There are numerous hair removal options that are readily available for the modern woman to make use of in today’s world (and men, for that matter), although hair removal is certainly nothing new. People have been smoothing away hair for centuries.
When embarking on the various methods of hair removal, it is important to know that waxing, sugaring, tweezing and laser methods all remove hair from the roots, whereas depilatories chemically destroy the hair, whereas shaving cuts the hair off at skin level.
Shaving:
A survey conducted in 1990 found that 92 % of all women from the age of 13 years and older in the US, alone, shave their legs.
Of these 66% shave the whole leg area, whereas 33% shave only from the knee down.
98% shave under their arms and only 50% shave their bikini line – although in Europe and South America depilatory creams are the method of choice for removing hair.
Shaving has played an important role throughout the years – shaving was launched by a travelling sales agent by the name of King Gillette, who single-handedly came up with the idea of a razor that used disposable blades in 1895; and in 1903, together with Willian Nickerson, a professor of technology, brought this concept to the marketplace. In 1915 Gillette introduced the Milady’s Décolleté, a razor specially formulated for ladies.
In 1931 King Gillette retired and Jacob Schick entered the picture, introducing the electric razor.
In 1940 Remington introduced the dual-head shaver as well as the first electric razor specially formulated for females.
Gillette Daisy was introduced as the first disposable razor for women in 1975 and in 1992 Gillette Sensor for Women was created.
In 1995 the very first non-soap based moisturising shaving gel was created.
The original method created to kill hair root by inserting and twisting barbed needles with sulfuric acid into hair follicles has been (thankfully) refined into what we know as laser hair removal.
After being refined through the ages, laser has been refined and compared with other methods of hair removal, this is a very successful way of removing unwanted hair.
Depilatory lotions and creams will rid hair by dissolving protein in the structure of the hair.
The first depilatory creams made their appearance in 1940 – and the very first one on the market was Nair Lotion which hailed from New York during of wartime stocking shortages.
Because stockings were so scarce, legs often went bare, therefore depilatory creams became popular and were imported from France to the US.
This product is still used in today’s world; and in 1981 Sally Hansen introduced Facial Hair Crème Removal and shortly thereafter Lotion Hair Remover and Baby Oil in 1985.
The popularity of using depilatory creams and lotions are fast fading with the popularity of wax strips and laser hair removal.
Hair removal dates back through the ages – regardless of which method you use for hair removal, our full complement of professionals will be able to advise you which one would be best suited to your individual needs.
