16 AMAZING HOME REMEDIES FOR UNWANTED HAIR REMOVAL

Unwanted hair is a cause of embarrassment for many. While you need to get rid of unwanted hair at hidden places like armpits for hygienic purposes and to get rid of body odor, the hair on your face, hands, legs etc. does not pose any risk to your health. But yes, these unwanted hair can be removed so that you feel confident enough to face people. Clean and clear skin is a dream of everyone and you are no exception. So, if you have decided to get rid of your unwanted hair and are researching about various techniques like laser, electrolysis, permanent waxing etc. you must try certain home remedies for hair removal for some days. You may succeed in saving a lots of money and getting rid of unwanted hair removal in an easy and cheap way.

Home Remedies for Unwanted Hair Removal

1. Raw Papaya Remedy for Unwanted Hair Removal

Papain is one of the active enzymes in papaya. It is capable of breaking down hair follicle and prohibit the growth of hair. Not only this makes your fine hair less noticeable but it also naturally exfoliate your skin to give it an inproved texture. Papaya is most suitable for sensitive skin. Thus, use raw papaya in one of these two ways to get rid of your unwanted hair permanently.

1st way of using raw papaya for unwanted hair removal

Get this:
• Raw papaya paste- 1-2 tablespoons
• Turmeric powder- ½ tsp

Do this:
• Make papaya paste by peeling and grinding raw papaya pieces.
• Mix turmeric powder with this raw papaya paste.
• Massage your face with this paste for about 15 minutes.
• Wash off with water.
• Do this once or twice a week.

2nd way of using raw papaya for unwanted hair removal

Get this:
• Papaya powder- ¼ tablespoon OR Papaya paste- 1 tablespoon
• Turmeric powder- ¼ tablespoon
• Gram flour- ¼ tablespoon
• Aloe vera gel- 4 tablespoons
• Mustard oil- 2 tablespoons
• Essential oil (optional- lavender or any other)- 2 drops

Do this:
• Combine all the ingredients and mix well to get a thick paste.
• Apply this paste to your body part in opposite direction of hair growth.
• Leave it for 15-20 minutes or till it dries off.
• Take a clean cloth and rub in the opposite direction of hair growth.
• When all of the paste has been removed in this way, wash off with water and pat dry.
• Take a few drops of olive oil, moisturizer or baby oil and massage the skin with this.
• Repeat this thrice a week and continue for at least 3 months.

2. Turmeric for Unwanted Hair Removal

Turmeric has been used for ages in India for healthy clean glowing skin. This is because along with its antibacterial and anti inflammatory properties, turmeric also has this quality of preventing hair growth. While turmeric is used with many ingredients to remove unwanted hair, this is a simple remedy where turmeric can just be used with water or milk.

Get this:
• Turmeric- 1-2 tsp (or enough to cover your body area with hair)
• Water or milk- enough to make paste.

Do this:
• Soak turmeric powder in water or milk to make a paste which is not too tight but which can stay on your face.
• Apply this to your face.
• Leave for 15-20 minutes or till it dries up.
• Wash off with warm water.

However, this remedy is for those who have very little hair on face or other body parts. If you have denser hair, turmeric has to be used with some other ingredients like gram flour, rice flour or ground oats along with milk.

3. Chickpea Flour Mask for Unwanted Hair Removal

Chickpea flour, also known as gramflour and garbanzo beans flour, has been used traditionally in the Indian subcontinent for removing and preventing growth of unwanted body hair. Mothers use gramflour mixed with turmeric and water or milk on small babies’ face, hands and legs so that their skin remains soft, clean and hair free. You may also try this remedy for removing your unwanted hair.

Get this:
• Chickpea flour- ½ bowl
• Milk- ½ bowl
• Turmeric powder- 1 tsp
• Fresh cream- 1 tsp (omit this if you have oily skin)

Do this:
• Take the chickpea flour in a bowl.
• Add turmeric, milk and fresh cream to this and mix well to make a smooth paste.
• Apply this paste on your face in the direction of your hair growth.
• Ensure you have all your hair covered.
• Leave it for about half an hour.
• After 30 minutes, start rubbing the flour mask with gentle hand in the opposite direction of your hair growth.
• If the paste has dried a lot, you may wet your fingers a little to rub your face.
• Afterwards, wash off your face with lukewarm water.

