hair follicle, which is destroyed in one way or another: with the help of electric current, laser, light pulse and other methods. With the destruction of the hair follicle, the hair stops receiving nutrition, respectively, its growth stops.
How to do depilation at home
How to do depilation at home in such a way as not to get the opposite unwanted effect. This will help simple tips. The following are recommendations on how to do depilation at home with a razor and various related products. But it is not enough to learn how to do depilation at home, it is important to follow the rules of antiseptic safety.
Shaving has been, is and will continue to be the cheapest, most accessible and painless way to remove hair for the foreseeable future. However, even in such a simple matter there are some nuances.
Depilation can be done with razors or electric shavers, each of these methods has its own advantages and disadvantages.
Most often, women do depilation with razors. This is quite cheap and effective, but the effect cannot be called long-lasting – already on the 3-5th day, the hairs grow back. In addition, it is easy to injure the skin when shaving, and irritation often occurs when hair grows back.
However, do not despair – by following a few simple rules, depilation can be made as comfortable, safe and effective as possible.
1 Do not shave on dry skin. Firstly, dry skin is easy to injure, and secondly, dry shaving provides insufficient contact between the blades and the skin surface, the hairs after such a shave will grow back even faster; thirdly, with dry shaving, the blades fail faster. Ideally, shaving is best done after a hot shower on thoroughly cleansed skin.
2 It is necessary to use special shaving gels. When using such gels, the most effective sliding and contact of the blades with the skin is ensured, which minimizes the possibility of cuts.
3 Do not use men's razors. Women's razors are made of softer steel and are designed for delicate shaving of fine female hairs, while hard steel is designed for stiff bristles. When shaving with a male razor, it is easier to cut yourself, in addition, special female razors are often equipped with exfoliating, softening and lifting strips, which allows you to keep the effect of the procedure longer.
4 It is necessary to use special lotions and balms after shaving to avoid irritation.
5 Body scrubs and ingrown hair products should be used regularly. This tip applies to any type of depilation. It happens that the hair deviates from its usual direction of growth and begins to grow under the top layer of the skin, injuring the epidermis and provoking micro-inflammations.
In order to prevent this from happening, it is necessary to remove dead skin cells immediately before shaving and a day after, in order to make it easier for the hairs to come out.
6 If irritation occurs, do not use alcohol-containing products to eliminate it.
Alcohol dries the skin and makes it even more vulnerable to mechanical damage and infections, in which case it is worth using special softening gels and ointments.
7 During the day after shaving, you should refrain from visiting pools and swimming in salty sea water. Chlorine and sea salt are irritating to damaged skin.
Chemical depilation
Many women prefer depilation with creams and lotions to a razor, and with good reason, because depilation with a cream has a number of significant advantages.
Chemical depilation is based on the reaction of the interaction of alkaline chemicals that make up creams and lotions, and the keratin protein that makes up the hair. Under the influence of an alkaline environment, keratin begins to break down and lose its main quality – hardness, which allows you to remove the softened part of the hair without affecting the root.
There are special women's electric shavers of the mesh type, the principle of their operation is as follows: the hairs fall into the miniature holes of the shaving head, where they are cut off by moving blades. The advantage of such a razor is the absence of irritation after shaving and the need to frequently change dull blades. The downside is that most mesh electric shavers don't give as good results as a foam razor, but there are models of electric shavers that are equally suited for both wet and dry shaving, and they provide better results. It is better to use electric shavers for the bikini area, as it can simply skip thin and frequent hairs on the legs.
This principle of depilation is similar to shaving, but differs from it in that after using the cream, ingrown hairs and irritation rarely occur.
Is it worth adding that when using creams, lotions and mousses, it is impossible to cut yourself and there is no need to treat the same area several times? And the effect of such a procedure lasts much longer than when using a razor, mainly for two reasons: when softened hair is removed, the remaining tip acquires a rounded shape, which allows it not to prick when it grows back, and chemical depilation products often include special components that slow down hair growth.
Depilatory creams and lotions leave the skin smooth for much longer than shaving, due to the components that slow down hair growth.
An electric shaver is a great alternative for women with irritated skin.
When choosing any means of chemical hair removal, it is very important to try to determine in advance how effective this procedure will be. For example, women with dark skin and black hair should not expect a stunning effect from creams, because brunette hair is much thicker and tougher.
But not everything is so rosy, because if such products had no flaws at all, the razor would not remain the most popular hair removal tool.
The main disadvantage of such products is their frequent inefficiency for thick hairs, allergic reactions to components, an unpleasant odor and too narrow a scope for each product, because no one wants to buy an expensive cream separately for depilation of legs, separately for removing facial hair and separately for intimate areas.
