There are many things that determine what’s acceptable and what isn’t across cultures. In the U.S. for example, it’s not okay for women to have mustaches, unless you are a middle class hipster female sporting an obviously faux stache.

If you have excess hair, comfort is more important than living up to someone else’s expectations. If you are comfortable with your hair, then by all means keep it! But if you are suffering from low self-esteem and think your life would be significantly improved by removing your facial or body hair, please put your own comfort and happiness first and find the best option of hair removal for you!

Hair Removal Methods:

There are many methods of hair removal, but these are the ones I am familiar with: threading, waxing, epilating, hair removal creams, shaving, plucking, electrolysis and laser hair removal.

Hairy arms and legs can be dealt with by shaving or waxing, but parents vary as to when they think either option is acceptable for their child. This really sucks because in threads about excessive hair growth, I’ve read about girls as young as five years old being teased in school. Parents: It does NOT get better. Dealing with it now will not hurt your daughter’s self esteem…chances are she’ll be much happier being able to fit in with her peers. Please do not use your children to prove or promote your own ideology. If she even hints at being uncomfortable about having excessive hair growth, it’s your duty as a parent to help her take care of it. If she hinted about having a broken bone, you’d fix it, wouldn’t you? If she’s uncomfortable about excessive hair growth it’s plausible that it’s already gotten to a point where she is being teased about it by her peers. Let her have one less thing to worry about as a kid, especially in middle school and high school. When she’s older she can decide whether or not she wants to go the Frida Kahlo route.

That said, there are many different types of hair removal, each suited to a different area of the body or type of hair growth there.

The first is shaving. This is mainly okay for areas which are easily covered for a few days (like the legs or arms, though I recommend waxing for the arms), and is generally painless. If you have a child under 8, I recommend doing it for her. You should always teach your child to shave with the hair growth (not against) unless she absolutely has to. Teach her proper care of the blade and make sure she can use it correctly and carefully to minimize cuts. If you’re doing it for yourself, make sure your blade is a safety blade (they are readily available at drug stores) and use shaving cream or soap lathered on to minimize razor burn and other such skin damage.

Second is hair removal cream. Sally Hansen makes a product for the face and Nair is the most well-known brand (“Who’s wearing short shorts?”) for legs and other areas of the body. Hair removal cream can cause burns if left on too long so make sure you time it carefully. Test the product on a small patch first. If it burns or causes your skin to react adversely, don’t use it! If you are set on hair removal cream, test a different brand on another area (of equal sensitivity). Be sure to only use the creme on areas specified in the directions.

Although I have never personally used a pumice stone, I might try one on my arm hair in the future. Pumice stones must be rubbed on soapy hair for several minutes at a time to achieve results. They supposedly remove the hair from the surface (like shaving does) and might make the hair appear thinner if they are not completely removed. If I start using a pumice stone, I’ll let you know!

Next is waxing….Waxing can remove skin in some cases and HURTS, so make sure you’re okay with pain before you try it. The first time I waxed, I was 12 years old and my mother did it for me because she found me crying about having a mustache. It was extremely painful and bled a bit because some of the skin came off, but the lack of mustache was so liberating that it didn’t matter to me and I continued to wax by myself.Waxing is appropriate for all external areas of the body (NOT inside your ears or nose) except near genitals (no waxing near the nipples). Do not attempt to give yourself a Brazilian wax! This can cause severe infections and is best left to professionals. Since it’s a bit more difficult to cover the arms in warmer climates, I recommend waxing them.

Threading of the eyebrows is best left to professionals. You can use threading for the upper lips, cheeks, chin and other areas of the body that are easily reached. There are many threading tutorials online and on Youtube like this one: Threading Tutorial. It’s not too hard to do, but I’d only use it for areas that don’t need shaping ’cause you don’t want to end up with four or five eyebrows instead of two.

Epilators can be used for facial hair and other parts of the body as well. Bellabe is the newest one with the most hype because it’s mechanism is just like threading and it is very simple to use. You can use epilators for the face, legs, or any on area the product instructions say you can. Always be sure to read the manufacturer’s instructions and warnings!

Procedures that remove the hair from the root last the longest, but are also the most time consuming. If you want something that lasts longer, try laser hair removal. Laser hair removal can result in funky pigmentation of the skin, so I do not recommend it.

