Q Dear Miss Abigail:
I am facing a bit of problem. I used to clean my underarms with hair-removing cream, but recently I started shaving them. The hair now grows in really dark (my underarms skin color is very dark). Can you help or suggest any kind of solution to this problem?
Signed,
Maryam
A Dear Maryam:
Although I personally don’t think you should be too concerned (as long as you continue to shave), here are a few words about the growth of hair on our bodies. I hope it helps!
1960: Hair Growth and Distribution
From the time of fetal life, before birth, there is hair on the head and body which varies in different individuals both in amounts and distribution.
Many consider that the appearance of hair on a woman’s face or on her arms and legs is unwomanly and a detraction from her beauty. These thoughts often bother the affected person far more than anyone else. Many young ladies have long inward debates and get much contradictory advice from others concerning what to do about their hirsutism (hairiness). Here again, the physician is the best person to consult.
Occasionally the hairiness may be due to a glandular imbalance that can be corrected. But in the great majority of individuals with a more than average amount of facial and body hair, all is healthy and normal.
Even if the hairiness is not a sign of something being wrong, a girl may still want to get rid of the hair on some parts of her body. There are various chemical depilatories, easily obtainable, which can remove hair. These occasionally irritate the skin and therefore should be avoided or used only with extreme caution. Electrical depilation, or removal of hair, is a specialized technique which should be attempted only upon the advice of a physician and be done only by a specially trained and experienced person. Pulling the hair out (epilation) does not result in permanent removal and may be harmful.
In most cases shaving is the simplest and best way of removing hair. Shaving may be done with an electric or a safety razor. The idea that shaving causes and increase in the growth of hair or a thickening of the regrowth is incorrect. Though this seems to happen to men, it is only because of natural changes that occur in the hair of the face which would occur even if men did not shave.
Cosmeticians, and often mothers, know ways of diminishing the effect of unwanted hair by bleaching it to less noticable shades.
Source: Roth, Arthur. The Teen-Age Years. Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1960.
~ pp. 119-20 ~