The hair that always comes back
Why your white hairs keep coming back, whatever you do
You pull them out with tweezers in front of the bathroom mirror. They are back within ten days. You have tried wax, cream, perhaps even laser at a centre that assured you it would work. And they are still there.
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It is neither your fault nor bad luck. A white hair cannot be treated like the others, because it lacks exactly what most methods are looking for: colour.
The only technique that deals with it is thermolysis. This is electrolysis, or electrical hair removal: a very fine filament goes down the hair canal and destroys the root, without looking at the colour.
We practise it in Sainte-Maxime, at 23 rue Pierre et Marie Curie, from Tuesday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm without a break.
The reason
Laser looks for a colour your hair no longer has
A hair removal laser targets melanin, the pigment that gives hair its colour. The beam is absorbed by that pigment, the heat travels down to the bulb, and the root is destroyed.
Take the pigment away and the mechanism stops dead. The beam goes straight through a white hair as if it were not there. It heats nothing, so it destroys nothing.
That is why an honest centre will say no to white hair. And that is why those who say yes are selling you sessions that cannot work.
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Red hair raises the same problem for a different reason: its pigment is pheomelanin, which laser picks up very poorly.
Very light blond hair and facial down are in the same position. Too little pigment, not enough heat, no result.
We have both devices at the salon, the laser and thermolysis. That is precisely why we can tell you which one suits your hair, without selling you the one that will not work.
Vector thermolysis
The explanation
Why hair turns white
The bulb produces melanin from cells that run out over time. When they stop, the hair keeps growing, but without colour. Four things speed the process up.
Time
Age
It often starts around forty, then accelerates. Not every area turns white at the same time, and the face is rarely the first.
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Many women first notice a single white hair on the chin, then three, then ten. The hair on the head has usually started long before.
Hormones
Menopause
Falling oestrogen changes both the colour and the way hair grows. Hairs appear on the chin and the upper lip where there were none.
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This is when laser stops working on areas it treated perfectly well two years earlier. The hair is still there, it has simply lost its colour.
It is also the moment when many women no longer dare mention it. We see them every week, and there is nothing abnormal about it.
Family
Heredity
If your mother went white early, you probably will too. It is the hardest factor to work around, and no cream changes anything about it.
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Look at the age at which your parents went white: it is the best indicator of what lies ahead, well before lifestyle or diet.
Health
Stress and thyroid
A shock, an iron or vitamin B12 deficiency or a thyroid disorder can speed up whitening, sometimes within a few months.
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If it happens suddenly and across the board, speak to your doctor before coming to see us. We are not doctors, and a medical cause is treated there first.
€5 per minute
That is €150 for 30 minutes
Every colour
White, blond, red and down
All year round
Tanned skin included
No skin puncture
The filament follows the hair canal
The areas
Where we treat them most
Area number one
The chin
Three, five, fifteen coarse white hairs pulled out with tweezers that come back thicker. Thermolysis takes them one by one, and does not come back to them.
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By far the most frequent request. For about ten hairs, a fifteen to thirty minute session is often enough to cover the area, and the rest is treated as it grows back.
Sensitive area
Upper lip and cheeks
White down only shows in full light, and that is exactly where it bothers you. Short session, sensation well tolerated.
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The vector modulations of our device markedly reduce the sensation on these fine areas. Most of our clients describe a light tingling.
We also treat the neck, the eyebrows and between the brows, with the filament, without touching the shape of the brow.
Avoid
Four habits that make things worse
These are the four reflexes we see most, and the four that do the most damage over time.
1
Tweezers every morning
Pulling a hair out does not destroy its root. It repairs itself, and often it repairs itself bigger than before.
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Many of the coarse hairs on the chin started out fine. Years of tweezing thickened them a little more each time.
2
Wax on three hairs
The same, but worse: wax pulls out and stimulates the bulb. On a few isolated hairs on the chin, it makes no sense at all.
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It keeps all its value on a leg or a bikini line, where there is a surface to treat. On three hairs, it is an assault for nothing.
