The Answer To Unwanted Hair

Shaving, waxing, depilatory creams, tweezing -- these are the typical tools used by most women to remove unwanted hair. While these methods are readily available and seem practical, in the long run they can become expensive, inconvenient and tedious. Compare a lifetime of constantly removing unwanted hair to an average of six to eight sessions to permanently remove them. This is now possible with LaserLight hair removal, which has become the norm for thousands of women since its introduction in 2000.

LaserLight uses an FDA-approved diode laser that emits pulses of light energy that are absorbed by the pigment or melanin of the hair follicle. A unique ChillTip hand piece cools on contact, protecting the skin while directing the laser energy to the hair follicle. This targets the hair root and disables it from growing new hair. Different body areas are treated such as the underarms, legs, bikini line and upper lip. More than one treatment is necessary because hair grows in different stages. While some may be in the active growth phase (anagen) during treatment, other hair may be in the regression (catagen) or resting (telogen) phases. Only hair that is actively growing may be treated by LaserLight. Eventually, the hair resting during the previous treatment will begin to grow and when there is sufficicent growth, the client can come in again for the next treatment.

Clients will only feel a stinging sensation during the treatment and a topical anesthetic may also be used to further alleviate any discomfort. An average of six to eight sessions are required to permanently remove all unwanted hair. Aside from hair removal, underarm skin also becomes smoother and lighter because there is no trauma from conventional hair-removal methods. That means no more chicken skin, dark underarms, rashes, ingrown hair and stubble.

Taken from The Philippine Star

A Sticky Situation

Chewing gum is stepped on, swallowed and stuck in the hair of unsuspecting classmates. Some find gum chewing relieves stress or helps to keep them from overeating. Others just think it's an unpleasant habit. Where did chewing gum come from in the first place?

Tree resin, or sap, traditionally formed the base for chewing gums. The ancient Greeks chewed mastiche, a gum made from the resin of the mastiche tree.

Later, the Maya Indians of Mexico chewed chicle, a rubbery resin from the sapodilla tree. The colonists of New England adopted the Indian habit of chewing hardened spruce sap.

The popularity of spruce gum waned with the introduction of a new chewing gum made of sweetened paraffin wax. Licorice Lulu, Four-in-Hand, Sugar Cream, White Mountain and Biggest and Best were some of the paraffin wax gums peddled in the 1800s.

The forerunner of modern chewing gum emerged in the 1860s. One story claims that Santa Anna, the Mexican general who led the attack on the Alamo, left a chunk of chicle in the desk drawer of an office in Staten Island, New York.

Thomas Adams Sr. found the chicle and tried to make it into rubber first, and then an adhesive for false teeth. Failing at both attempts, he finally boiled down and rolled the chicle flat, creating the base for the tastiest chewing gum to that time. (Synthetics have now replaced chicle as a gum base.)

Bubble gum was first produced in 1906, but was not perfected and marketed until 1928.

Sugarless gum was first marketed in the mid-1960s. Chewing sugarless gum directly after eating may lower the incidence of tooth decay by stimulating the production of saliva, according to a report in the Journal of the American Dental Association. Xylitol, a nonfermentable sugar alcohol popular in European gums, may even protect the teeth.

Perhaps someone will invent no-stick, hair-proof gum that will launch yet another decade of the gum chewing habit!

- By Anne Douglas

Taken from Youth 90 magazine