I've been emailing the HairFree company back and forth, I'll post their responses here so that anyone considering HairFree will have more information from both sides. In short, they say male facial hair is difficult to treat (we know
) and that their product's effects last up to 6 years. They say they take liberties in claiming permanent because finer, downy hair is removed on a permanent basis. I also asked about combining with laser treatment, so without further ado, Here's their (long) responses:
*I am really disappointed that you have had such bad results using HairFree on your facial hair. Male facial hair which has been regularly shaved for years is very difficult to successfully treat with any hair removal method, permanent or temporary.
Our own photo-specrum analysis of hair strands from the face shows that this type of hair is up to eight times thicker than normal hair from other parts of the body.
HairFree is a balanced formulation of active ingredients designed to respond to average hair thicknesses found typically on the arms and legs of a man or woman.
Male facial hair from younger men which has not been regularly shaved and is thinner and less dense does respond well to treatment with HairFree.
The results you have experienced are not typical of those obtained when HairFree is used on legs and arms, etc. Our product works well on male non-facial hair and we receive hundreds of testimonials vouching this from the thousands of customers that we have helped since the product was launched two years ago.
In response to this problem we have been developing an advanced version of our product specifically designed to work on thick, androgen-driven male facial hair. The biggest challenge we have faced developing this product is to reach a balance between the strength of the active ingredient and its effectiveness. Too strong an active ingredient causes skin irritation. Too weak an active ingredient does not do the job. After months of clinical trials we believe we have achieved the right balance and will be adding this new product to our range at the end of this year when product registration formalities have been completed.
In our efforts to satisfy a wide range of hair removal needs we may not have made it absolutely clear that thick male facial hair that has been regularly shaved is extremely difficult to treat. For that we can only apologise for raising the expectations of customers too high. We hope those who have not had the success they expected from HairFree will give us another chance and try our new our new product when it is launched at the end of this year.
If you feel inclined to publish this response on the blogs where you have posted the results of your tests we would be most grateful.
**Regarding the new, stronger version of HairFree, this will cost more than the existing HairFree No.1 and will retail at US$69.95 per 75ml tube. The results will last between one and a half years to 6 years but it is difficult to put an exact time on this because our tests have shown that there are big differences between the various types of male beard hair. For instance our trials have found that the roots of thin, “downy” blond hair can be neutralized indefinitely, whereas the roots of thick black hair can re–awaken after 18 – 24 months.
When a hair root is “neutralized” with HairFree there are elements of the matrix bulb which are still present. The hair root can re-establish itself a few years later, or sometimes not at all. That’s why we say that on average hair growth will cease for ”up to six years”. We have felt at liberty to claim “permanent” hair removal because, in some cases, there has been no re-growth.
We have always honoured our refund policy and have issued 100% refunds to users who have not had good results. Our guarantee period is limited to 60 days which we feel is long enough for the customer to decide if they are happy or not with the results.
When the new product is released we will be happy to offer a discount of 50% to existing customers who have had disappointing results using the product on their beard hair. We will issue a unique coupon code to any customer contacting us.
***I will keep you posted regarding the release date of the stronger version of HairFree for beard hair.
Thank you for including my comments in your blog posts. I think this will give readers a more balanced view and hopefully they will realise the difficulties we are up against when it comes to dealing with beard hair.
We have a number of clients who have combined the use of HairFree with laser treatment. HairFree should not be applied skin recently traumatized by laser treatment. It should be applied 3 – 4 days after laser treatment to allow time for the hair follicle to heal. Laser treatment traumatises the hair root. The effects of HairFree are slower, natural and more gentle. Using HairFree after laser treatment has the effect of speeding up the healing process of the damage done to the hair root by lasers. This does not reactivate the root but helps to consolidate the neutralizing effects of laser treatment.
Please feel free to come back with any other questions.
We are looking at a share offering in a few months time. As we are expanding our range of hair removal products as we develop our technology it would be a good time to invest.
But I wouldn't be objective if I didn't post their side of the story in response. 
