A Brief History of Hair Removal

Throughout human history, the practice of hair removal has waxed and waned in sync with cultural trends. While attitudes toward hair removal may always differ, a retrospective examination of the past can offer insights into how it gained popularity in contemporary Western culture.

Paleolithic Era

Paleolithic humans have been found with shells to pluck hair like tweezers, and flint tools used to shave. It’s believed that this practice began to treat and prevent lice.

Egypt 3000 B.C

Just as Paleolithic man shaved to avoid lice, Egyptians did the same by embracing a hairless existence, shaving their heads and donning wigs. As you’d expect from one of the most advanced civilizations of the ancient world, the Egyptians had more advanced techniques. They had gold and copper razors. They also experimented with depilatory pastes made of beeswax and boiled caramel. Even mourning rituals cats involved the shaving of your eyebrows.

Geek Empire 300’s B.C.E.

Influenced by Alexander the Great's belief that beards were a tactical liability in battle, clean faces became the standard for his troops. This new interest in hairlessness birthed a new industry of professional hair pluckers, if you were very wealthy you could have a professional hair plucker in your home. As such, the less body and facial hair you had the wealthier you were.

18th Century Europe

The foldable straight-edge razor was the modern straight razor as we know it today was first developed in Sheffield, England, during the 18th century.

A ‘race’ ensued between English and French blade manufacturers in the 18th century, to create the safest razor. The French Perret razor, with protective guards, competed with the T-shaped razor patented by William Henson in 1847.

19th Century USA

Yet, the quest for a safe, self-shaving experience wouldn’t reach its full potential until a New York travelling salesman, named King Camp Gillette, collaborated with an engineer to birth the first disposable, double-edged razor blade in 1903. Gillette's invention soared in popularity, transcending gender boundaries by the end of World War I.

1960’s

Laser hair removal was first – and accidentally – discovered in 1963, but came into being in the early 1980’s. The original theory of selective photothermolysis as developed by Anderson and Parrish, however, did not necessarily provide permanent hair removal.

2007’s

Historically, the Nd: YAG has received criticism for not providing a permanent solution to hair removal. In 2007, however, a study was conducted to evaluate the Nd: 1064nm laser for long-term hair solutions, and found great success – up to 93% in some cases!

This is because, unlike other lasers and light-based equipment, the Nd:YAG 1064nm – which is used in the Elite IQ – uses a 0.65-millisecond pulse duration, which is shorter than the Thermal relaxation time of the skin around the hair follicle. This enables the heat from the laser to be sealed within the follicle without spreading to the surrounding skin. Technicians can therefore perform this procedure without using skin cooling or gels and still achieve accurate, long-term results. The result has led to a comfortable, cost-effective procedure that many modern consumers are more than satisfied with.

Today and the future

Laser hair removal technology today is more sophisticated than ever before, with success rates going up to 95% permanent reduction of hair growth in most patients. Problems that were difficult before – such as treating patients with tanned skin and darker skin – are now solved with different kinds of lasers, such as diode laser technology.

These days there is also less risk of damage to the skin and surrounding hair follicles (due to shorter and more controlled laser pulse rates) and faster sessions. There are also various cooling technologies paired with laser hair removal, to make the experience as comfortable as possible.

So what is in store for the future of laser hair removal technology? More efficiency, greater speed, and virtually no pain. While lasers haven’t changed much over the last two decades, there have been some small but important developments that affect the patient experience, including cooling systems, the ability to help dark-skinned patients, and shorter procedures.

For example, one of the latest devices in the laser hair removal industry is the Elite IQ. The Elite IQ combines Nd:YAG and Alexandrite wavelengths, which work on two different fronts: the Alexandrite Wavelength is most effective for fair and light skin tones, and the Nd:YAG wavelength is best for tanned and dark skin tones.

Regardless of your thoughts on hair removal for aesthetic reasons, it’s clear humans have had a desire for self-grooming since our earliest days. If you’re interested in trying laser hair removal and experiencing the power of the Elite IQ click the button below to get started.