Some women have dark hair above the lip or under the chin that they wax, tweeze or thread every few weeks. While unwanted hair is a common complaint, if it becomes a thick beard that covers a woman's face, it could signal a serious condition such as polycystic ovary disease, and she should see an endocrinologist immediately, Dr. Perry says.

For those women who want to remove the hair permanently, Dr. Perry says laser hair removal is the best solution—but it may not work for people with very light hair or very dark skin. "The laser is just a tool, and it needs to see dark hair, and it does it best by looking at a contrast between the dark hair and light skin," he says. "If the hairs turn white, I can't get it with a laser, and that is when we go to electrolysis."

Depilatories physically dissolve hair, and while Dr. Perry says they work, they must be repeated frequently and are known irritants to many people's skin.