How To Get Rid Of Your Excess Upper Lip Hair
Whether you have a few dark hairs or a fully-fledged mustache, facial hair is embarrassing and unsightly for women. Many methods are used to get rid of excess hair growth including using a depilatory cream, plucking, shaving bleaching, waxing, and threading.
Many women choose to use an epilator as it is safe, convenient and easy to use. For more permanent hair removal, you need to consider laser removal or electrolysis. Choosing the best method will depend on factors such as your hair color, thickness, and personal preference.
Depilatory Cream
A depilatory cream is applied to the area with unwanted hair and wiped off along with the hairs. This is a temporary solution and the hair grows back quite quickly. It is painless and works by dissolving the hair at the skin’s surface. If you leave the product on for longer than recommended, it can irritate or burn your skin so you need to follow instructions carefully.
Bleaching
With bleach, you are not removing hair but camouflaging it. Bleaching can help to hide hairs that are too short to wax. Bleach is not usually that effective on very coarse hair. It contains harsh chemicals and it can cause skin irritation and damage if it is left on too long. It may even cause pigmentation problems after using it for some time.
Plucking
A cheap and effective way to get rid of hair on the upper lip is by using a tweezer. Plucking hair is time-consuming and quite painful but you can clean your upper lip while watching TV. This is probably the best method if you only have a couple of hairs bothering you.
Shaving
Shaving cuts the hair at skin level and leaves the hair directly below it. You have to shave far more than using other methods because you will feel the stubble a day or two after shaving. Razor burn is another issue and you don’t want to end up cutting yourself.
Waxing
If you want a longer lasting method, waxing removes the hair from the root so it offers you up to six weeks hair free. This method can be painful and the hairs have to be a certain length for it to be effective.
Waxing off is often best left to the professionals because it can be messy and if you time it wrong, pulling a strip off too quickly, it will be ineffective. Not using the wax correctly can also result in partially extracting the hair follicle and breaking the shaft. This can cause the skin surrounding it to become inflamed.
If waxing is done regularly, the different phases of hair growth can be targeted and it becomes more effective and less painful.
Threading
This is a common practice used in Asian and Middle Eastern countries. It involves pulling a thin, doubled cotton thread very taut and rolling over places where hairs need to be removed.
It is not as labor intensive as plucking hairs out one by one but it is still best used on small areas like the upper lip. The pain of upper lip threading is uncomfortable but not unbearable and the results are smooth and last about a month because the hair is pulled out by the root.
This method, threading upper lip, is tricky unless you’ve been trained to do it so it’s better to go to a professional at a salon for the best results. This method can be quite expensive and you will be walking around with a red upper lip after the treatment.
Epilation
Using an epilator is safer than shaving and not as messy as waxing. A facial epilator is a small electric hair removal device that pulls facial hair out by the root. If you have peach fuzz on your upper lip, a manual epilator works in much the same way as threading.
An epilator is easy to use and you can adjust its speed. You simply glide it over the hair you wish to remove in the opposite direction to the hair growth. It may sting when used on eyebrow hairs but removing hairs from the upper lip is usually pretty painless. The smooth results last about the same amount of time as waxing or threading. Over time the hair stops growing as frequently and becomes less noticeable.
Electrolysis Or Laser Removal
If you are looking for permanent removal, you can try laser removal or electrolysis. Lasers are best for dark hairs growing on light skin because the melanin in the hair follicles attracts the laser light, heats up and the hair is destroyed.
The laser targets a number of hair follicles simultaneously, killing the hair at the root. The cost is high and you may need several sessions for it to reduce hair growth. It is not as effective as electrolysis at removing hair permanently.
Electrolysis involves inserting a needle into each hair follicle and using a current to kill the root. It is regarded by the FDA as a permanent hair removal method.
The Verdict
A depilatory cream offers a very temporary solution. Shaving is a quick fix but stubble growth after a day or two is no fun. Plucking is effective on a few hairs but it is labor intensive to use this method on a full-fledged mustache.
Bleach is harsh on your skin. Electrolysis and laser removal offer more permanent results but they are usually expensive and you may need many sessions. This is why using an epilator can be one of the best ways to deal with excess hair growth on your upper lip.