Shakespeare's plays abound with references to 'bearded ladies'. Indeed, a few centuries ago women, for that matter even men, who had to put up with unprecedented hair growth in embarrassingly obvious (and not so obvious) spots had to well, just put up with it. Women down the ages have tried everything, from shaving their arms and legs to threading, often with painful results and serious health consequences.



Ancient Egyptians prepared a mixture of bees' wax and sugar to remove bodily hair. Hair removal was done with the intention of discouraging lice growth as well as for aesthetic purposes. In India as well as Arab countries threading of facial hair was considered the norm, aver archaeologists who have stumbled upon concrete evidence during excavations.

As a young girl I was quite self-conscious of the hair on my legs; the prevalent culture (persisting till date) dictating that hair visible on a girl's body (except the head, of course) is a definite no-no. I recall a favorite aunt, a great scientific brain, who nevertheless became the laughing-stock in her neighborhood as she had facial hair. It is another matter that my aunt, who had made a great name for herself in the field of Physics, did not care and put up with all the barbs that came her way with stoic humor. But I am chicken! Well no, not really. I simply like to look good. Plus, it is such a nice, clean feeling not to have that annoying stubble on your arms and legs.

How well I remember the first waxing session just before the school prom. My best friend had taken me to the beauty salon hardly a yard away from my home. I had stared practically horror-struck at the boiling wax and the waxing strips. I can barely recall the number of times I winced and the number of times I stopped myself from screaming my lungs out. Yet I went back to the beauty salon again in the hope that repeated treatments would actually retard hair growth on the unwanted parts of my body. I even tried rubbing a wet pumice stone over my arms and legs having read somewhere that that's what girls in ancient India did. It was soooo painful! I stopped almost immediately after I had begun. One of my friends had shaved her legs with her father's razor and the hair came back with atrocious force to the extent that her legs now resembled twin jungles!

To render hair removal more or less painless cosmetic companies came up with hair removal creams, gels and lotions which worked fine for a day or two. On the third day, the stubble would re-surge with the stubbornness and will power I had come to envy. So it was back to the waxing table and a monthly dose of painful treatment.

Another of my friends, in the meantime, also tried electrolysis which, unfortunately, damaged her skin. The ad had said it was a 'painless' process which turned out to be bunkum, to use my indignant friend's words. What is more, electrolysis did not work on large quantities of hair or bushy hair-growth. Add to that the pain and the tedium of the process.

I thought of going back to the waxing table yet again in despair of ever finding a permanent remedy for hair removal or reduction when I was told about a brand new treatment. This was the diode laser hair removal treatment which zeroes in on the pigment of the hair- chiefly the pigment located within the hair shaft and hair follicle. The pigment attracts the light emitted by the laser; it is the energy of this light which gets converted to heat. That is how the hair follicle gets decimated. The beauty of this treatment is that it covers a vast patch of the hairy area unlike other treatments like electrolysis which obliterate each hair follicle one by one. If all this sounds somewhat daunting and risky, don't worry. The diode laser treatment is both safe and painless. The laser gets switched on or pulsed for less than a second, which is long enough to render inoperative a single hair follicle. The cooling tip of the laser instrument is designed to render the hair removal experience painless- or almost painless. What you get is a 'tingling' feeling or a slight stinging sensation, especially when the more sensitive areas are being treated. After the treatment, some people could feel a sensation which comes after sunburn for a few hours.

And that's about all. As you will find out for yourself, the diode laser hair removal treatment is the best there is at the moment. Think of the freedom you stand to earn post-treatment - no more expensive bleaching, painful waxing sessions, plucking and tweezing.

Mirjana Hasanagic, Kitchener - Waterloo, Ontario, Canada