Pulling against hair growth direction a mistake?

Hair Removal Methods Waxing and Sugaring
#1

I’m a guy with too much body hair. The hair on my legs and chest, I can pluck myself using a special very wide tweezer that pulls many hairs at the same time. But I can’t do that with my back hair because I can’t reach it. So I’ve started having my back waxed, now about 4 times already.

The hair grows back very quickly. I usually feel stubble within a few days. I’ve begun wondering about the wisdom of the usual waxing procedure of pulling against the direction of growth.

Isn’t pulling against the direction of growth more likely to break the hairs than pull them from the root? It also seems likely to inflict small cuts in the skin.

Why do waxers pull against the direction of growth? What is the evidence to back up this procedure?

I am hoping that with continual waxing, the follicles will get damaged and stop growing, but this hasn’t happened yet. They keep growing back, on both my back and on my legs and chest, where I pull with the direction of growth.

I have also always heard that hairs go into a 3 month rest cycle after they’re plucked, but this seems false too. They start growing back very fast, within a week or two.

My observation re plucking is that, when you pull with the direction of hair growth, you are more likely to pull the hair with the hair bulb attached than you are if you pull against the direction of hair growth. That doesn’t seem to stop regrowth, but at least the results last longer than breaking the hair shaft.

Now, if pulling against the direction of hair growth was more likely to damage the follicle and stop growth permanently, that would be a good reason to do it. Is that the case?

So can someone explain how pulling against hair growth became the standard, and why? Thanks.

#2

Some waxes and techniques require that we remove the hair in the same direction of growth while others require removal in the opposite direction. In any event, they are both fine as long as the person waxing is using the wax properly and then, the direction is not an issue.

Ingrowns would be an indicator that the waxing might not be done properly for that specific type of wax. Do you see them?

I have never seen back waxing result in permanent hair removal. Where did that info. come from? Arm and leg hair naturally decreases with age so eventually, you will become less hairy to hairless in these areas.

If you see hair growth shortly after treatment yet you do not have ingrowns, this most likely means that you have lots of hair that is not present at the time you are being waxed and they are showing up within days or more. Although people have about the same number of follicles, we have more or less activated so some of us will be hairier than others.

If you get waxed every 6 weeks, you will have your growth under control where you will effect the hair growth cycles enough to see less hair growth but you need to have these 6 week treatments over the course of a year.

#3

You may want to consider laser treatments for any hair that’s both dense and coarse. It will get rid of a lot of this hair permanently.

Waxing is never permanent. It doesn’t damage the follicle. Areas like eyebrows and legs grow less hair with age regardless of what you do to the hair. Other areas won’t be affected. In fact, waxing can stimulate more growth over time because of increased blood supply to the follicle.

#4

I’ve heard that, too. So is waxing the scalp the cure for male pattern baldness? :slight_smile:

#5

I’ve heard that, too. So is waxing the scalp the cure for male pattern baldness? :slight_smile: [/quote]

You know, that’s what “they” say, but I’m not so sure that’s what happens. My theory is that hormonally influenced hairs can increase in size with repeated waxing or tweezing. I’ve never seen more growth from waxing or tweezing - only larger diameter hairs (more growth is different than larger diameter hairs). In fact, I have seen what I believe is hair loss from waxing and tweezing. Some eyebrows never grow back after repeated waxing/tweezing - and even some upper lip areas can be bare of hair from waxing tweezing. Even those mostly-bare ULs can have some larger diameter hairs at the corners…so…shrug…go figure!

#6

Estheticians sometimes pull in several directions when waxing one area of the body because your hair might be growing in different directions. Is your esthetician using strip wax or stripless hard wax?
I ask this because you mentioned the small cuts in your skin, this should not be happening.

I would recommend you try strip less hard wax because it’s designed to stick to the hair and not the skin. It peels right off like a bandage after its applied.

Good luck,

Starpil Wax Products

#7

I agree that waxing is never permanent. However, I am needing some clarification to understand my personal experiences.

For example, is there a way to explain “bald spots” that linger for more than 12 months?

Also, I understand that legs get less hairy with age. But what is the explanation for significantly reduced growth (no hair removal for 6 or more months) from the ages of 18-21 in women? Is that not a long enough time to an accurate judgement? I am curious about this because since waxing my the lower part of my lower legs is much less hairy than the top.