4. Sugar-Lemon Mix to Remove Unwanted Hair on Face

When you mix sugar with water, it acts as an excellent exfoliate due to its granular texture. Lemon juice in this mixture acts as an astringent. Lemon juice is also a natural bleach which lightens the color of your facial hair.

Get this:
• Sugar- 2 tablespoons
• Fresh lemon juice- 2 teaspoons
• Water- 10 tablespoons

Do this:
• Mix sugar, lemon juice and water.
• Sugar will dissolve, though not fully, in the water. There will be granular effect of sugar.
• Apply this to your face in the direction of hair growth.
• Leave for 15-20 minutes.
• Wash off with water while rubbing gently.
• Do this twice or thrice a week. After few weeks, you will see noticeable reduction in hair on your face.

5. Sugar-Lemon-Honey Mix to Remove Unwanted Hair on Arms, Legs

While sugar and lemon juice mixed with water can act as a good remedy for facial hair removal, the same sugar and lemon juice when mixed with honey can act as a good homemade wax like ingredient to remove unwanted hair from your other body parts like arms and legs. Rapidhomeremedies.com However, this can be a little painful process just like waxing done in a parlor because sugar mixed with honey acts as a sticky paste that is used to pluck the hair.

Get this:
• Sugar- 1 tablespoon
• Honey- 1 tsp
• Lemon juice- 1 tsp
• Cornstarch or plain flour – 1-2 tsp
• Strip of cloth OR Waxing strip
• Vessel (to heat)- 1
• Waxing spatula or a butter knife
• Water (optional)- if needed to make the paste a little thinner

Do this:
• Add honey and lemon juice with sugar and put them in the vessel.
• Heat the mixture to get a smooth paste. You may also use microwave oven for the purpose. If using microwave, heat it for about 3 minutes.
• If you see that the paste is getting too thick, use a little water too.
• Now let the mixture cool down to a temperature where it is still a little warm.
• Dust your body part having unwanted hair with some cornstarch or plain flour.
• Using the waxing spatula or butter knife, spread a thin layer of this warm mixture on your body part. Do this in the direction of the hair growth.
• Now immediately, cover the area with the cloth strip or waxing strip, press to stick it to the paste and pull in the opposite direction of the hair growth.

This is a painful process to remove unwanted hair but is a natural one. If you want painless remedy, use chickpea flour remedy for removing hair, given earlier in this article.

Image Credit: Flickr by ryumu

6. Egg Mask for Removal of Unwanted Facial Hair

When it comes to stickiness, egg white is no less then sugar-honey. Egg white too dries off and sticks to your face and when you pull it, this mask will come up with hair on your face.

Get this:
• Egg white- of 1 egg
• Sugar- 1 tablespoon
• Cornflour- ½ tablespoon

Do this:
• Add sugar and cornflour with egg white.
• Beat till you get a smooth paste.
• Apply this egg mask to your face and let it dry.
• Once dried, it will become a thin mask attached to your face.
• Pull this egg mask with firm hand so that the hair too comes off with it. Watch though, pulling firmly doesn’t mean hurting yourself!

7. White Pepper- Camphor for Unwanted Hair Removal from Legs

As pepper and camphor both are strong and may have a burning sensation when applied on sensitive skin, this remedy is strictly for removing hair from legs. Some people recommend kerosene oil to be mixed with this mixture of camphor and pepper but it is a total no-no for at least two reasons. One, kerosene is highly inflammable and you may accidentally catch fire even form a little spark! Second, kerosene can damage your skin beyond repair! If you need, you can use almond oil but that’s totally optional.

