Embrace Your Inner Bear

Name: Ramon
Gender: Male
Age: 40
Location: Denver
Hi Dr. Dick. I have a lot of thick body hair and I spend a lot of time and money keeping it trimmed. I even use Azulene Oil, which allegedly slows the rate of hair growth. I don’t think it works although it makes my skin nice and soft. My question is: are there any products that work to slow, or stop hair grow? I would even consider hormonal treatment if it was safe. Thanks for your time. Your devoted fan; Ramon

Well, devoted fan Ramon, I’d be willing to bet that you’re gonna be as successful in finding a hair growth inhibitor as other men have been in finding a hair growth accelerator. Which, for all intents and purposes, means not successful at all. Sorry!

very hairy & hotAnd are you really serious about tampering with your natural hormonal balance for cosmetic purposes? My, my, my to what lengths we will go to compensate for, or alter something, we don’t like about ourselves. Just imagine how vulnerable this makes you to the unscrupulous purveyors of the proverbial snake oil? I always say; desperate men make desperately wrong decisions.

I don’t have any personal experience with any of the products you ask about. But I do have a whole lot of bear friends. So I quizzed them for some advice to pass on to you. Several of the men I spoke to confessed to having tried one or another non-prescription product for at least a short period of time. Some of my bear friends said they used one or another or several such products for a long enough time to say for certain that nothing they tried worked. No surprise there, I suppose.

Not one of my bear friends is currently experimenting with a hair growth-inhibiting product now. When asked why, every one of them said it was easier, cheaper, and less detrimental to their psyche to make peace with the fact that they are hairy guys…plain and simple.

What I did learn from my friends is that typically one uses a hair growth inhibitor after employing a method of hair removal (waxing, shaving, tweezing, etc.) in an attempt to slow the regrowth of the hair just removed. These products come as lotions, creams, or sprays and are applied directly to the area where the hair has been removed.

The claim is that the enzymes in many of these products can get into the hair follicle and affect the rate and texture of regrowth. Hair that does regrow is often finer, even if there’s not less of it. At least that’s the claim.hairy369

There are dozens of these over-the-counter products. And my research has also turned up a wealth of negative comments from disgruntled former users. Apparently some of these products are not only ineffective, but also dangerous. So beware!

Here’s a tip: if you, or anyone else in my audience is thinking about plunking down hard-earned money for a product of dubious worth. I suggest you do an online search using the name of the product or the company producing it, along with the word “scam” or “complaints.” In short order you will find what I found; there are a lot of very unhappy people who regret falling prey to the hype and being ripped off.

From what I can gather, electrolysis and laser hair removal are about the only permanent hair removal methods currently available. But even these techniques can be spotty, so to speak. Results can vary from person to person and there can even be regrowth in some cases.

In the end, there is but one undeniable fact: there is no published clinical data that backs up any claim that any of product or technique will slow or stop hair growth. With those odds against you, devoted fan Ramon, maybe it would be easier and way less expensive to simply embrace your inner bear.

Good luck

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