Chemical depilatories
It's a very common method of hair removal. In this method the chemical depilatory lotions or creams are applied on the skin and left for some time. These contain certain chemical like sodium thioglycolate, or calcium thioglycolate which have a very low pH and dissolve the hair by disrupting the sulphide linkages present in the proteins of the hair.
It also exfoliates the over dead surface of the skin. So skin feels softer and smoother.
Advantages
Cheap, fast, easy to apply and simple method
Can be done at home.
Available over the counter.
Disadvantages
Can be allergic to some people due to chemicals
Can cause skin irritation and rashes. So don’t forget to do a patch test.
Not to be used on the sensitive areas of the body.
Some people complain of unpleasant odor,
The results among different people vary a lot.
You forgot to say in the disadvantages - messy and inconvenient!
For me I tried nair or some similar chemical depilatory cream a bunch of times and while it does do something I never found it very effective. Maybe I didn't let the hair grow out long enough first, but I found that within a day I had a bunch of stubble! It really put me off. That's why I'm going for laser hair removal now.
Hi ryansmom,
I find the same problem with cream depilatories (apart from the fact that I hate the smell of them) ... I dunno about letting the hair grow longer, I can't see why that would make a difference because the cream attacks the roots of the hair doesn't it? I even got in touch with veet to ask them this but they sent me a stupid email and obviously didn't even read my question :(
bunnylove
Hi ryansmom.
I am interested in your comments about Nair because I had the same problem. For me, I found that if I let the hair grow a bit longer than usual, and then left the cream on for the maximum possible time, it improved my results a bit.