Former hair removal methods

Hair's been a problem for the human kind since the beginning of times. Hair removal methods are countless, from the clay paste used by Romans to the bat blood used by grandmothers to avoid regrowth.

Shaving

It enables to cut quickly and cheaply all the hair protruding from the skin. It is commonly said that shaving thickens the hair, which is both true and false.

First, the hair is chamfered as a syringe head, so that the surface of the skin seems much more prickly at regrowth.

Moreover, hair roots (bulbs) are not affected by the process, which induces intense pigmentation of the stem from its base. From an aesthetic viewpoint, the process has to be repeated frequently in order to keep a presentable appearance, but dark spots will remain visible under the skin.

Repeated shavings can be very harmful to certain skin types. It can induce skin rashes, as well as inflammatory lesions provoked by the contact of germs with skin breaches. Ingrown hair are also frequently reported, which get infected and provoke folliculitis, both painful and disgraceful (it is the most frequently reported complication on the bikini area, where hair are replaced by big red pimples after the shave).

Chemical methods

Depilatories and bleaching products are an alternative to shaving. They are used to dissolve or lighten the hair protruding from the skin.

Most of these products have an unpleasant odour; their chemical composition is not well tolerated by the skin, which suffers from frequent irritations and inflammations.

Such creams can induce intense pruritus. Contrarily to what is generally believed, depilatories and bleaches do strengthen the hair and stimulate their regrowth. If they are – by chance - well tolerated, these treatments can only be considered as a transitory solution, but which is accepted by many.

Plucking

Traditional plucking methods (wax, tweezers, epilator) are not perfect neither: they are tedious, painful, do not last long and harm the skin. It is very difficult to treat sensitive areas such as the bikini or the underarms. These methods must be repeated frequently to obtain aesthetic results, which means they can become expensive. All women who tried waxing at home to make savings will remember how long it was, and how sticky the substance was.