Little Known Facts About Hair Removal

I have many times wanted to shave my head, having tired of hair care and hair styles altogether. During these times I think back to the Parisian trend of the 1970s in which ladies shaved their heads completely and wore hats that comprised a band of material, feathers or fur across the top of the skull or from ear to ear around the back of the head. At least, this is what 1970s-era American women's magazines in the stacks at Half Price Books tell us.

Others may also contemplate complete chrome-domedom in fantasy from time to time but recover from the urge. Still others shave their entire bodies daily and become human Sushi Tables for 1.5 hours per diem at the rate of $75/hour. Not a bad living, depending on the market area; but, razor burn and skin irritations or eruptions may result and put their careers on haitus. See: Naked Sushi for the background and a revelatory photo. Major cities across America have picked up this "new" cuisine-fashion type of entertainment for Asia, where the pay is less and humiliation, mandatory. 

Shaving can harm the skin in several ways (see insert), can be messy and require costly products in its accomplishment. Men often shave their faces and sometimes their skulls, while some do not shave at all. American women often shave underarm areas and their legs, along with parts in between, but some shave their heads.

More than female friend has been diagnosed as ' post-puberty hirsute" by her physician, each them into frenzies of hair removal that included bleaching, shaving, and depilatories. These were applied to the face, neck, throat, and arms with unsatisfactory results. A few of these women suffered skin conditions resulting from constant, harsh hair removal. One began suffered from ingrown hairs on the chin and cheeks that hurt and then became infected.

Hirsutism in women beginning post-puberty (especially in adults) is often a sign of underlying physical problems, but these ladies' physicians did nothing to examine for any of them. One of them might have been spared the complications of diabetes if he had - including diabetic leg sores. It seems that hair can, indeed, indicate health and sickness if examined by knowledgeable professionals and smart people everywhere that recognize signs and signals.

Of particular importance is that hirsute women often demonstrate higher blood levels of insulin and are also insulin resistance and obese. Indeed, several such woman I have known are diabetic [OSU College of Medicine and Public Health].

A word of warning is to say that there exist nearly a dozen physical problems that can cause hirsutism and if they are found and treated, this hirsutism can often be reduced or attenuated. Plainly put, if you seem to have too much, too coarse, and too dark an amount of hair where you do not wish it to be, see your doctor and insist on answers. Indelicately put, one's private areas should not usually resemble a boar bristle hairbrush. Unless you are a boar.

Strange hair may not need to be removed. It may be a warning signal. It may not be a sign of diabetes, but check with your healthcare professional. 

1. Is the hair on your head gray, while your eyebrows are still dark? This was shown in a large German medical study to be related to diabetes.
2. Hirsuitism after puberty, usually far after puberty is establilshed. This is the coarse, stiff, dark "too much" hair discussed above. 
3. Some cases of hair loss from or thinning hair on the head and other body areas. This can be caused by a thickening of the blood vessel walls that hampers circulation in diabetics and is called atherosclerosis.   

Depilation, or hair removal, has been seen in archaeological evidence from eras considered prehistoric.

Cave People, as it were, made rudimentary tweezers (shells or split wood like bamboo and others), used sandpaper like rocks and pumice, and produced knife-like blades from stone, shells, and bone with which they removed hair. As societies developed cultural connections and habits, shaving became a matter not only of personal convenience and preference, but also of religious significance, of caste, of ethnicity, of tradition, and of any number of other elements of a group. Hair removal may have been a mark of political affiliation in certain cultures.

Facial hair seems to have been the first to go, according to cave paintings. Aside from those methods mentioned above, threads or thin strings can be used to pull hair out of an area as their are stretched taut and run over the skin. I have seen this used on eyebrows, quickly, with minimal pain. Certain Middle Eastern countries maintain an old tradition of removing all of the bridal hair except from the head and eyebrows on the day of the wedding; strings make it a quick work.

In films, Native Americans have become well known for plucking facial hairs. However, recordings exist of whites' observations of Indigenous Peoples burning off hair with harsh lye (a chemical). The Mohawks, of whom I am personally familiar, shaved their skulls to leave a strip of hair down the center, front to back. A few other nations did the same, keeping their hair shorter, however.

In the 21st Century, many methods and products are available for hair removal, from the ancient string to the high-tech laser. It may even become possible in the future to manipulate genetics in order to prevent hair growth across selected areasof the human body. 

Whatever your choose to do about unwanted hair, pay attention to your hair as a healthindicator and enjoy the videos of two ancient-but-new techniques below.