Back hair in children

Pronounced back hair is not normal in children. Due to misregulation of the hormonal balance, premature and excessive production of sex hormones can occur, so that the child enters early puberty.In this case, however, other symptoms would also appear, such as early breast growth (thelarche), pubic hair (pubarche), onset of menstruation (menarche) and growth spurts. However, hair growth on the back would occur in the case of an overproduction of male sex hormones (testosterone) – consequently, an affected girl shows no signs of premature “female development”.

Another reason may be the lack of lanugo hair in newborns. These are the hairs that grow intrauterine (in the uterus) on the child’s skin. These usually disappear before birth and are replaced by the vellus hair (the vellus hair remains until about puberty) in the course of the next period.

The presence of lanugo hair after birth is called hypertrichosis lanuginosa. It cannot be ruled out in children before puberty that it is a basic (genetically determined) increased hair growth, which also shows on the back. Depending on the region and culture, different ideas of what is normal dominate here as well.

Hair Removal

One method of removal that can be used alone at home is shaving the back hairs. Today, special shavers are available on the Internet, which include an arm extension, or even arm extensions to buy individually, so that the user can reach all relevant areas of the back without outside help. However, this method is not permanent.

Over a few weeks the back hairs normally grow back again. In addition, an epilator can be used. Here the hairs are not cut off, but torn out with root.

With this method, the user remains hairless at the corresponding part of the body, usually for several weeks. Furthermore, depilatory creams can also be used. This is a cream that contains alkaline components that “dissolve” the hair on the skin.

This method leads to hairlessness for about 1-2 weeks. Cold wax strips are often also used. These are stuck on the skin and pressed firmly and then torn off with a jerk – the hairs are torn out in the process.

For professional removal, the laser or wax method is the best choice. With the wax method, hot wax is applied to the back and torn off after it has hardened (including hair). With ideal application, the hot wax method must be used again only after one month.