Tweeze It Wax It Bleach It Zap It

Facial hair. Its awful, its embarrassing, its part of getting older. Whether its because of genetics, menopause or other hormonal issues like polycystic ovarian syndrome, most women will experience facial hair at some point in their lives (boo!). Fortunately for us though, its something that's easy to get rid of (yay!). Isn't it nice when outsmarting Mother Nature isn't exhausting?

Tweezing The easiest and simplest way by far, this method is best for those few stray facial hairs. Plucking is also cheap -- chances are you have a pair of tweezers in your medicine cabinet for in-between eyebrow waxes. Though it can be a wee bit painful, tweezing removes hair at the root so re-growth takes longer to appear. (Note: Shell out the extra 10 bucks for a pair of solid tweezers [We like Tweezerman.] The cheapo ones really don't work.)

Waxing Also relatively inexpensive, waxing is probably the most popular form of hair removal. You can do this at the salon or at home. (We, personally, have had some comically horrible at-home waxing experiences and are sticking to the salon for all waxing!) If you decide to brave it yourself, make sure to buy a wax specifically designed for facial hair. The usual protocol for at-home wax kits is to simply microwave the jar of wax, apply it to the area with a wooden spatula, spread a cotton strip over the wax, brace yourself, then pull. This method is effective, but it takes patience.

Bleaching This technique is predominantly used on the upper lip area. Also, know that bleaching will not get rid of hair, it will only lighten it to make it less noticeable. Again, you can do this at-home. Bleaching creams are easily accessible -- you can probably find them at your local supermarket. We know you're impatient, but do yourself a favor and do a patch test first to see if it irritates your skin (like the instructions say!). A bright red upper lip will be far more embarrassing than a few fine hairs.An added bonus to bleaching is, over time, it will weaken the hair and cause it to break off.(Note: This is not the same thing as depilatory creams, which we've intentionally left out. Depilatory creams not only are extremely old-school, with their perm-like smell, but they're only effective -- if at all -- for a few days at most.)