Permanent hair removal despite the hype, is NOT the Holy Grail of body grooming.

Hair removal without damaging your health, skin or finances is a more realistic and sane approach.

If sensible sane hair removal is  not a priority for you, then you might choose chemotherapy mat your local beauty salon, as a sure fire way to remove all body hair. Failing that, a blow torch would be a quick and inexpensive method of home hair removal. Well a flame works on poultry fuzz provided always that it is deceased.

If sensible sane hair removal is  not a priority for you, then you might choose chemotherapy mat your local beauty salon, as a sure fire way to remove all body hair. Failing that, a blow torch would be a quick and inexpensive method of home hair removal. Well a flame works on poultry fuzz provided always that it is deceased.

Assuming you believe the FDA who test manufacturers claims, the only recognized PERMANENT HAIR REMOVAL is not laser or its cousin IPL. It is Electrolysis and that is what the FDA says. As you will know Electrolysis is a painstaking process as well as a painful procedure using an electrical current in multiple appointments to destroy hair follicles in all of its five stages of growth. As it takes so long it costs the most. The pain is very real but do not allow Lidocaine to be used to dull the pain as this is known to cause adverse reactions in some people. If you are not a sissy about pain then by all means bite down on a bullet or something and "fry them follicles".

Permanent hair removal is maybe worth reconsidering as both fashions and minds change over time.We know that a number of former devotees of the hairless club in later years wished to have a more natural appearance. Hair transplants are being done to restore formerly bare pubic areas. The cost is of course quite considerable. But fear not you can take a page out of your history book and order a Merkin - which in plain terms is a pubic hair wig.

Bad experiences with razor blade shaving is what led to the evolution of laser hair removal and the watered down variety IPL. But consider this, the average laser tech at your local salon requires between 7 and 21 days to be "certified" (more accurately described as rubber stamped approval) to operate and calibrate a surgical machine that can severely burn and scar your skin. Despite the hype and hoopla laser hair removal is often not permanent and the FDA does not permit this procedure to be called permanent - but the skin burns, increasingly more common these, ARE unfortunately very permanent.

IPL or Intense Pulsed Laser produces a very nasty smell of scorched hair which the other members so the household may not enjoy. IPL also does not work in a great many cases, judging from the "satisfaction guaranteed or your money back" promises made but for refunds which are very hard to actually get. You will see lots of these IPL returns on Craigslist, eBay and Amazon and other Internet sites. These refurbished" devices are still very costly although lower than the original price. Seriously though why would you buy a returned and used item, especially when it was used on private parts and could carry communicable diseases and more especially as the previous owner found it did not work well or at all anyway.

Without doubt, some fully trained Doctors of dermatology can perform safe and effective laser hair removal. So if you decide on this method, make sure the laser operator is actually a dermatologist trained to use a laser. It is not enough to go to a salon claiming the laser is used under medical supervision of a doctor. In reality the doctor may actually be on vacation in Hawaii and unable to supervise anything more than a Pina Colada or a round of golf, let alone the safety of a surgical procedure in a salon miles away. The doctor-in-charge at a salon may actually be a dentist or even a podiatrist, and while these are indeed medical doctors, their training and experience has nothing whatsoever to do with dermatology, as applied to laser hair removal.

The laser tech at your local salon, to which you will entrust your delicate skin, may in fact be just weeks out of an Internet based school of laser hair removal, before being licensed to operate on you, with or without adequate medical supervision.

So in the immortal words of Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry, and before going to the salon, ask yourself "Do I feel lucky today?" and then roll the dice.

Alternatively get smooth skin safely and conveniently at home and in private, by using a low cost electric personal shaver. No rash, red bumps, ingrown hairs or huge expense. Cost around $50 with self sharpening blades that never touch the skin, 2 year warranty, and with correct use it can deliver a shave as smooth as any wet razor or waxing for a product life span of 2-3 years.