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Most consumers think "permanent" means lasting forever.
Unfortunately, that's not always the case as it's used in
advertising. For instance, a permanent wave in your hair is not
really permanent, and a permanent marker is not necessarily
permanent. It's difficult to
assess a new hair removal method that claims to be permanent. Most
people figure that after a certain amount of time, it's unlikely
that a hair will ever return. That's why several people, myself
included, have suggested a specific definition of "permanent." Some
of these definitions seem inadequate to me. One manufacturer claims
their device is permanent based on results after 9 weeks. That's
ridiculous. Waxing can last that long, and it's been clinically
proven temporary.
Permanent
hair removal
For the purposes of hair removal,
the Laser & cosmetic surgery Centre definition of "permanent" is
being able to go a year after your final hair removal treatment
without having to use another method of hair removal. Keep in mind
that a year might not be long enough to determine true permanence,
but most consumers would be happy to have one treatment a year.
The only method of clinically
proven permanent hair removal is electrolysis. Some lasers and flash
lamps have been able to achieve permanent hair reduction, as
discussed below.
Long-term
hair removal
Another undefined term is
"long-term" hair removal. Again, it depends on what your definition
of "long" is. The Laser & cosmetic surgery Centre definition of
"long-term" is being able to go 6 months after your final treatment
without having to use another method of hair removal. Your
definition may vary, but I don't consider 9 weeks to be long-term. I
arbitrarily decided on 6 months as a working definition, because
most hair growth cycles will have completed in 6 months.
Semi-permanent
hair removal
A newer term used by some hair
removal marketers is "semi-permanent hair removal." This is a
marketing term used in the salon industry that some salons have
started using to describe laser results. In the salon industry, it
means "lasting a few weeks."
Hair
reduction vs. hair removal
Permanent hair removal has been
established as the complete destruction of a hair follicle's ability
to regenerate and grow hair.
Several lasers have demonstrated
permanent hair reduction in clinical studies and are allowed to make
this claim by FDA. The word "reduction" adds another term that is
vaguely defined. FDA has accepted the definition of reduction as a
stable reduction in the number of coarse dark hairs. Some lasers
have demonstrated in clinical testing that they can reduce the size
of hairs and lighten the color. In some patients, this reduction
appears to be permanent. |
