Ridding our bodies of every inch of hair – sans our heads and eyebrows – is now a generic part of modern day personal upkeep. Yet despite the extremities we will now go to in order to be silky smooth all over, the anti-hair movement isn’t exactly a recent phenomenon.
Hair removal has been documented right back to Ancient Egypt, where the women removed all the hair from their bodies, including that on their heads, with tweezers (made from seashells), pumice stones, or early beeswax and sugar based waxes. The trend to be bare continued throughout the decades slowing mutating to what it is today. But perhaps the most important milestone was the release of the first women’s electric razor by Remington in 1940. This invention meant being hairless was a quick and easy feat, with no need for overtly painful and time consuming routines. Then came the 1960s and its beach babe vibe and with it came the ‘bikini line’. Since then, consumers have increasingly been willing to pay for services to achieve the desired and precise look.
Hair removal technologies have thankfully improved vastly over the years; long gone are the seashell tweezers and even eclectic razors have been relegated in favour of waxing. But for those who take hair removal seriously, or for those who find waxing useless against their thick, dark and relentless hair growth, there really is only one treatment worth looking into and that is laser hair removal.
This high-tech innovation, called Selective Photothermolysis, sends a beam of light to damage hair follicles. The heat generated by the laser light both injures the follicle and inhibits future growth, all the while leaving the skin completely unharmed. The treatment can be performed on several areas of the body from the face, back and even intimate areas, and for this reason has become increasingly popular not only amongst women but also men.
While waxing is still relevant today, it’s laser that is at the forefront of this booming trend owing to its reasonable cost and long term effects. There are still some people who harp on about how body hair is on the increase, but personally I can’t see us growing it out any time soon, can you?