Hi readers,
I have a couple of questions:
Firstly, while it appears that no clinical data are available regarding the efficiency of hair growth inhibitors, are there any available regarding their safety?
Secondly, if they are safe, and if I am desperate:), which brand would you recommend that I try? In other words, which are the brands out there that consumers have not complained about?
many thanks and best of luck to all those trying to rid of body fur!
Topical “hair inhibitors” usually have an herbal ingredient which they claim has healing properties which have not been tested under accepted scientific conditions. Many hair inhibitors do not list exactly what herbal ingredients they contain, so it’s hard to say if there have been any safety tests.
Some herbal ingredients have been tested for safety when taken orally, but few have been tested for topical use.
All herbal topical hair inhibitors have complaints. The real trick is finding someone who hasn’t used one for a year who says it achieved the permanent results they often claim. I have not been able to verify any claims of permanent hair removal from consumers who have gone one year after final treatment with an herbal topical.
If you find a hair inhibitor which lists the “active ingredient” they claim causes this hair inhibition, I can tell you what the medical literature says about it.
When a salesperson makes a health claim about their product, there are two kinds of responses by consumers:
Hmm, sounds like that’s worth a try!
Where’s your proof of your claims?
These salespeople are literally banking on all the consumers who choose response #1. Should you send them $20 or $30 to find out if they’re lying, or should you keep your money until they prove their claims with reliable data?
I urge consumers to avoid this kind of quackery and to rely on legitimate data before handing over their hard-earned money. To date, these herbal topical hair inhibitors have not provided the kind of proof necessary to back up their claims.
Purely Anecdotal: I tried several different brands of these hair inhibitors. I really gave them a very fair try-out. I plucked all of the hair I wanted removed, used the products exactly as recommended, plucked again when it came back at the same rate, used the product again as recommended, and again, the hair came back exactly as before. No results!
The good news is I didn’t get any negative side-effects. No effects at all. Very disappointing!
anonymous, what brands exactly did you try? because if you tried one, and i must admit they’re not cheap, why would you bother buying any others? would you not think they all do the same thing? if i hadnt seen any type of slowing/inhibiting i would have just given up. also, how long did you give this test? it takes a while…and to do more than one brand, that would take forever just to see if they work.
Well, I don’t want to discourage you from trying, because I’m only one person! Maybe it’s worked for others! I don’t know.
But I tried Hair No More. The reason I tried again when it didn’t produce results was I noticed that another brand seemed to have different ingredients. I thought it might work differently because of the different ingredients. It was called Hair Stop. But it also had no effect on me. They both said something about using it for I think 10 days, twice a day, and then slowing down to “maintain results” - and I was like … what results? Maintain what results? 
So that’s all I can tell you! Just one person’s experience. One person’s experience is NOT science. I definitely hope it’ll work better for you. I really wish you luck!
Sorry for the double-post! But I thought about it and realized I wanted to add something to the post above.
If your perception is that these products have to be tried for several months before producing results, then I did NOT give them a fair try. In each case, I did the twice a day until it told me to slow down to once a day, and then did once a day only for a couple weeks. At that point when nothing had happened, I gave up each time. So MAYBE if it’s supposed to take much longer than that … then maybe I really didn’t give it a fair shake. OK, just wanted to add that!
These products have never been tested to find the most effective treatment parameters, so their instructions for use are basically pulled out of the air.
If I were a skeptical consumer advocate, I might say the instructions are designed to make you use up enough of their product or cause enough time to go by so that you void the “money-back guarantees” they often tout…
Oh wait, I am a skeptical consumer advocate! 
[ June 02, 2002, 06:14 PM: Message edited by: Andrea ]
hey…i know it sounds like im just advertising kalo all over. i’m not. i have yet to fully see permanent results…tho i have seen a thinning and slowing of growth. see anonymous, i’m not saying go out and buy kalo, but i would give one of the main brands you hear about on the internet a try. i dont know if UHA works or not. That was the other one i was going to try but kalo is working fine for me now. i’d never even heard of those others, that’s not saying much though. i’m pleased with kalo for now. thanks.