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Surveys indicate that 80% of women and over 50% of men have unwanted hair in various body areas. Much of this unwanted hair is genetic, but sometimes it is the result of other causes, for example, testosterone treatments. Humans have lost most of their body fur over the past few millions of years. Today, many still seek the "longest-lasting", "least painful", and "least expensive" methods for getting rid of unwanted hair. Hair removal salons report that men are increasingly interested in hair removal and that their male clientele ranges between 35% and 60% today.
Despite changes in the past 20 years in attitudes toward many
other types of body changes, attitudes toward body hair remain rigid. A
recent study asked college students to view videotapes of a woman
emerging from a swimming pool and drying herself. In one videotape, the
woman had more body hair; in the other one, she had shaved. Both male
and female students considered the woman with more body hair as less
intelligent, less sociable, and less happy than the same woman as she
appeared after shaving. The students also thought of the unshaven woman
as more aggressive and strong, and, in essence, they saw her as less
feminine.
Men commonly want hair removed from between the eyebrows, around the
outside of the ears, and the shoulders, and also, they sometimes want
smooth bodies to cut down on wind resistance during sports. Male
cyclists and swimmers want hair removed to increase their competitive
speed. Women commonly want to remove facial hair on the lip, chin,
eyebrows, neck, bikini line, abdomen, breasts, forearms, and underarms.
Many muscle builders (a rapidly growing sport) favor hairlessness for
competitions and, therefore, carefully shave, depilate, and wax their
bodies to seek the perfect body image. In Northern California, a
substantial group of transsexuals are highly interested in obtaining
degrees of hairlessness in various body areas.
Medications such as steroid hormones and birth control pills, or the
surgical removal of sex glands, may stimulate abnormal hair growth.
The cost of hair removal can range from $20 to 50 for do-it-yourself
waxing kits to several thousand dollars for laser treatments.
"Permanent" hair removal takes time and often requires repeated
treatments. This is because hairs that are visible are in their growing
phase. However, at any given time, about 11% of your hair is in a
resting phase and the follicles are not growing hair, while another 4%
are in the hair shedding phase, during when hair falls out. "Permanent"
hair removal works only on hair in the growing phase and works best on
follicles in the early part of the growing phase. So, any permanent
hair removal treatment might only affect 30% to 40% of the follicles.
Later treatments will be needed to treat the remaining follicles as
they progress into the early phase of the hair growing cycle.
Types of Hair Removal
Temporary Tweezing, Shaving, Mechanical Epilators, Chemical Depilatories
Less Hair Eventually Waxing (tends to reduce hair growth with time)
Permanent Electrolysis, Laser Hair Removal
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