3
Bleaching
Bleaching a white hair is pointless, it is already white. On dark down it hides it from a distance without solving anything.
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And it weakens the skin of the face with every application. The hair itself stays where it is and keeps growing.
4
Shaving the face
It does not make hair coarser, that is a myth. But it cuts it flat, so the regrowth prickles after three days.
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On a leg you put up with it. On the chin or the upper lip it is unbearable, and you end up shaving every other day.
One thing only to do before your first session: let it grow. We need to see the hair in order to catch it.
Worth knowing
We never use laser on the face. It wakes dormant bulbs and regrowth can triple. We work there with thermolysis only, hair by hair.
Frequently asked
What we are asked about white hair
The questions our clients ask most often, answered straight.
How do you permanently remove white hairs on the chin?
With thermolysis, hair by hair. A conductive filament goes down the hair canal and destroys the root. The chin is the area we treat most, and this is the only method that gives a permanent result on it. Neither tweezers, nor wax, nor laser manage it.
Does laser work on white hair?
No. Laser targets melanin, the pigment in the hair. A white hair no longer has any, so the beam passes by without heating anything. If you were sold laser sessions for white hair, they could not have worked.
Can laser make facial hair worse?
Yes. On the face, laser wakes dormant bulbs and regrowth can triple. This is called paradoxical hypertrichosis. That is why we never use laser on this area and work only with thermolysis, hair by hair.
How many sessions are needed?
It depends on the number of hairs and on your growth cycle, since they never all grow at the same time. For about ten hairs on the chin, expect a few short sessions a few weeks apart. We give you an estimate at the first appointment, once we have seen the area.
Does it hurt?
No. The vector modulations of our device markedly reduce the sensation. Most of our clients describe a light tingling, well tolerated, including on the upper lip. If an area is sensitive, tell us and we adjust.
Why does my hair turn white after the menopause?
The bulb gradually stops producing melanin, while falling oestrogen changes the way hair grows. That is why hairs appear on the chin and the upper lip at an age when they are already turning white. Both happen at once, which makes it all the more irritating.
Can white hair be treated in summer, on tanned skin?
Yes. Thermolysis is not contraindicated on tanned skin, unlike laser, which we keep to the October to May period. So you can come all year round.
Should I stop using tweezers before coming?
Yes, a few days before. We need to see the hair in order to find its canal. Come with a clean area, no cream and no make-up, and without having waxed in the previous days.
How much does a session cost?
€5 per minute, that is €150 for 30 minutes. The price follows the time actually spent on the area. No package is imposed and nothing commits you from one session to the next. The detail is on our price list.
Are there any contraindications?
Tell us about a pacemaker, anticoagulant treatment, diabetes, pregnancy or a skin problem on the area. We discuss it together at the first appointment and adapt, or refer you to your doctor if needed.
Do you also treat red and blond hair?
Yes, and for the same reason. Red hair contains pheomelanin, which laser picks up very poorly, and light blond hair has almost none. Thermolysis does not look at colour: it acts on the root.
I had laser years ago and hairs are coming back on my chin, why?
Because they are not the same hairs. The menopause activates new bulbs, and those often grow without pigment. Laser can do nothing for them, whatever the quality of the earlier sessions. Thermolysis treats them, hair by hair.
Our area
In the heart of the Gulf of Saint-Tropez
Our salon is at 23 rue Pierre et Marie Curie in Sainte-Maxime. We welcome women from all over the gulf for their white hair.
- Sainte-Maxime and Beauvallon
- Les Issambres and Val d'Esquières
- Le Plan-de-la-Tour
- Port-Grimaud and Grimaud
- Cogolin and La Môle
- Saint-Tropez, Gassin and Ramatuelle
- La Garde-Freinet
- Roquebrune-sur-Argens and Saint-Aygulf
- La Croix-Valmer and Cavalaire-sur-Mer
- Le Muy, Fréjus and Saint-Raphaël
Booking
One appointment, and we look at it together
Come and show us. We will tell you honestly what thermolysis can do for your hair, how long it will take and how much it will cost. Call us on +33 7 67 67 22 22 or book online, at any hour.