Sleek, Smooth Summer Beauty

Warm-weather fashions make smooth, sleek skin essential from head to toe-and the first step to achieving that radiant look is to remove unwanted hair.

Among the most popular ways to de-fuzz and de-fluff: waxing, sugaring and shaving. All, as you'll see, have their plusses and minuses.

Of the three, waxing is the longest-lasting temporary hair removal technique, with results that last two to eight weeks, but the process-applying warm wax to pull hair out from the roots-can be extremely painful. And while it's one of the most popular solutions for removing hair on the upper lip and side of the face, it's not recommended for the chin area.

Sugaring, a somewhat less known (and less painful) alternative, involves using slightly warmed sugar applied only to the hairs themselves and not the roots. And shaving, of course, needs no explanation.

But the 22 million women who remove unwanted facial hair have found that removing hair on the face is not as easy as the rest of their body. Olympic gold-medal swimmer Janet Evans, known for her athletic prowess and good looks, was one of them until she minimized the problem by using Vaniqa, the first and only prescription product clinically proven to slow down unwanted facial hair growth in women.

"I wish I had known about an easy solution to the problem," said Evans. "Having been a swimmer, removing body hair was an expectation, but facial hair was another story."

The topical cream slows hair growth to make getting rid of facial hair easier. And when used in conjunction with standard hair removal procedures, it not only minimizes the appearance of unwanted facial hair, but can significantly cut down the number of times you have to address the problem. It may take several weeks to see improvements, but at about a dollar a day, it's worth the wait.

Why not just tweeze? Well, they may be fine for eyebrows, but-given the chance of ingrown hairs developing-tweezers are a definite no-no when it comes to facial hair. And as for yet another alternative-the more extreme electrolysis-it's both time-consuming and costly.

For the best results, Vaniqa should be used in conjunction with standard hair removal procedures such as plucking, shaving, waxing, electrolysis or laser. If no improvement is seen after six months of use, discontinue use.