Hi! Can Electrolysis “stun” hairs into dormancy? Like if Electrolysis did not permanently killed the treated hair, can it come back many years later when the dormant hair follicle awakens? Or is it that a treated hair (and it’s hair follicle) will ALWAYS be dead after if it doesn’t come back in a certain time frame?
Warmly and With Much Gratitude,
Savannah E. Kong.
Not possible. Any hair growth that appears years after treatment is completely new growth that wasn’t present at the time of the initial treatment schedule and therefore couldn’t be treated. If the hair is treated properly, it will not return.
Years ago, I heard the following quote that sums it up perfectly: “Electrolysis restores the cosmetic appearance of an individual through permanent hair removal, but has no effect on the cause of hair growth.”
Yes, to your last sentence! 
Thank you for all your replies everyone! 
I have heard lasers can do that. So if the hair is not treated properly, it will appear again in a certain time frame? I was wondering if the hair is not successfully killed whether that hair will delay or slow down growing due to it being weakened and as a result, take a longer period to surface the skin.
Savannah E. Kong.
So hairs can’t be weakened and delay growing or slow down their growth if the the hair is not permanently destroyed at that time?
I heard that hairs can be weakened if it was not permanently killed at that time and I was wondering whether slow or delayed growth can happen and thus the hairs will take longer to come back.
Some people would say this is possible.
I disagree. Either enough damage is done to permanently remove the hair, or the damage is insufficient and the hair returns in its next growth cycle. There is no delayed return that takes place years after treatment.
Can you explain to me why some people disagree with that?
If hair is weakened then the hair will be finer. Finer hair does take longer to return, however the notion that hair can be “stunned” into dormancy, then reappear years later has no basis in fact. It is scientifically impossible.
How much longer would it take for the weakened hair to come back? How slow would the growth be?
It depend on the hair type/size. “Weakened hair” is not a scientific term and therefore not a valid point of reference in this discussion. Deep, coarse hair can return in 6-8 weeks. Vellus (peach fuzz) hair can take up to 12 weeks. Medium depth hair falls somewhere in between.
So any hairs that were unsuccessfully killed will come back in 12 weeks or before? If hairs do not come back after that, are they gone for good? Can they come back in a few months or even weeks? Sorry if I seem bothersome or annoying.
If the hair does not return within the previously stated time-frame, it is gone for good. Forever. Once a hair follicle has been properly destroyed by electrolysis it cannot regenerate. While the original hair growth is gone forever, this does not guarantee that the individual will be hair-free for the rest of their life. Hormonal changes, aging, certain medications and medical conditions that occur in the future have the potential to stimulate some new hair growth in male-pattern areas of the face. In most cases, this does not happen.
So in other words, you can tell which has survived/ has been unsuccessfully killed and which has been permanently killed/ are gone for good by seeing which hairs are present and alive and which are not alive including tombstones, from the treated follicles after a certain period of time. If you see nothing in those follicles, the hairs are truly gone and the follicles have been permanently killed. Is this all correct?
You cannot see in follicles nor track them individually. What you can see is a reduction in the amount of hair over the coarse of the treatment program. Photography and physical measurements of hair density can be a helpful tool to measure progress. Anything else is an exercise in futility.
Yes you are correct. If the stem cells in the follicle have not been completely destroyed, no matter which form of hair removal, the hair will regenerate.There were clinical trials done in Korea where follicles were extracted, lower third removed, then transplanted in the leg and some hairs regrew.
My solution for you is to find a pure galvanic operator, then you never have to worry about regrowth. I am aware that most people on this forum will be blend or thermolysis operators and I totally respect their choices, however my choice is different and backed by 30 years of experience on galvanic.
In the end, go with what feels right for you.
Do you know what the timeframe is until you are certain the hairs are permanently destroyed/ truly gone?
I can only speak for Galvanic, (never had the same success with Thermolysis)12 - 18 months is where the last treatment will be, and it could be 3-4 months since they were last in, if the client has followed the Permanence plan. I saw a client this week, completely stripped her face 15 years ago and not a hair on her face. did her underarms also and 1 hair. She checks in every 3 or 4 years just to be sure. Once you destroy the stem cells in the bulge, there is no chance of a hair ever growing back. destroy the root only and yes, it can grow back according to the clinical trials in Korea.
The average time frame to permanently removing the hairs from the treated area is 12-18 months.
This is true for all 3 modalities and they are equally effective. However the TTT(Total Treatment Time) is different for different modality.
Microflash is the Shortest TTT and Galvanic is the longest TTT, therefore the galvanic will be the most expensive modality to use to achieve the same final results.