New York Times piece on hair removal

I’m quoted in today’s New York Times about hair removal for teenagers.

Skin Deep: Zapping Teenage Torment

Anna Jane Grossman

June 5, 2008

Laser hair removal, some say, should be a last resort. “I suggest kids first try bleaching, waxing or shaving or plucking,” said Andrea James, who for six years has run HairTell.com, a site about hair removal. Most people in the forum reported positive results; more than six who posted said they had experienced second- and third-degree burns.

It would obviously be great if people didn’t make fun of other people because of the amount of hair they have, or any other physical characteristic. But that’s not how it works, especially for teenagers. If it can boost someone’s self-esteem during that critical period of socialization, I do not see the harm in a cosmetic procedure that can vastly improve one’s social standing and self-esteem. Ask anyone whose nickname was “unibrow” or “mustache girl” or “sasquatch” or “missing link” in school, and they will tell you something different than those whose facial or body hair was not a standout characteristic.

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