Unwanted Hair

While women worry about their hair becoming thinner on their head, they frequently also worry about excess hair on the face, legs and body.

Some women have more body hair than others, and how visible it is will depend on its color. Someone with plentiful blonde body hair may be far less troubled by it than someone with far less dark hair. While excessive facial hair is never acceptable in women, the extent to which women worry about hair under the arms or on their arms and legs varies in different cultures.

There are medical reasons why a woman may start to grow excessive facial or body hair. It can be a side-effect of oral contraceptives, danazol, cortisone and other steroids, and of the immuno-suppressant drug cyclosporin. In 5-10 per cent of patients, the anti-epilepsy drug phenytoin can also cause excessive hair growth; so can illnesses such as polycystic ovaries and disorders of the adrenal and pituitary glands. In these cases drugs may be used to alleviate the problem.

For most women, however, the problem is simply that they have more hair than they feel is compatible with the current ideal of beauty. They may deal with it by bleaching, depilation or epilation. Here you can find lots of options for hair removal.

Bleaching

This is a very common method of making dark hairs less visible, and is often used on the face for a 'moustache' and on the arms and legs. The active ingredient is hydrogen peroxide (strengths above 6% are not recommended), usually combined with ammonia to speed up its action and fragrances.

The bleach solution or powder is generally mixed with a paste to make it easier to apply, left on for a set amount of time, then rinsed off. Sometimes the skin is a little red afterwards but this should not last long. Bleaching also seems to act to soften the hairs, making them feel finer. 

Some hair is more difficult to bleach and the product may need to be left on for longer than suggested, as long as this does not irritate the skin. However, if you leave it on for too long the hairs will be bleached too much, making them more obvious; there may also be a problem when the roots start to show color.

Methods of hair removal:

Depilation - The hair is removed at the skinline; treatment is painless, but the hair soon grows back and may appear to bristlier in texture. Depilation techniques include shaving and using depilatory creams that contain chemicals to dissolve the hair.

Epilation - The hair is removed from below the surface of the skin. The advantage is that the hair takes longer to grow back and the tip of the growing hair is finer than with depilation. Techniques include plucking with tweezers, waxing and electrolysis.

Shaving - Contrary to myth, shaving does not make your hair grow any faster, thicker or more dense. It simply removes the top portion of the hair where it emerges from the skin. After shaving, however, the hair growing back may look different because it has a thicker, blunter tip than ordinary hair.

Shaving is most commonly done on areas like the legs, and many women shave in the bath, because the hair is softened by soaking in the water. Use a lot of soap or foam to get a smoother shave. Standard safety razors give a closer shave than electric razors. One disadvantage of shaving is that once you start you have to continue, sometimes as often as every day, to prevent stubble appearing. Apply plenty of moisturizer afterwards to avoid irritation to the skin.

Depilatory Creams - The active ingredient in most depilatory creams is a salt of thioglycolic acid, usually calcium thioglycolate. These products do not smell pleasant, so a fragrance is usually added and sometimes a moisturizing cream. The thioglycolates break down the chemical bonds in the hair so that it becomes weak and finally disintegrates. These creams also penetrate a little below the surface of the hair follicle.

Epilation

Of the various epilatory techniques, plucking with tweezers is the simplest, but waxing and electrolysis are more effective.

Plucking - This method is often used for removing small areas of hair for instance around the eybrows, on the upper lip and on the chin. The problem with plucking is that when the hair is torn out form the follicle it can cause damage to the surrounding tissue, often resulting in sore red spots; on rare occasions, it can lead to long-term scarring, especially if the hair follicle becomes infected. To avoid this, careful cleaning of the skin before and after treatment is a good idea. Hairs that are constantly plucked may become coarser and darker than the original ones.

Waxing - Waxing is probably the most effective method of removing unwanted hair in both small and large areas. 

Cold waxing - This is the most common method used at home. Cold wax can be bought at most chemists and usually comes in tubes. The technique for using it is similar to that for warm waxing, but the wax is usually applied to the skin with a tongue applicator and has a gauze or paper strip attached. Once the wax is cold, the strip is quickly ripped off against the direction of hair growth.

Warm waxing - This technique is more effective than cold waxing and is usually performed in a beauty salon. The wax is heated in a warmer until it has just melted and is then applied to the skin with a small wooden spatula. Next, a strip of cotton or muslin cloth is placed over the wax, which is allowed to cool. The strip is then quickly removed, being pulled in the opposite direction to the hair growth. Any discomfort is over within a few seconds. Hand pressure is then applied to the area in question to soothe it, although it may be red and sensitive for a few hours.

Sometimes alcohol is used to prevent any infection the damaged hair follicles. The hair will not be visible for 10-14 days after waxing. 

The follicles can become infected, and sometimes women experience problems with ingrowing hairs afterwards. These can be painful and liable to infection. Some women find the waxing procedure too painful to repeat, and a few feel really unwell afterwards. with sore, irritated skin.

Electrolysis - Electrolysis is a permanent method of removing unwanted hairs by destroying the hair -growth tissue in the hair follicle.

A sterile needle or probe is inserted into the follicle and a small amount of electric current is the used to destroy the growing base of the hair. The hair is then removed with tweezers. Sometimes one treatment is enough to permanently stop the follicle producing hair. In other cases there is a regrowth, although often the new hair is finer than the original hair was.

All electrolysis equipment should be thoroughly sterilized to avoid the risk of infection. Many practitioners use pre-sterilized disposable needles, although others sterilize reusable needles. It's a good idea to discuss sterilization techniques with the beautician before you have any treatment. 

The number of treatments depends on the individual. Deep. coarse hairs cannot usually be removed with one treatment. If you have been removing hair by plucking or with wax, then the hairs may be stronger and may require more treatments than hairs that have not previously been removed. The electrologist may take a few attempts to assess the right degree of current in order to remove hairs while causing the lease pain and redness to the skin.

Electrolysis may be slightly - or uncomfortable - painful and feel like a mild burning or tingling sensation. Some parts of the body may be more sensitive than others. Depending on the amount of hair involved and its location, a session will usually last for a short enough time to keep discomfort down to an absolute minimum.

Immediately following treatment, there may be slight redness or swelling, which usually disappears in few hours. Occasionally small whiteheads or tiny scabs may occur. These are part of the normal healing process and will not cause permanent damage or scarring, as long as they are not picked off. Electrolysis should not cause any lasting damage to the skin.

The downside of electrolysis is that it is time-consuming, because a limited number of hairs can be removed at each session. It is also expensive.

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