Facial hair affects the lives of many women on a daily basis. It influences her activities, her choices, and her self-esteem. She constantly wonders what others think about her. Advertisements portraying women with hairless and smooth skin make it seem more acceptable for a man to have excess body hair than it is for a woman.

            “It’s like you feel like you’re running away from it your whole life,”                  said Marie.                                                                                                              
               Facial hair, medically referred to as “hirsutism” is sometimes due to genetics. The most likely cause of facial hair is hormonal imbalance. As a woman ages, her hormonal levels shift causing her to have more male hormones (commonly known as testosterone or androgens) than the average woman. Testosterone stimulates hair growth.

           Just before and right after a woman reaches menopause, she experiences or will grow facial hair. Several signs and symptoms may be linked to hormonal imbalance, including obesity, deepening of the voice and decreased breast size. This is due to the amount of androgens a woman’s body absorbs over her years of having menstrual cycles. Another cause of facial hair in women is polycystic ovarian syndrome. Polycystic ovarian syndrome or PCOS occurs when a woman develops excessive amount of androgens. Symptoms include obsesity, irregular menstrual cycles and facial hair. Complications of PCOS are diabetes or sometimes even infertility.

            The ladies room is supposed to be a place where you can “take care of business,” use the mirror for make-up or hair touch-ups and converse with a friend in somewhat of a private area. For women with facial hair, the ladies room can be a terrifying place. It brings the possibility of multiple questions.   

            “I, instead, feel like a scared little kid whose primary fears are rejection, ridicule and isolation.”

           A woman becomes self conscious of the visibility of her facial hair’s appearance to others, consequently making her think about it wherever she goes. Simply going out in public brings worry and concern about the reaction of others should her facial hair be seen. This may eventually cause her to develop feelings of discouragement. It can affect her attitude toward others or even her mindset while on what is supposed to be a fun and relaxing vacation. The focus on her facial hair may even cause her to be limited in other areas of her life such as her career, financial security and intimate relationships.              
   
Sophia, who has relied on tweezers to solve her problem in the past has said,
“I’ve gone to more drastic measures and more expensive and
time-consuming measures in some ways to eliminate the problem.” 

            A number of treatments can be used by women in order to care for this setback. The most common actions include plucking, shaving and waxing. Plucking is inexpensive, but can be slow and painful. Shaving is easy, but time consuming. Hair may take weeks to grow back if it is waxed, but the risk of follicultis, a bacterial infection that can occur in the hair follicle, should be taken into consideration. Some women decide to take it even further by having the hair removed medically through electrolysis.

           Medications or hormones can be taken in order to reduce the amount of hair on a woman’s face by blocking androgens. However, the amount of medication a woman has to take differs from person to person and may take a long time to figure out. Women should always consider safety as an important factor of whatever method they decide to use.

            Laser hair removal is emerging as a very popular choice to deal with unwanted facial hair. Lasers were first introduced in the 1990s. The laser light targets the color in the hair causing damage to the hair follicle all the way down to the root.

            At InfiniTrim we specialize in facial hair removal because we understand firsthand the implications, complications and treatment choices of facial hair. Compared to other hair removal methods, the use of a laser is less painful, longer lasting and more cost effective in the long run. The procedure is safe and usually takes less than thirty minutes. Advances in laser treatments have made laser hair removal quicker, safer and virtually painless.

Schedule your FREE treatment now. Need to know more? Ask our expert medical staff.