Get this:
• White pepper- 2 tablespoons
• Camphor- 2 tablespoons
• Almond oil- few drops

Do this:
• Grind the white pepper to get its fine powder.
• Mix the ground white pepper with camphor.
• Add almond oil and mix well.
• Apply this paste on legs.
• Leave for 10-15 minutes.
• Wash off the paste.
• If you try to see carefully, your hair on legs will fall off with the paste.

8. Potato-Lentil Ayurvedic Remedy for Unwanted Hair Removal

Potato is a natural bleaching agent. When mixed with yellow lentil or moong daal as it is called in India, potato juice not only makes your hair light in color but also works with dried lentil paste in pulling hair off face. This is a natural Ayurvedic way of removing unwanted hair from face, legs and hands.

Get this:
• Potato (peeled and crushed)- 1 bowl
• Yellow lentil – 1 bowl
• Honey- 1 tbsp
• Lemon juice- 4 tbsp
• 1 sieve or thin cloth to filter juice

Do this:
• Soak the yellow lentil in water overnight.
• In the morning, ground the lentil to get its paste.
• Take the peeled and crushed potatoes and place onto the sieve. Press with hands or a spoon to extract its juice. You can also use a cloth to extract potato juice.
• Add honey, lemon, and potato juice to yellow lentil paste and mix well.
• Apply this paste on face, hands, and legs, wherever you want your hair to go away.
• Leave it for 15-20 minutes or till the time it dries off.
• Once it dries, remove the paste by rubbing it with fingers. The dry lentil paste will pull off the hair with it.

9. Banana- Oatmeal Scrub for Unwanted Hair Removal

If your skin is dry, banana is one of the best ingredients that can be used for removing hair for you. Banana leaves your skin soft and supple. But just banana is not enough for removing hair. You need to mix it with something which is a little rough on skin to exfoliate it. However, this roughness should not harm your delicate skin. Oatmeal is the perfect thing to use then. It is also a great natural cleanser for skin.

Get this:
• Ripe banana- 1
• Oatmeal- 1-2 tsp

Do this:
• Mash the banana.
• Add oatmeal to it.
• Apply this paste to face rubbing in circular motion.
• Do this for about 15 minutes.
• Wash off with water.
• Repeat this twice a week.

10. Sugar-Molasses Homemade Wax for Unwanted Hair Removal

You have seen earlier that sugar combined with lemon and honey can be used to make a depilatory wax for removing unwanted hair. Sugar can also be used with molasses or dark corn syrup for the same purpose.

Get this:
• Sugar- 1 cup
• Molasses OR Dark corn syrup – enough to top the sugar.
• Lemon juice- from half a lemon

Do this:
• Place sugar in a microwave safe bowl or a vessel.
• Top this with a drizzle of molasses or dark corn syrup, whatever you are using.
• Let it sit for a couple of minutes.
• Microwave for 2-3 minutes or heat it up to dissolve the sugar.
• Now add the lemon juice to the mixture. Stir well.
• If you see the mixture needs to blend more, microwave or heat for another 2-3 minutes.
• Let it cool for sometime. However, it should be warm and not cold before you apply this to your hair for removing.
• Apply the warm mixture to your hair on hands and legs. Use a strip of cloth or waxing strip to pull off the hair.

11. Alum-Rosewater Remedy for Removing Unwanted Hair

Here is something which is traditionally used by the women of India and Pakistan to resolve the menace of unwanted hair. This is alum and rosewater. Alum can be found as a rock of alum or in powdered form. This remedy uses alum powder. You can even ground rock alum to get this powder.

Get this:
• Alum powder- ½ tsp
• Rose water- 2-3 tablespoon
• Cotton ball
• Olive oil or sesame oil- few drops

Do this:
• Add rosewater to alum powder
• With the help of a spoon, dissolve the powder into the rosewater, as much as you can.
• Now take the cotton ball and dip it in this water.
• Apply this rosewater mixed with alum powder on the body parts with unwanted hair.
• Let it sit there and when it dries off, apply again.
• Repeat this for about 50-60 minutes. However, if your skin is sensitive, don’t do it more than 15 minutes.
• Wash off and dab some olive oil or sesame oil to moisturize the area.
• Repeat this 2-4 times a week.

