What causes excessive hair growth? Unwanted hair growth can be caused by a variety of reasons including: * Hormonal changes/(ie: Menopause/ Puberty) * Heredity * Reactions to certain medications * Psychological issues * Endocrine, Glandular or Hormonal imbalances like: Hirsutism, PCOS, or Cushings Syndrome, * Pregnancy * Normal hormonal changes at different stages of life * Excessive waxing, tweezing, laser, and other temporary methods of hair removal
This most common cause of hirsutism is caused by an imbalance of sex hormones that results in symptoms like: irregular periods, obesity, infertility and sometimes multiple cysts on the ovaries.
What is the normal growth cycle of the hair? All hairs have differing cycles of growth and are not visible on the surface of the skin at the same time. Hair normally grows for its usual cycle and then naturally sheds and replaces itself. Following active growing periods, most hair usually appears within 3 to 12 months. The appearance of these coarse replacement hairs from dormant hair follicles should not be mistaken as regrowth from previously treated follicles.
What are the stages of hair growth? There are three phases of hair growth: * Anagen (active) * Catagen (resting) * Telogen (dying) Electrolysis is designed to treat the hair during the late anagen phase of growth. Laser treatment is designed to treat hair in the Anagen phase as well.
What happens when you shave? You are just cutting off the end of the hair, much like cutting the grass. The follicle is still alive and will regenerate more hair over and over again.
What influences the length of hair removal treatments? Length of treatment can be effected by age, ethnicity, weight, hormones, diet, medication, metabolism and previous methods of hair removal such as waxing or tweezing. Those that wax and tweeze can take longer for the process to achieve permanency than those who shave or trim the hair with scissors. This is because there are 3000 hair follicles per square inch on your body and not all of them are active. When you wax and tweeze, you stimulate new hair growth in some of the inactive follicles causing them to possibly become active resulting in thickening of the area and stiffer, stronger hairs that take longer to achieve permanency. Those who shave and trim the hairs don’t stimulate much new hair growth and tend to see quicker results in their process of permanency. To determine how long an individual treatment will take, we recommend visiting an electrologist or laser technician so that they can determine a length of time based on the size and the quantity of the area. We offer private, confidential CONSULTATIONS so that you may ask any remaining questions that have not been answered.
How do I determine if I am hirsute?
The Ferriman-Gallwey Score can help identify hirsutism in women through ratings of 0-4 in nine different locations of the body. The Ferriman–Gallwey score chart is a method of evaluating and quantifying hirsutism in women. The method was originally published in 1961 by D. Ferriman and J.D. Gallwey in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology.In the modified method, hair growth is rated from 0 (no growth of terminal hair) to 4 (extensive hair growth) in each of the nine locations. A patient’s score may therefore range from a minimum score of 0 to a maximum score of 36. In Caucasian women, a score of 8 or higher is regarded as indicative of androgen excess. With other ethnic groups, the amount of hair expected for that ethnicity should be considered. The Ferriman- Gallwey Hirsutism score is an aid to help you determine if you might be hirsute, always consult with your physician if concerned.
