For many people, not just women, hair removal is an important issue in their life. Whether it is for body image or self esteem, there are lots of ways to remove hair either temporary or permanently. As always, the easiest and least expensive way to remove hair from your body is from shaving, but for those that have aesthetic or image issues using razors are not the best options.

Before you decide to get rid of unwanted hair you must understand how to define exactly what hair you are trying to remove. First you have to decide on depilation, the hair above the skin, or epilation, removing the hair from the root. Then comes defining the hair that you want to remove as there are three kinds of hair on your skin and then this hair has three stages of growth.

The three kinds of hair are vellus, known as "peach fuzz," intermediate hairs between vellus and terminal, and terminal hairs which are deep-rooted coarse hairs that are either pigmented or gray.

From them, there are three stages of hair growth.

·         Anagen: active growing phase

·         Catagen: a brief transitional phase

·         Telogen: dormant phase until shed and replaced by a new anagen hair

Knowing these facts and understanding response rate and regrowth rate are vital to accomplishing the successful removal of hair follicles.

Now, there are two categories when it comes to hair removal: permanent and temporary. Both categories have various degrees of effectiveness depending on techniques and cost and what the expectations are by the consumer.

Temporary hair removal is then divided by depilation and epilation.

Depilation methods of hair removal can usually last a few hours to a few days. These methods include shaving, using depilatory creams, and methods that involve friction.

Epilation methods can last longer than depilation but are not as effective as permanent removal. These processes can range from simple plucking with tweezers, waxing, and the use of rotary epilators.

For most people who can afford it, permanent hair removal is the way to go. From the use of home laser treatments and medical prescribed creams, to clinics that specialize in electrolysis and laser removal, permanent hair removal is a billion dollar industry constantly looking for new procedures to help consumers.

For the rest of this article we will be looking at a few of these methods.

Electrolysis

For those looking for permanent hair removal, electrolysis is the most common method used today. It has the longest track record of success and has been practiced for over a hundred years. The most common problems relating to this method are in the choice of practitioners. In the right hands, this is a very effective method, so you should always check the word of mouth and reviews for any clinic that uses electrolysis.

To perform this method of hair removal involves inserting a very thin metal tube into the hair follicle where electricity is delivered to the localized hairs causing them to die.

Electrolysis can be expensive costing hundreds of dollars a session. It can be a tedious, painful experience when used to get rid of large amounts of hair. Also, regulations in this industry vary from state to state, so inadequate controls to enforce proper techniques can result in lasting skin damage and infection if not performed properly.

Laser Hair Removal

Laser Hair removal is quickly growing to become a popular form of permanent hair removal. Considered a lot safer and less painful than electrolysis, many consumers have found this to be the best way to achieve long-lasting hair removal. This procedure is useful in removing large areas of hair from places like the legs or back and seems to work the best on those who have light skin with very dark hairs.

The procedure involves using lasers delivered from a hand set to target the dark pigments in the hair. The thermal output tends to destroy these dark follicles while not damaging any surrounding tissue.

The main problems with laser hair removal is that it is so new to the hair removal industry that long term studies of effectiveness on response and regrowth have not been established.  This method is not as effective with those who have light or gray hair and can also be harmful on patients who tan or have darker pigmentations.

Also, if the practitioner is not skilled, they can cause lesions, burns and skin discoloration that can last for months after the treatment.

Vaniqa

Vaniqa (pronounced “VAN-i-ka”) is a brand name prescription cream that is applied to the skin for the reduction of unwanted facial hair in women.  To use this medication, you have to get a prescription from your doctor and some insurance policies do not cover the Vaniqa.

Vaniqa is not for all women who suffer from unwanted facial hair as this medication has only showed to be effective in clinical studies in over half the cases.

Now, Vaniqa is not a depilatory cream, but instead retards hair growth to improve the condition and the appearance of unwanted hairs. If you use this product for hair removal, you will probably still need to continue using a hair removal method in conjunction with Vaniqa. It can take two months of treatment before you see if it works or not and If you stop taking Vaniqa, your hair may come back to its earlier condition within months after stopping.

Vaniqa is only for certain women. The following people should not use this product:

·         Men

·         Women who are pregnant or nursing

·         Any female under twelve years of age

·         Anywhere else but the face and chin

·         If you have broken skin or acne

For more information on Vaniqa, visit their website.

Photodynamic Therapy

This is new experimental method of permanent hair removal that has seen success but is not ready for the public market yet. It seems that cancer cells and hair growth share some of the same characteristics and is one of the reasons there is hair loss during chemotherapy.

Photodynamic therapy combines the use of radiation and chemicals to control the loss of body hair. This is effective for those who have light or gray hair as chemicals are administered to the follicles to darken the cells. This would then make previously light hairs targets now for laser or radiation treatment.

Clinical trials have shown a lot of promise but it could be a while before this method is available for commercial use.