For do-it-yourselfers, a variety of home-use hair removal products are available over the counter. These include shaving creams, foams, and gels; waxes; chemical depilatories; and electrolysis devices. Professionals at beauty and skin care salons and in dermatologists' offices provide hair removal waxing, electrolysis, and, most recently, laser treatments to remove hair. On April 3, 1995, FDA cleared the first laser for hair removal.

The cost, safety, effectiveness, and ease of use of the various hair removal methods, as well as the area and amount of hair growth to be treated, are some factors to weigh in choosing a method and deciding whether to go to a professional. Often, different methods are better suited for different areas.

FDA's Office of Cosmetics and Colors in the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition regulates chemical depilatories, waxes, and shaving creams and gels. (The Consumer Product Safety Commission regulates razors.) These products, says John E. Bailey Jr., Ph.D., acting director of the office, are classified as cosmetics, defined as substances applied to the body to alter the appearance, promote attractiveness, cleanse, or beautify.

The agency's Center for Devices and Radiological Health regulates electrolysis equipment and lasers.

Shaving
Shaving is by far the most common method of hair removal for both men and women. Men have been shaving their beards and mustaches for thousands of years, but cosmetic hair removal in women was relatively uncommon until after World War I. Now, many American women routinely shave their legs and underarms.
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Waxing
Waxes can be used at home or can be administered professionally at salons or practices. Waxes for hair removal are effective because they remove hair completely from the root. Hair grows back slowly.

Wax is warmed to allow it to be spread easily over the skin in the direction of hair growth. The hair becomes embedded in the wax, which cools and firms up grasping the hair. The wax is then quickly pulled off in the opposite direction of the hair growth, pulling the hairs out of the follicles. Read more infomation >>

Depilatory creams
"Depilatories act like a chemical razor blade," Bailey says. Available in gel, cream, lotion, aerosol, and roll-on forms, they contain a highly alkaline chemical--usually calcium thioglycolate--that dissolves the protein structure of the hair, causing it to separate easily from the skin surface. Read more infomation >>

Sugaring
The process is similar to waxing, but in place of the wax, a solution composed of sugar, water and lemon juice is mixed together and warmed. Once warm, it is spread thinly over the skin, mimicking the direction of hair growth. Cloths are then placed over the paste and pulled off in the opposite direction of hair growth. This method of hair removal is advantageous because it is inexpensive and can be done at home. The sugar also tends to only stick to the hairs, not the skin, so it is usually less painful than waxing.
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Bleaching
Bleaching is actually not a hair removal method, but rather a way to make the hair less noticeable. Read more infomation >>

Electrolysis
Epilators are electrical machines that look much like electric razors, except that they have rows of coiled springs instead of razors.
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Tweezing
Tweezing or the method of plucking hairs with tweezers is probably the worst form of hair removal.
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