Hair consists of four main parts:

• Follicle - the hair canal,
• Papilla - the organ that feeds hair growth,
• Sebaceous Gland - the associated oil gland,
• Hair - shaft or structure which has hardened - keratinized.

Facts:

• Hair grows an average a half millimeter a day.
• Hair grows faster during the day than at night.
• Hair on the neck grows parallel to the skin.

Before you start removing your hair, it's a good idea to get to know your enemy. Here's a drawing of a hair follicle:

The cells your aiming to kill are just near the base of the follicle, in the matrix. The tip of your probe should ideally end up between the internal and external root sheaths, where it's nice and moist.

A hair follicle is an indention in the skin. The inside of each follicle therefore is much like the skin's surface being an inward fold into the skin with a mechanism for producing a hair.

The lower portion of the follicle has an expanded shape and is called the follicle bulb where there is an area of actively dividing cells called the hair matrix.

This is the source of hair production. The follicle and the hair it produces continue through repeated cycles of growth and rest.

Papilla. At the base of the follicle lies a tiny structure made of skin-related cells called the dermal papilla which feeds the newly formed hair cells from its blood supply.

These newly formed hair cells grow continuously and die continuously, forming a hardened or keratinized structure - the hair shaft. The hair shaft continues to grow outward from the follicle base.

Sebaceous gland. The sebaceous glands or oil glands are located close beneath the surface of the skin over the entire body.

There are a large number concentrated in the facial area. The oily material secreted is called sebum.

Sebum lubricates the hair shaft and the skin.

Hair. The papillary region is often referred to as the "hair root," the portion which grows below the surface of the skin which is contained within the follicle canal.

Hair shaft is the portion of the hair that grows above the skin surface.

Generally speaking, three types of hair are produced by the follicle:

• Lanugo: the fine hair that covers nearly the entire body of embryos
• Vellus hair: the short, fine, "peach fuzz" body hair that grows in most places on the human body in both sexes
• Terminal hair: the fully developed hair, which is generally longer, coarser, thicker, and darker than vellus hair. It grows from the scalp, eyebrows, underarms, pubic area, and other parts of the body.

It is terminal hair which many people regard as unwanted and therefore try to remove from certain body areas.

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