Advantages of the method of waxing and shugaring for depilation at home
Waxing at home and sugaring are hair removal methods at the root, in which viscous hardening compounds are applied to the skin, which are then removed along with unwanted hairs.
The method of shugaring and waxing differ from each other in the composition of the applied products, as well as in some features of the removal of the hardened mass and subsequent skin treatment.
Like any cosmetic procedure, waxing as a depilation at home has its own contraindications: skin lesions and diseases, oncological diseases, convex moles, large birthmarks, papillomas, warts, severe varicose veins, epilepsy, pregnancy, treatment with retinoid drugs.
Waxing is the removal of hair with compositions, the main component of which is wax. There are two main types of waxing – hot and warm. With hot waxing, a hot wax composition is applied to the surface of the skin, on top of which a fabric or paper strip is applied; when the wax hardens, it is torn off with a sharp movement in the direction against hair growth, removing all unwanted hairs. The procedure is very painful, but the high temperature can somewhat alleviate the pain.
The hot waxing procedure is best done in beauty salons, because without the use of special tools and without sufficient knowledge, you can get additional problems instead of smooth skin: burns, irritation, allergic rashes, ingrown hairs, not to mention pain.
Sugaring – what is it?
Many do not know that such a method exists. It is necessary to understand in detail the issue that affects such a topic: shugaring – what is it? Sugaring is a method of depilation with sugar paste. This method has a number of advantages over other depilation methods. Firstly, it is completely hypoallergenic, since the composition of the paste, as a rule, includes only sugar, lemon juice and vegetable oils. Secondly, it, like waxing, removes hair from the root, which eliminates cosmetic worries for a period of 2 to 5 weeks. However, sugar depilation, unlike waxing, is devoid of some contraindications, for example, it can be used for people with sensitive skin and it is not necessary to wait for hair to grow back, since the syrup can also capture hairs 2-4 mm long. Also, after shugaring, the problem of ingrown hairs is excluded, since the hair is removed in the direction of growth, and not against. These are the advantages of shugaring, which can be used for your own purposes, getting rid of excess hair on the body.
Rules, procedure and methods of electrolysis and depilation with an epilator
Probably, all women are familiar with the procedure for plucking their eyebrows. The electrolysis procedure is the same process, only instead of one tweezers – dozens. Depilation with an epilator gives a fairly lasting effect – from 1.5 weeks to 1 month, however, in order to achieve the desired result using an epilator, you must follow a few rules. The basic rules for depilation in this case include recommendations regarding the preliminary preparation of the skin.
Before depilation, the skin must be cleansed. It is best to take a hot shower, use a soft scrub and wait until the skin is completely dry. It is impossible to use the epilator on wet or cosmetically lubricated skin, firstly, this is contrary to safety rules when working with electrical appliances, and secondly, the effect of such a procedure will be small – wet hairs will simply slip out of the tweezers. When processing with an epilator, you need to drive the head of the device strictly perpendicular to the skin and against the direction of hair growth, slightly pulling the skin behind the epilator – this will increase efficiency and reduce pain.
Electrolysis should not be confused with hair removal with electric epilators, because in fact, electric epilators produce depilation, that is, temporary hair removal. Electrolysis also allows you to get rid of actively growing hair forever.
Methods of electrolysis are quite simple: the thinnest needle is inserted into the hair follicle, to which an electric current is applied. Under the influence of current, the vessels that feed the hair root stick together, the follicle is destroyed, and the formation of a hair follicle in it becomes impossible. However, one such procedure will not lead to complete hair removal, since some follicles are in a “sleeping" state at the time of the procedure.
It is believed that the most effective method of light hair removal is hair removal with an alexandrite laser, the frequency of which is sufficient to heat the hair, but not so strong as to leave a burn on the skin.
Each of the hair removal procedures is not cheap, and in addition, they all have a huge number of contraindications, so before choosing a hair removal method, you should think: is it worth risking your health, appearance and money, or is it better to use cheaper and safer methods?
Comparison of the principles of laser and photoepilation
A comparison of laser and photoepilation should begin with the fact that these two methods are light methods of hair removal. The principle of laser hair removal is based on the fact that light with a certain wavelength is well absorbed by the melanin pigment, due to which the hair follicle is heated and, as a result, the follicle is destroyed.
The difference between photo and laser hair removal lies in the range of light frequencies used to heat the melanin. The photoepilator emits a wide spectrum of light from infrared to ultraviolet, while the laser is constantly tuned to a certain frequency.
Photoepilation is one of the most modern, effective, but also expensive methods of hair removal.