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Home > Other Hair Removal Methods
Hair Removal Electric Tweezers
Basic facts
Description
Advantages
Disadvantages
Quack claims
Cost
Background
History
Clinical data
Electric tweezers
Basic facts
Electric tweezers and treatments
with them should be avoided by all consumers.
They're
often promoted as permanent, but facts indicate otherwise.
Electric tweezers
Description
Electric current is applied to a hair through an electrified
tweezer.
The tweezer grasps the hair above the skin's surface and
holds it anywhere from 15 seconds to several minutes.
Promoters claim (without adequate proof) that the electricity
travels down the hair and permanently damages the hair root.
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Electric tweezers
Advantages
Some find treatment has less associated pain and side effects
compared to
ordinary tweezing.
Safe if performed properly.
Electric tweezers
Disadvantages
No published clinical proof of claims that they can achieve
permanent hair
removal.
No published clinical proof that electricity can travel through
a hair and
cause permanent damage to the root.
Up to 100 times slower than ordinary tweezing.
Can be expensive despite no published proof of permanence
(especially
costly "professional" units and treatments).
Electric tweezers
Quack claims
There is no published clinical data to substantiate the following
claims:
“Painless and permanent.”
“No side effects.”
“Clinically proven.”
“More effective than electrolysis, and without the needle.”
“Hair can conduct enough energy to kill the root.”
(considerable scientific evidence suggests this is not possible)
These devices generate additional victims when sold as business
opportunities:
“Makes a great home business.”
“Offer your salon clients permanent hair removal.”
Electric tweezers
Background
Electric tweezer claims are simply too good to be true. If a
permanent method that required no skill and caused no pain or
side effects came along, market forces and word of mouth would
quickly make it the industry standard.
Personal units are usually sold for home use for $100.00 to $200.00, but sometimes as much as $3,500.00 or more. Accessories like conductive gels, humidifiers, or pre- and post-treatment products to "increase effectiveness" can add to total costs. "Professional" treatments usually cost consumers $0.50 to $2.00 a minute.
"Professional" units are usually sold as home business opportunities or to beauty salons as an add-on service. The unwitting practitioner then treats consumers seeking permanent hair removal. Practitioners often sincerely believe the device works as claimed and sell treatments without knowing it's quackery. This ends up unintentionally bilking clients and ruining the practitioner's business reputation in the long run.
Electric tweezer promoters are very sophisticated in their sales pitches. They blend facts and fiction to make their scientifically unsound explanations seem believable. They also carefully phrase claims to fool unsuspecting consumers.
By charging exorbitant prices for "professional" units, electric tweezer promoters have found that some consumers will assume it's permanent simply because of the high cost. When prices are competitive with needle epilators or lasers, it suggests to some consumers that they are competitive in terms of effectiveness.
Although electric tweezers are marketed as "professional" or "personal" units, there is no published proof indicating any difference in effectiveness between the two types.
Electric tweezer marketers sometimes claim there is a difference between electric tweezers using alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC), but there is no published proof indicating any difference in effectiveness between the two types.
General marketing terms: no-needle electrolysis, non-invasive electrolysis, tweezer electrolysis, tweezolysis. AC tweezers are also marketed as radio-frequency (RF) tweezers, high-frequency (HF) tweezers, ultrasonic tweezers. DC tweezers are also marketed as galvanic tweezers.
Electric tweezers
History
Electric tweezers were patented in 1959 by Elizabeth Fozard and hailed by promoters as a "painless and permanent"
alternative to electrolysis. Eventually, "professional"
electric tweezer units were heavily promoted in the 1970's to
beauticians, who in turn unwittingly charged their clients for
unproven “permanent” treatments.
In 1985, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charged electric tweezer Removatron with deceptively advertising that the product can permanently remove hair. At that time, FTC estimated Removatron was responsible for 80% of the electric tweezer market revenue. FTC estimated consumers spent a total of $37.5 million on electric tweezer devices and treatments that year. In 1987, FTC forced Removatron to include in all promotional material the following: "IMPORTANT: There is no reliable evidence that Removatron provides anything more than temporary hair removal." Although this was modified in 1991, FTC still held there was not sufficient evidence to support claims of permanent hair removal. The company is still prohibited from making unsubstantiated hair-removal claims.
Following FTC's Removatron action, electric tweezers using direct current appeared, exploiting a loophole in the1985 FTC ruling, which only prohibited claims by AC tweezers. Some electric tweezers began selling conductive gel with the tweezers, which was used to bolster dubious claims of hair conductivity.
In the 1990's, millions of electric tweezer "personal units" (notably the IGIA brand) were sold through direct response television. In 1997 alone, the top-selling brand IGIA sold over $75 million worth of their electric tweezers. The 1990's also saw the modification of electric tweezers called “transdermal electrolysis”
In 1998 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stated that "there is no statistically significant scientific data available at this time to support promotional claims of permanent or long-term removal of hair through use of the device."
Electric tweezers
Costs
Equipment: Between $100.00 to $5,000.00+
"Professional" treatments: Between $0.50 to $2.00
a minute.
Accessories: Some brands sell items like conductive gels, humidifiers,
or pre- and post-treatment products to "increase effectiveness."
Electric tweezers
Clinical data
Published clinical data indicate that electric tweezers cannot
achieve permanent hair removal.
Unpublished reports written or
commissioned by manufacturers typically claim permanent results.
However, non-manufacturers have demonstrated that electric tweezer
claims of "hair conductivity" do not pass scientific
scrutiny.
Despite their scientific-sounding sales pitches, these devices
have not demonstrated they can achieve permanent hair removal.
Save your money.
