Women Squander Time, Thousands of Dollars Removing Unwanted Hair

Have you ever stopped to consider how much time you might use in a lifetime while shaving in the shower, not to mention the price of shaving cream, razors and blades and gallons of water used?

We were curious and so we found the answers in a May 2008 Zoomerang hair removal survey that found women spend more than $10,000 on hair removal products and services over the course of a lifetime. Not only shaving with razors, women spend a lot of time and effort with creams, lotions and waxes to remove hair.

And yet it keeps coming back. Sometimes it happens quickly and just when you don't want it to be there. And then there's the other side of shaving, with nicks and cuts that need to be disguised until they heal, not to mention the potential of ingrown hairs that need attention.

Women responding to the survey reported they will spend more than 58.4 days removing hair from their bodies during their lifetime. The survey also revealed that women remove unwanted body hair for an average period of 53.6 years using methods including shaving, waxing and depilatory creams. A lifetime of hair removal adds up to more vacation days that most people have for several years.

While women report a small monthly spend on shaving, $15.87 per month, the lifetime investment for females who shave adds up to $10,207. That money added to 58.4 days spent shaving would make a nice vacation.

Depilatory cream- or lotion-users are paying slightly more than those who shave for their hair removal, $10,555 through their lifetime, yet they only remove hair one to two times per month. So creams and lotions decrease the amount of time but increase the cost. In the current economy, the number of people using hair removers has the potential to decrease.

Waxing is by far the most expensive form of hair removal. While respondents reported waxing only one to two times per month, women who wax will spend an average of $23,000 on hair removal in a lifetime. Women can spend time performing the wax treatments themselves and cleaning up the resulting mess, or make and travel to appointments to have it done professionally. Even with professional waxing, many people can have ingrown hair issues and need to purchase additional lotions to decrease the discomfort.

The hair removal study was conducted to determine the cost savings benefit of laser hair removal verses a lifetime of shaving or waxing. On average, women can save $7,000 by receiving laser hair removal on the areas of the body they typically shave. When compared to a lifetime of waxing, women can save $20,000 by receiving laser hair removal on the areas of the body they usually wax.

As people are more time crunched than ever, laser hair removal has evolved into a lifestyle decision. Like Lasik surgery for contact and glasses wearers, laser hair removal is a decision to free yourself from one of the most mundane processes in your life - hair removal. Eliminating the time and money spent on hair removal, like contacts and glasses, offers more time to do other, more enjoyable tasks.

In addition, laser hair removal is a procedure that will help conserve water. Fifty-two percent of women surveyed reported shaving with the water running the entire time. Women surveyed reported an average shaving time of 10.9 minutes and an average of shaving 12 times per month. With the average shower using five gallons of water per minute, this means the average woman will use 7,848 gallons each year and a total of 420,652 gallons of water shaving throughout their lifetime, nearly enough water to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool. Only two percent of women shavers do not use water when shaving. However, dry shaving can increase the risk of ingrown hairs and nicks, not to mention those red bumps that can crop up while shaving.

Most women don't look forward to shaving. It's generally considered a chore, something to avoid and a half-hearted wish to be in a European country where shaving isn't a common practice. Regular maintenance is required and unavoidable with shaving, lotions and waxing.

Hair removal was one of the earliest applications of laser technology; and improved treatment protocol from national laser center chains have deemed it more effective than ever before, succeeding even with the darker skin tones or light-colored hair that were not amenable to treatment by more conventional lasers.

The most effective laser hair removal process combines pulsed, high-intensity light with precisely controlled radiofrequency waves to damage follicles. The result of permanent hair reduction can often mean: no more shaving, waxing or bleaching of the treated areas.