"Circus and carnival barkers used to cry out "come see the bearded lady" as they moved from town to town. People would stare and children would point at the sideshows. Unfortunately excessive hair growth on the face and other areas is something that women still deal with today. It is called Hirsutism and it is estimated that nearly 25% of women will have to deal with it.

Hirsutism

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.

The long dark hairs that a woman may begin to notice under the chin or other areas of the face are a situation where vellus hair has transformed into terminal hair. This most commonly happens to women as they age. At times thick hair on the face can point to an underlying medical condition, but not often. Most of the time it is a simple matter of increased levels of the male hormone testosterone in the female body that is to blame.

Remove the Hair

Now that we have addressed what Hirsutism is and why it occurs the next question is "How do I get rid of this unwanted hair?" The short answer is you have several choices, but probably the best long-term answer is laser hair removal.

The number one way people generally use is shaving. However as you well know shaving has some distinct disadvantages. First off it is nearly impossible to get a really close shave and while that may not be important to the male gender a woman suffering from excessive facial hair wants every trace of it removed.

Creams and waxes are the next answer many women turn to. Depilatory creams are messy and they often stink. Beyond that, they are prone to the same problem as shaving with leaving hair behind plus they can cause skin irritations.

If you want a hair removal treatment that has none of the downsides and all of the benefits you should consider laser hair removal. One of the reasons it is so effective is it goes beyond the surface to the place where hair grows.

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".