Hair removal can be as ordinary as shaving your beard and as exotic as a Brazilian bikini wax. The type of hair removal you choose will depend on the body part, effect desired and your personal pain tolerance. You can remove hair in the privacy of your own home or a salon with professional assistance.
Shaving
Shaving is perhaps the most common method of body hair removal -- with the face, legs, head and underarms being commonly-shaved areas. Razor blades leave the hair in the follicles but cut it off very close to the skin. Shaving is inexpensive and usually painless, unlike depilatory methods of hair removal that actually pull the hair from the follicle. TeensHealth.org says that the cons of shaving are razor burn, nicks and ingrown hairs. The bikini area is particularly prone to ingrown hairs and to itching as the hair grows out.
Waxing
Although you can do your own waxing at home, many salons employ professional estheticians to provide the service. Waxing removes hair at the root, making it ideal for delicate areas such as eyebrows, upper lip and bikini line. According to Body Escentials Salon and Day Spa, removing hair at the root leaves the skin smooth and hairless for up to six weeks. The types of wax used to remove body hair include soft wax and sugar wax, which are applied to the hair and pulled off with a strip of muslin cloth -- and hard wax, which dries on the skin and can be pulled off without cloth.
Laser Hair Removal
Laser hair removal can be painful and expensive, but it is permanent. According to the Mayo Clinic, laser hair removal is a procedure in which a medical professional uses a pulsating beam of light and heat to damage the hair follicle and inhibit further growth. The process is painstaking and must be repeated several times to completely and permanently remove all hair in a particular area. Common laser hair removal locations include legs, face, armpits and bikini line. Because the laser targets pigment in the hair, the procedure is most effective on people with light skin and dark hair and generally ineffective for blond, white or gray hair. Melanin in dark skin may be lightened by laser treatment.
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