Home Electrolysis

At first glance, home electrolysis seems like an attractive option for hair removal. You can do it in private. You can save money. You can do the procedure whenever you want to do it, and you don’t have to travel to an electrologist’s office for repeat appointments.

No home electrolysis unit will work unless it includes a probe you insert into the hair follicle. Most home electrolysis units are stylets that look something like a mechanical pencil.

One end of the stylet has a retractable probe, and the other end is connected by a cord to a 9-volt battery. (Beware units that plug directly in the wall power outlets.)

The probe is on a retractable spring. This keeps you from inserting it so deep you would draw blood.
When the probe is inserted deep enough to touch the papilla, the moist center of the follicle that provides the hair with nutrients, an electrical circuit is completed and the probe will (usually) emit a 5-second tone. You have to hold the probe in place for another 15 seconds to coagulate and kill the papilla to kill the hair at its root. If you find the experience unpleasant, most models will have a dial you can use to change the setting.
The fact is, however, many people have attempted home electrolysis and many have failed. Home electrolysis takes just as much commitment as hair removal at the electrologist’s office. Just because of the way hair grows, you won’t be able to get a permanent result from a single treatment.

The more hair your have, the lower your chances of success. You can’t work as fast as an electrologist can (unless you don’t mind shocking yourself, and that’s a rare trait). You can experience redness and swelling, and there are areas of your body you simply can’t reach on your own. If you don’t live in a cabin on the tundra of the North Slope of Alaska or you aren’t making your way around the world solo at sea, we don’t recommend home electrolysis for hair removal.