12. Basil-Onion Paste for Unwanted Hair Removal

Did you know that onion not only makes your dishes tasty but also can remove your unwanted hair when applied with basil leaves! However, you need to do a little exercise and find out the thin transparent membranes that lie between the layers of onion.

Get this:
• Basil leaves- 10-12
• Onions- 2

Do this:
• Take out the thin transparent membranes from between the onion layers.
• Now crush the basil leaves along with the onion membranes to get a paste.
• Apply this paste on your unwanted hair.
• Leave for 15-20 minutes.
• Wash off with water.
• Repeat this 3-4 times a week for a month or two to remove your unwanted hair.

13. Thanaka- Safflower Remedy for Unwanted Hair Removal

Thanaka is a tree whose bark is converted into a powder and used in Myanmar for cosmetic purposes. Thanaka powder is yellowish white in color and when mixed with safflower oil, you can hope to get rid of your unwanted hair permanently.

Get this:
• Thanaka powder- enough to cover your hair ridden skin
• Safflower oil- enough to make paste

Do this:
• Mix safflower oil with thanaka powder to get a paste.
• Apply this to your unwanted hair at night before going to bed.
• Leave it overnight.
• Wash off with water in the morning.
• Use regularly for about 3 months to get results.

14. Have Spearmint Tea to Prevent Unwanted Hair Growth

Appearance of unwanted hair may be, sometimes, a result of excessive production of the hormone androgen. This is called ‘Hirsutism,’ which refers to having excessive hair on the face, especially in women. It is the result of hormonal imbalance which occurs due to increased level of androgens and testosterone, the male hormones, or because of over-sensitivity of hair follicles to androgens. Spearmint herb is known to regulate hormones. So, you may consider having spearmint tea to bring down your androgens to an optimum levels.

Get this:
• Fresh spearmint leaves- 5-6 OR Dried spearmint- 1 tsp
• Boiling water- 1 cup

Do this:
• Place spearmint leaves or the dried herb in a pot.
• Pour hot water over it.
• Cover and steep for 5 minutes.
• Strain and drink the tea.
• A cup or two of spearmint tea are enough.

15. Have Blackstrap Molasses to Prevent Growth of Unwanted Hair

If you are a woman with PCOS and unwanted hair on face, breast or stomach, you may consider having blackstrap molasses. Deficiency of certain minerals in women leads to some or the other kind of hair related problem. This means you may lose hair on the scalp or have unwanted hair on various body parts. Blackstrap molasses is high on iron and minerals that will help you do away with the lack of required minerals. This, in turn, means that the growth of hair at unwanted places will first slow down and gradually stop over time. Even if you don’t have PCOS, you may try having two heaped teaspoons of blackstrap molasses everyday to get rid of your unwanted hair.

Precaution: If you are diabetic or are having prescribed iron supplements, its better to talk to your doctor before you start having blackstrap molasses.

16. Have Foods Rich in Phytoestrogens for Unwanted Hair Removal

When male hormones androgens and testosterone increase in women, the female hormone oestrogen level may go down. This hormonal imbalance causes hair to grow where they should not. You can neutralize this effect by having such foods that are rich in phytoestrogen. Phytoestrogen is a plant hormone similar to human female hormone, oestrogen. Thus, foods high on phytoestrogen may help reduce unwanted hair growth.

List of foods rich in phytoestrogen

• Soy and soy products like tofu and soy milk.
• Flaxseed
• Fennel herb and seeds
• Alfalfa
• Licorice
• Gotu kala or Brahmi herb

Thus, include these foods in your daily menu. You may have herbal teas made of the above herbs like licorice, fennel and brahmi. You may use flaxseed powder by adding it to your gravies, yogurts etc. Chew fennel seeds after meals and have soy products frequently.

Just remember, any home remedy for hair removal takes time to show results. So, have patience while using these home remedies for unwanted hair removal.