Hairy situations

Too much hair or hair in unwanted spots or too little hair. Most of us struggle with one or more of these problems as we age.

When it comes to too much hair, women normally have this problem on their legs, forearms and underarms.

Men have it on the chest and back. Hair in the wrong places affects women on the upper lip, chin, jawline, face, breast and navel while men find unwanted hair sprouting on their earlobes and from their nostrils.

And of course the irony is that, while all this unwanted hair bothers us, we can face the problem of too little hair in the place all of us want hair... on the head.

Both men and women can face thinning hair on their head and that can be dealt with in many ways.

Let's look at the best ways to fix these hairy situations:

Laser hair removal

The results are permanent. It's the answer to those with in-grown hair and sensitivity to waxing or shaving.

The Diode or Nd-Yag laser machines are the most effective and safest on tanned skin: Most effective in that you require fewer sessions to ensure reduction of and finally total clearance of hair.

Safest in that there is less risk of burns which you could get with IPL machines. Laser machines can be operated only by a doctor trained in the field.

Too little hair

Hair loss is a growing problem these days, especially with women. And the most common reasons are stress, poor diet, post natal and hormonal disorders.

Since hormones and lack of nutrition have a significant part to play in hair loss, the treatment is essentially medical and should be sought from a doctor.

A blood test for iron, thyroid function and hormone levels are baseline investigations.

The good news is that these days special hair serums, hair vitamin formula and intensive medical scalp treatment ensure almost a 100 per cent success rate.

Usually, with treatment, hair stops falling within six weeks and regrowth begins after eight weeks.

Male pattern hair loss is genetically pre-determined. Thus balding can only be stalled using minoxidil hair serum and oral finasteride.

There is, of course, the surgical option of hair transplantation.