There has always been pressure on women to be free of body hair, but with the recent metro sexual trend men are now facing pressure to be hair free from the neck down. For both men and women this goes beyond grooming. Hair removal is a trend, and many people perceive a hairless body as sexy and attractive. Go to any bookstore and glance at the magazine rack and you will not see man with a hairy chest or back, and while Burt Reynolds may have popularized the rugged hairy chested look back in the 70's it's clearly not the case anymore.
For women the removal of pubic hair becoming the norm. They endure great pain to achieve this look, and for many women to not be clean shaven would be a source of embarrassment.
The most common ways to remove hair:
Depilation which only removes the hair above the skins surface. The most common form of depilation is shaving, and the use of chemical creams, which work by breaking down the protein in the hair, making the hair disintegrate.
Epilation removes the entire hair root and all. This can be accomplished through waxing, epilation devices, plucking, sugaring, and the use of lasers.
While there are products on the market that claim to permanently stop the growth of hair the only true way to accomplish this is with laser hair removal. For most people laser hair removal is a long process, and the effects from person to person can vary greatly. Skin tone and hair color are the greatest factures that will determine your success with laser hair removal. The best possible combination is light skin with dark hair, the worst dark skin with light hair.
Being hair free is a trend that is not going to go away for quite some time, and while the plain old razor will still do job it can be very time consuming and the results typically will not last for more then a day. Waxing is painful and expensive, and will last 1 to 2 weeks. If your looking for permanent hair removal laser treatments are the only option currently available.
It's best to seek out a qualified laser technician who specializes in these types of procedures to go over your hair removal options.