Are You a Circus Lady?

We have all seen the old movies and advertisements for circus acts that advertise the bearded lady as a sideshow. Many have laughed and pointed at these old images but the sad thing is women today are still suffering from excess hair growth on the face and sometimes-other areas as well. The disorder is known as Hirsutism and it affects nearly 25% of the female population.

Hirsutism Defined

Hirsutism is characterized by the growth of thick dark hair on the face, abdomen, chest or back. Most of the time this is experienced only by women but on rare occasion's men can have it as well. It may be that men are accustomed to facial hair growth of this sort and are less inclined to notice it than their female counter parts.

Every human on the planet has hair all over their body; in fact, you are born with hair. The precise number of hairs you will have is determined before birth. This hair will be one of two basic types:

1) Vellus Hair- This is hair that is present all over the body, it will be light and wispy and barely noticeable. Men and women both have this hair.

2) Terminal Hair- This is the thick course hair found in eyebrows and the top of the head.

Vellus hairs can convert to terminal hairs at any time; this is what has happened when a woman suddenly notices coarse dark hair on her face. Aging is one of the prime suspects in this occurrence, though it is not the only culprit. Terminal hair in unusual places can also allude to a medical problem, but it is rare. More often than not, it is a simple matter of increased testosterone.

Hair Removal

All the background and information is nice but you are probably thinking there is only one thing to know now and that is how to remove unwanted facial hair and fast! Your options are varied but you will find that laser hair removal is probably the best long-term answer.

Women commonly rely on the old standby of shaving. The problem is shaving has some issues especially when you are dealing with the face. A truly close shave like the one they show on televisions is nearly impossible and while a little shadow may be manly for the male gender it is the last thing a woman wants!

Depilatory creams are possibly the second most used method of hair removal. The biggest problem with this method beyond being messy is the smell and the possible skin irritation.

On the other hand, laser hair removal has none of these issues and several more benefits. To begin with, laser hair removal goes to the source of hair growth by affecting the follicle itself.

Laser hair removal uses a powerful light that will pass through the skin harmlessly until it hits melanin, this is the pigment that gives hair its dark coloring, the laser then activates damaging the follicle. This process slows hair growth and can eventually result in hair free areas. Most of the time, it is only dark hairs that can be removed but if you use one of the many Chicago laser hair removal centers, you can have blonde, grey or even white hairs removed.

What is boils down to is this, laser hair removal is painless and effective at removing unwanted facial hair due to Hirsutism. Eventually the hair removal even becomes permanent. So whether you can avail yourself of the excellent staff at Chicago laser hair removal centers or somewhere closer to home laser hair removal is likely the best answer to unwanted facial hair.