May 3, 2026
Hot follicle summer
I built my own hair electrolysis machine
Internet cheers as one brave DIY tinkerer zaps body hair and sparks copycat chaos
TLDR: One internet tinkerer built a homemade device to permanently remove hair with electricity, while openly admitting they are absolutely not a doctor. Commenters were mostly thrilled, joking about even wilder DIY beauty gadgets and admitting the post was tempting because professional hair removal is painfully expensive.
A self-described “cat on the internet with a soldering iron” decided that body hair had to go — and instead of booking another pricey appointment, built a homemade machine to remove it permanently with electricity. The creator chose the slower but simpler method, where a tiny needle and a small current are used to destroy the hair root, while repeatedly warning readers: please do not mistake this for medical advice. That disclaimer, naturally, only made the comments feel more alive.
And wow, the crowd was way more hyped than horrified. One camp treated the post like peak maker culture: reckless, clever, and weirdly inspiring. “Hell yeah this rules” pretty much set the tone, while another commenter admitted the “temptation to build my own now,” which is exactly the kind of sentence that makes safety-minded readers grip the armrest. Over in the joke department, someone immediately pitched the sequel: a homemade IPL hair remover for “hair bears amongst us,” turning the whole thing into a comedy thread about escalating DIY beauty tech.
The most revealing reaction, though, came from someone already spending thousands on traditional treatment, asking if the builder could help them make one because professional care just isn’t affordable long-term — even with a big tech paycheck coming. That’s the real spark here: beneath the laughs and mad-scientist energy, commenters saw a very real money problem and a homemade fix that feels equal parts genius, desperate, and internet-poisoned in the most entertaining way possible.
Key Points
- •The article says hair electrolysis is the only hair-removal method the FDA considers permanent.
- •It outlines three methods: galvanic electrolysis, thermolysis, and blend electrolysis.
- •The author chose galvanic electrolysis because it appeared easier to implement and less risky than RF-based approaches.
- •The article explains that lye generation in galvanic electrolysis depends on current over time and uses LU as a treatment unit, with 1 mA for 1 s producing 10 LU.
- •The author began a first prototype using a needle, a potentiometer for approximate current limiting, and a car battery, after obtaining needles from a friend.