My Hair Removal Guide:

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Removal of excess or unwanted hair is accomplished in several ways, including plucking, shaving, waxing, creams, and electrolysis. Millions of women in the U.S. remove unwanted hair using one or several of these procedures. The American market for such products and/or techniques is approaching $4,000,000,000 annually.

Everyone's hair grows differently, depending on age, weight, metabolism, hormones, ethnicity, medications, and other factors. Hairs grow in various stages. At any one time, some are growing, while others are at rest. The only areas of the body that are completely hair free are the soles and palms.

The length of a hair is dictated by the length of time it spends in the growing stage. Scalp hair, for instance, grows for years and can become several feet long, while under-arm and leg hair grows for weeks and never becomes that long. The idea that hair grows back thicker and coarser after being cut is a myth. After cutting, it comes back the same as before. The hair just appears coarser because it is shorter and seems more firmly embedded in the skin. Plucking, however, does stimulate hair growth in the surrounding follicles. When you begin plucking, be ready to keep plucking.

A new approach to the dilemma of unwanted hair is laser technology. According to John Hansen, president of ThermoLase, Waltham, Mass., manufacturers of the Soft-Light system, this offers significant advantages over electrolysis in speed, efficacy, and lack of pain.

During electrolysis, a needle is inserted into each individual follicle and an electric current is passed through it. This follicle-by-follicle procedure is painful and typically requires months and even years of regular visits for treatment of even a small skin area, such as the upper lip. By contrast, the laser treatment "scans" the skin rather than treating one hair at a time, making it possible to treat large surfaces, such as the legs and back, quickly and with far less pain and discomfort.

The technique begins with waxing the area to be treated to remove the hair from the follicle and open the pores. A carbon-based lotion is applied to the skin before laser treatment, then a Nd:YAG laser is scanned over the area. The laser energy is absorbed by the carbon lotion and disables the hair follicles. The short-pulse, low-energy laser treatment can last from a few minutes to several hours, depending on the size of the section being treated.

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