Laser and electrolysis in combination

Laser hair removal and electrolysis are two completely different methods of doing the exact same thing - disabling the cells at the base of a follicle that grow hair. At Bluebird we use the advantages of each, in conjunction with each other, because experience has shown us that this is what is best for our clients.

To get into the details, let’s start with a little science & history:

Laser hair removal became commercially available in the mid 1990s. During a laser treatment, very bright light is broadcast at the skin’s surface. This light penetrates the skin 2-3mm deep, and is absorbed as heat by hair shafts below the skin’s surface. These sub-dermal hairs conduct the heat down to the cells at the base of the follicle and disable them. It’s that simple. The hair beneath the skin’s surface is used as a conduit to get heat down to the cells that produce it. It's an ingenious little technique for doing work underneath the skin without physically penetrating the skin! And it really works!

The advantage of laser is that it’s fast, making it relatively inexpensive on a per-hair basis. When treating large body areas like legs, chests and backs, laser is the obvious choice. And when treating small areas but where hair is very dense, like facial hair, laser is also much more efficient.

The disadvantage of laser hair removal is that it only works on black, dark brown, and medium brown hair, period. (It simply won’t work on hair that is white, blonde or light brown, or hair that has any red in it.)

Electrolysis was first invented in the 1870s, and the technique has been honed and much refined in the century since. In this modality, a technician inserts a tiny electrical probe down into each follicle and delivers a small pulse of electricity. During a session, the technician needs to trace each follicle to its base and deliver the correct amount of energy, at the correct depth, to get a successful “kill”. It's slow work, and even the best technicians have a 60-80% success rate at each insertion.

The disadvantage of electrolysis is obvious - it's slow, and therefore much more expensive on a per-hair basis than laser. The advantage of electrolysis, and it’s a big one, is that it works on hair of every colour!

At Bluebird, rather than choosing one modality over the other, we recognize the advantages of each, and use them in combination to get our clients better results, faster, for less expense than any other clinic.

For our clients with black, dark brown, and medium brown hair, starting with laser only makes sense. We are typically able to eliminate 70-90% of their hair with laser alone. Then, once the bulk of the hair is gone, we switch them to electrolysis to take care of what remains.

For our clients of European descent with a mix of hair colours, again we begin with laser, quickly taking care of all the darker hairs. This typically results in a fast 30-70% reduction. We then switch these clients to electrolysis to treat the lighter hair.

For clients who come to us with over 90% white, blonde or red hair, we’ll send them directly to electrolysis. Hair of these colours doesn’t absorb enough light energy for laser to be effective, and therefore it doesn’t make sense to start with laser.

By beginning with laser, and finishing with electrolysis, we get clients to their goals faster, and for less expense. We don’t do electrolysis in-house at Bluebird, but we work seamlessly with a handful of electrologysts who understand this process.