We can never say for sure when people began removing their body hair, as the practice probably predates the time of written records. Pumice stones may have been used by ancient people to remove unwanted hair, so the history of hair removal may have begun with our very early ancestors
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We know that people in the Indus Valley Civilization in what is now Pakistan, as well as in the other great civilizations of that time (about 5,000 years ago), in Egypt, China, and Mesopotamia, removed their body hair, and we know that men shaved. Body hair would have been unpleasant and unhygienic and was therefore removed, as it is today in hot climates. When metal tools were used and ground on flints, razors were made and used by men and perhaps women.
When people learned how to make threads, they may have been used by women for hair removal, because thread-pulling is still practiced by women in Pakistan, India, and the Middle East; it is called khite in Arabic. Women pluck another woman’s eyebrows with a thread, but it could also be used to remove hair on the legs. People who come from hot climates naturally do not have as much body hair as people who live in colder climates.
The ancient Egyptians used sugaring to remove unwanted hair, which is based on the same principle as waxing. The paste used is sugar-based and can be infused with rose water to make women feel pampered instead of undergoing a less than painless experience. It is actually not as painful as waxing, which is a more common method of hair removal today. The paste adheres to the hair rather than the skin, which makes the removal of the paste and hair more tolerable. It is also more comfortable because the paste is cooler than hot wax, as it is only cooled to room temperature. Since only natural ingredients are used for the paste, it is better for the health of the skin than waxing.
The ancient Egyptians took hair removal to extremes that we would call extreme today, as they too shaved their heads and then wore wigs. The pharaohs (including Cleopatra) also wore fake beards that gave them god-like status, it is believed. However, there are conflicting accounts as to whether all women or all men removed their body hair, although they probably removed most of it.
The ancient Greeks were particularly conscious of body hair, and when a young girl reached puberty, the first pubic hair was either removed by sugar or another type of wax, or pulled out with tweezers.
You could say that modern forms of hair removal began with the technology of the time in 1875, when an American ophthalmologist, Dr. Charles Michel, removed an ingrown eyelash from one of his patients by inserting a fine wire attached to a battery into the hair follicle. He released a very small electrical charge, and the procedure we know as electrolysis for hair removal was born.
This procedure, as well as depilatory creams, became increasingly popular in 1915 after American women saw a feature in Harpers Bazaar magazine in which a woman in a short-sleeved dress held up her arm to show the American public that she had no underarm hair. With the advent of bikinis and later swimwear, pubic hair was increasingly removed by women. This trend seems to be due to fashion rather than hygiene.
Electrolysis still exists, and it is claimed that the treatment permanently removes hair from all parts of the body. However, the treatment must be continued over a long period of time and can be somewhat painful.
There are much more modern developments in hair removal treatment, with laser and light treatment being preferred over electrolysis. The treatment is not as lengthy as electrolysis and is much less painful. The hair can be removed from any part of the body. There is now the Soprano Ice laser hair removal technology as well as the Medi-ice 3, but this is still a new area where many salons in the UK are not yet up to date, at least in terms of this technology.