Electrolysis is the only method that is supposed to be permanent. I haven’t tried it, but from what I’ve read it takes many sessions (3 to 20) over months at a time to achieve results. People who have had it done seem to be extremely pleased with the results, but some stop after two or three treatments when they don’t see results. This might be because the procedure of electrolysis is such that you can’t use other methods of hair removal in between sessions except for shaving, which many women find objectionable and embarrassing.

This is how I do:

Personally, I wax my upper lip and chin, using Bellabe in between sessions. My eyebrows are plucked, but in between is usually waxed. I waxed and shaved my for a year in high school (never against the direction of the hair growth) but later decided to grow it out. At first it looked a bit strange since the hair in the process of growing back so I kept my arms covered most of the time. After a couple weeks, however, it began to look normal and after several months it looks completely normal (albeit a little bit hairy which is the reason I used to shave them). Since the armslegs are easily covered, I shave mine periodically and before wearing revealing clothes during the winter and I sometimes wax in the summer. I have a bit of hair in between the breasts that is usually not noticeable (in locker rooms, etc.) but I wax it to wear a bikini or low-cut shirts. I also wax the hair on my abdomen and lower back if I am wearing a bikini.

Another alternative is tanning. I find that when I am tan, slight facial and body hair (peach fuzz) become less noticeable even though it’s dark. I also periodically wax the hair on the backs of my fingers but I try to avoid that because as time goes by the hair becomes thinner and hair on the fingers is generally not noticeable. I have not had a huge problem with sideburns, but for facial hair, I generally cover it up with foundation if I am feeling self conscious. For thicker or darker facial hair (on the cheeks, etc.) I would recommend waxing. Epilators like Bellabe do work, but the process takes longer and is largely painful. For large areas, it is not worth the risk of the hairs breaking instead of coming out at the root. When the hair breaks, it usually grows back without the tapered ends that make older hairs seem thinner than new ones. This was a problem for me at first with Bellabe because it does take a bit of learning to avoid breaking the hairs instead of pulling them out.

Spearmint Tea:

I’ve been reading recently that spearmint tea might reduce excessive hair in women. Many women have said that it works for them, but being the skeptic I am, I need actual evidence that it works before professing the benefits of spearmint tea to the world.

Today  I finally bought two different kinds of spearmint tea (though you can make it at home by steeping fresh spearmint leaves if you have them!) and am going experiment with drinking two cups a day for two months for each type.

Dear Readers:

Let me know what you think! How has “unusual” or “excessive” facial hair affected your childhood, teen years or adulthood? Do you think women should leave it on for ideological reasons?

Wait….Ganges? The term grates in your ears. You raise your hand to correct her.

“It’s not the Ganges River, it’s the river Ganga...”

Congratulations! You’ve just been inducted into a long series of history classes throughout elementary school, middle school, high school, and even college  which will include  not only colossal amounts of incorrect information, but also generalized and often insulting statements about Indian culture and Hinduism.

Oh, and by the way, you’re extremely lucky if your teacher believes you, thanks to the British legacy of mispronunciation which still permeates Western culture.

So, what do you do when your teacher ignores you? Well, I decided to use whatever terms my teachers liked in written papers and got used to it.

Until Indian scholars make a concentrated effort to use correct terminology in their own papers and to inform those of their Western peers, we will always have this dichotomy of terminology.

Perhaps times have changed enough that students’ input is more valued by teachers, and maybe the information they find in their own research will no longer contradict you. I hope this is the case, and that hopefully your own foray into the scary world of correcting teachers will be more fruitful than mine

Expect the reading to be slightly demeaning toward Indian culture…expect your books to make references to nonexistent extreme sexual facets in Hinduism.

Okay, so all of this might make you slightly annoyed with the quality of Western scholars who study India, and just plain confused in regards to the Indian scholars who don’t do squat in the way of encouraging correct terminology usage.

Just remember that whenever a person studies a different culture, faith and mindset, that person is bound to project his or her preconceptions upon that culture. It is simply not possible to study something like religion or culture and remain completely objective. In my experience, I’ve learned that it’s nigh impossible to fully and correctly comprehend a culture unless it one has been completely and actively immersed in it for more than five years.

Remember as well that the whole of India is so diverse that there is no single homogeneous Indian culture, rather there are hundreds of cultures dependent upon various factors which vary from climate to climate, village to village, and city to city.

(See Wikipedia Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_India)

Okay, so maybe if your teacher isn’t a crotchety ego-maniac, he or she and your would probably appreciate correct information from you. Just be aware of the general trend in Western scholarship of India, and don’t be surprised if your well-meant information comes to nothing.