Hair grows on every part of the body, except the lips, palms and soles of the feet.

The human hair follows a specific growth cycle with three distinct phases � anagen, catagen and telogen. The anagen phase is known as the growth phase, catagen the transitional phase and telogen the resting phase. At any one time, each individual strand of hair may be in a different growth phase.

During the growth phase (anagen), the body produces new hair fibres which continue to grow until signals are sent out to begin the catagen phase. During this transitional phase, the hair follicle shrinks and detaches itself from the blood supply which feeds nutrients to it. Going into the final resting (telogen) phase, the hair remains dormant anywhere from 1-4 months. When the Anagen phase begins anew, the new hair strand that is growing will pushed up and out the old strand of hair.

Genetics largely determine how hairy an individual is. While having a full head of hair is desirable, being hairy everywhere else may not be as sought-after.

For those who are genetically ‘blessed’ with too much hair on the body and find grooming tedious (A survey found that women spend 72 days shaving their legs over the course of a lifetime!), IPL hair removal may be a viable option to reduced hair growth.

*Individual results may vary