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 Defined

What is Hirsutism? This is the growth of coarse hair on the lip, chin, stomach or back. As a rule this is a problem for women, however men have been known to deal with it also. Men may report it less often than women, because they just do not notice it as much.

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- Thick and course this is the type of hair that is very noticeable. Your eyebrows and the hair on your head are from this category.

When a woman begins to notice dark or thicker hairs on the face, chin, lips or other areas it is a case of vellus hair that has changed to terminal hair. This is a common occurrence that happens to many women as they age. It can be caused by an underlying medical condition but this is rare. More times than not it is caused by increased levels of testosterone in the body.

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!

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.