Hair removal is simply removing or getting rid to those bodily hairs that are unwanted due to one or the other reason. Generally, it is done to achieve beauty and to possess sex appeal since for the woman, clean and neat body is always attractive to men. Sexy smooth legs, arms and underarms are the parts of the woman’s body, men fall for. Women having hairs might be considered as filthy material and might not be labeled as ‘honeymoon fit!’ For men, hair removal is routine, as of beard but nowadays, chest hair removal has been considered as important part of men’s routine to show off torso muscles and flatten abdomen.
The desire to remove excess or dark hair generally begins in adolescence and seems to be continued until we die. Whether they are the hairs on the faces, underarms, legs, bikini lines, or other body parts, many males and females are intent upon to have the hairs on their scalps be the only visible hair onto their bodies. With the stress on smoothened and hairless skin, it is interesting noting that excess hairs, especially in women, are still a taboo subject in many parts of the world.
There are three main categories for hair removal -
Temporary hair removals – achieved by shaving, epilation, depilation and bleaching
Temporary hair reductions – achieved by Eflornithine hydrochloride and laser-assisted hair removals
Permanent hair removals – can be done by using technique called electrolysis
Shaving
This is the most frequently technique used to temporary remove unwanted hairs. Shaving is quick, simple, painless, effective, and less expensive. The results could be lasting just a couple of days. Shaving asks a constant commitment to maintain a hair-less appearance.
Epilation
Epilation includes removal of the entire hair shafts and is the most effective treatment to temporarily remove hairs. Epilation involves waxing, plucking and threading. Many beauticians also include sugaring and using abrasives or mechanical device such as Epilady. For epilation to make effectual, treated hairs are to be long enough to the device for grasping. The long-run effects of epilation onto the hair follicles are unknown, and whether such practice might result in long-run reduction of hair re-growth is not so clear. Since epilation wounds the hair follicles, repetitive epilation might result in permanent matrix alteration, results in finer or thinner hairs.
Plucking
Plucking is a technique that is performed using tweezers and is a useful and economical method to removing the occasional coarse hairs or some small group of hairs like those observed on the eyebrows, chins, or nipples. The result of plucking lasts longer than shaving since the hairs are pulled from the hair shafts, as in waxing. But this method is time consuming, draggy, and quite painful. The reaction of the hair follicles plucking could be irregular and unwanted possibly resulting in folliculitis, hyper-pigmentations of the skin, scarring and ingrown hair.
Waxing
Waxing is similar to plucking and quite popular among women all across the world. The procedure involves application of warm or cold waxes onto hair-bearing skins and quickly stripping off the hardened waxes and embedded hairs against the direction of their growths. Waxing is quite an expensive method, though an effective method of the epilation; since the hairs are removed completely from the hair shafts and are removed in large quantities. Oftentimes, hairs take 2-3 weeks to re-grow. The effects on the hair follicles of long-run waxing are not known.
Threading
Threading is an ancient manual method for hair removal and is popular in many Arabic countries that involve using of a long twisted loop of threads rotated quickly across the skin. By directing the twisted string, hairs are trapped in the tight twined coils and then pulled off or get broken.
Abrasives
This includes abrasives like pumice stone and device or glove made of fine sandpaper. This works by physically rubbing the hairs away from the skin surfaces. This technique could be irritating to some sensitive skins and is not commonly used nowadays for hair removal.
Sugaring
Sugaring is quite similar to waxing. The sugar mixture is developed by heating sugars, lemons’ juice, and water to form like syrup. The syrup is developed into a ball and flattened on the skin where hair removal is needed and then suddenly stripped away. Similar to waxing, the hairs are removed entirely from the hair shafts. The sugaring is a substitute to waxing for people having sensitivity to wax.
