Re: What is the best way to get rid of hair on sides of the face?
Firstly, as I stated earlier, I don’t doubt the sincerety of the people who’re sharing the claims of this side effect. However, as consumers, we should also take the steps to discover whether or not the claim of a side effect has ANY scientific basis at all.
If people were to state that they have heard about this side effect but never actually experienced it themselves despite using the product OR have never seen any facts backing it up, then I’d have no issues with it. BUT the problem is that this side effect is being presented as a fact…and for women coming across this thread, it can easily give them the impression that this is a proven side effect when in reality, its not.
I’m positive that desi women aren’t different biologically than other non-desi women. Here we have desi women claiming that they have heard this side effect claim A LOT (ie. even you said you’ve heard this “many, many times”.). So according to these statements, this side effect isn’t a extremely rare thing. And these creams are being used to millions of women around the world. Thus I find it hard to believe that so many desi women out there are experiencing this side effect and/or are hearing about it…and yet not one single scientific fact is backing up this claim. And I assure you that if large groups of women started experiencing this side effect in the U.S., we would’ve heard about the lawsuits by now.
If a woman claims her hair is growing thicker or skin turning dark when she started hair removal creams…that does NOT mean that the cream is causing it. When we “hear” this claim by others…none of us has any way of knowing that the thicker hair and/or darker skin is not being caused by other medications, some other medical condition, or even use of some other cream. For example: its a well known proven fact that skin bleaching agents can cause skin to turn darker if proper precausions such as sunscreen isn’t used. So if a desi girl starts using skin bleaching cream and hair removal cream at the same time, and doesn’t take those precausions and her skin turns dark…and she blames the hair removal cream…and others believe her…then what’s the point. This is why actual studies or FACTS should be relied upon to see if there is a direct cause/effect relationship between the product and side effect.
On a side note: I have also heard the claims about shaving, and think that’s B.S. Here is a Mayo Clinic dermatologist’s comment on it.Shaving hair: Does shaved hair grow back thicker? - MayoClinic.com
I agree, it’s important to find out whether claims of this sort have a scientific basis. I’ve been especially curious after reading this thread. I personally haven’t used hair removing creams long enough to make this claim but the fact that so many people are making it catches my attention. There are hundreds of searches on this topic on the internet, but none really answer the question. There is no scientific research done on this, perhaps because there isn’t a biological basis behind it, but maybe there should be some doctoral research done so this question is put to rest.