Why Women Are Microwaving Their Underarms
Let’s be real here for a minute: Shaving your underarms sucks. The hair goes in different directions, occasional ingrowns are almost a given and the stubble is uncomfortable. But what’s a sleeveless-loving lady to do? You can DEF just embrace the hair (and maybe even dye it?!), you could be brave enough to get it waxed OR you could get it microwaved (yes, you read that right).
The new technology, which was created by miraDry, reduces the growth of underarm hair using microwave rays (yup, just like the ones you use to reheat that morning coffee). While MiraDry has already been using this technology (which they’ve aptly named miraSmooth) to help people with excessive sweating, the company has only recently been given permission from the FDA to start using this for hair removal purposes.
The process is a bit more intense than something like laser hair removal. Doctors run a microwaving machine (that looks a lot like a grocery store scanning gun) back and forth across the hair of your armpits and the area is numbed via local anesthesia. The procedure takes about 40 minutes and you can typically return to work immediately after, but expect some soreness to happen in the following days.
MiraSmooth is reportedly different from laser removal because it can be used with all different hair colors, regardless of a person’s skin tone. Laser removal typically only works well on people with light skin and dark hair.
While miraDry claims the microwave rays are safe on skin (they’ve already performed over 40,000 procedures), there is no long-term information or data to confirm that this application won’t do any damage in years to come. It should also be mentioned that this technology claims to reduce hair growth by up to 70%, so shaving won’t be off the table entirely.
If you’re prone to excess sweating and some super hairy underarms then this may be worth considering, but if you’re just looking for a quick fix, it may be better (and much cheaper) to wax or stay on that shaving train.
Would you ever try this new beauty trend? Share with us in the comments below.
(Photos via @peaumontreal and @mollyluise)
