Things No-one ever tells you about Ageing and Excess Hair

The ageing process makes us think of a battle against lines and wrinkles, but why are you suddenly noticing more hair on your face?

As women get older, our bodies lose oestrogen. The male hormone testosterone surges a bit; causing us to grow more hair in the same areas where men have it, on our faces…..and to add insult to injury, we grow less on our heads.

Pluck, shave or laser?

If you occasionally have several dark (or white) hairs on your lip or chin, many people opt to pluck them out – although sometimes the force of the pluck can irritate and leave a bump or a red mark.

Don’t be tempted to shave the hair on your face, as it doesn’t grow back thicker (a common misconception) but it does feel stiffer and coarser than before, due to the blunt end of the hair shaft and the way a razor cuts.

Laser hair removal is one of the most effective methods to get rid of unwanted hair in the long-term; although it’s not effective on white hair as it needs melanin or pigment to ‘zone in’ on.

Laser to Suit Different Skin Types

Cosmetic Doctor in Dublin has a Laser Suite equipped with different types of laser for different skin types. It’s important to tailor the treatment for your skin and hair type.

Did you know that if you have olive or dark skin, and get laser hair removal from the wrong type of laser, you could end up with post inflammatory hyperpigmentation, which looks like a dark stain? In fact, it looks like a moustache, even though there’s no hair on your lip.

Electrolysis—a procedure in which the follicle is destroyed by heat through an electrical current—is a good solution for stray hairs, but it’s not good for large areas. Laser hair removal works very well for all areas of the body; even sensitive spots like the bikini line or nipple area.

Magnifying Mirrors

Often we may be more aware of stray hairs on our face than other people are – this may be due to an unlucky confluence of events, just as our eyes start to go and we need a magnifier to apply makeup, we start getting more facial hair.

Facial hair looks far more obvious in a magnifying mirror! If you don’t have stray hair per se but have noticed the downy hair on your face is causing trouble with makeup by ‘grabbing’ powder and foundation; try this makeup artist’s tip.

Apply foundation by rubbing it in a little; like you would a moisturiser. Let it dry and then buff it a little with a slightly damp sponge. If you wear powder, after application lightly mist your face with water to settle the powder.

To find out more about the Laser Suite at Cosmetic Doctor, call 01 685 3100 or see www.cosmeticdoctor.ie/laser-suite/laser-hair-removal