Hair today, Gone tomorrow

Shaving: There are dozens, and probably hundreds, of different types of razors on the market. Men have the best-looking razors while lady razors are usually plastic, coloured pink and designed to be thrown away after a couple of shaves. Shaving is still the most popular hair-removal method but there are other options other than scraping your face or legs or underarms with a piece of steel:

Waxing is not waning. Women and men still put themselves through the torture of placing heated wax on the 'offending' area, letting it cool and then ripping off the little hirsute follicles in the opposite direction from which nature intended they should grow. No wonder the hairs protest.

Threading is less painful than plucking, waxing and sugaring and popular in the Middle East, China and India. It's done with a long loop of cotton thread twisted and rolled along the surface of the skin where the hair is caught and pulled from the roots. The sensation is half way between a tickle and a sting.

Abrasives-usually pumice stone or devices or gloves made from fine sandpaper rubbed against the skin. It makes us sound like walls or bits of wood before being painted and the word abrasive is used for good reason.

Sugaring-Using a sugar mixture instead of wax. Mix sugar, lemon juice and water and heat together to form a paste. It sounds a bit like mayonnaise doesn't it? Plaster the area to exfoliated and pull back sharply against hair growth. Suitable for those sensitive to wax. And insensitive to pain?

Creaming-A cream applied for a limited time then scraped gently off along with the unwanted hair. And we do mean limited-read the packet instructions for the good of your sanity.

Permanent hair removal, most likely applied to unwanted upper lip hair and maybe the bikini line, using the scary and expensive sounding bipolar conducted electric current and optical light energy. Or there's laser technology where 'gentle pulses of targeted energy isolate the treatment area'. These treatments loosely come under the heading of electrolysis and while it might be gentle on the skin, is it kind to the wallet?

Men who shave areas other than their face-body builders, swimmers, runners and the like-know the pitfalls of shaving other than their face like the chest, the head and, well, other very sensitive areas. Shaving, waxing, sugaring and threading around very private parts must surely be reserved for masochists. For your own sake read the instructions on the depilation cream packet as to timing. You really, really, wouldn't want to be distracted.

The most advanced razors in the world are designed by and for men probably because they shave more regularly and more often than women. Nonetheless, a razor-inspired symbiotic relationship occurs in many households.

Women who have borrowed these super duper triple action pulsating rotating blades know these things are superior. And men who yell out from the bathroom 'have you been using my bloody razor again?' also know they know.