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Dec. 12--For Gillette, the cutting edge of hair removal no longer involves just razors and blades.
The Food and Drug Administration approved the first over-the-counter laser hair removal system, developed by the Boston grooming giant and Burlington company Palomar Medical Technologies Inc. Gillette, a unit of Procter & Gamble Co., is hoping to capitalize on the fast-growing $2.7 billion professional light hair removal market by introducing a device that will let women do their own laser treatments at home.
The allure? No more daily shaving, painful waxing, and irritating hair-removal creams. The laser ritual need only occur once a week or twice a month to get rid of hair -- whether it's under arms, on the legs, or along the bikini line. (The device isn't recommended for the face or scalp.)
"Do we expect this to ever eliminate shaving altogether?" said P&G spokeswoman Kelly F. Vanasse. "The answer is it's too soon to tell."
Gillette and Palomar executives are not saying when the product will be on the market, or how much it will cost, but the FDA approval opens the door for other in-home light cosmetic procedures, including wrinkle removal and cellulite treatments. Light-based hair removal works by emitting pulses of intense light into the hair follicles. The light is absorbed by the pigment in the follicles and converted to heat, which disables the cells responsible for growing new hair.
Professional laser hair removal treatments, which can be permanent, currently cost several thousand dollars. The proposed home device is not as intense as the professional version and would require periodic treatments to maintain hairlessness. Moreover, the product will have a disposable feature that will continue to generate revenue after consumers purchase the device -- similar to the way razors need new blades.
In 2005, blades and razors made up about 84 percent of the shaving and hair removal market; depilatories, or chemical-based creams, accounted for about 7 percent; and other grooming supplies, such as scissors and tweezers, made up about 9 percent, according to research firm MarketResearch.com Inc.
"This will be a big change in how people manage their hair growth at home," Palomar chief executive Joseph Caruso said yesterday. "This will be the best choice they will have. There's really nothing like it."
Palomar shares yesterday rose 11 percent, or $5.39, to $55.35 on the news.
Palomar also has existing agreements with healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson to develop over-the-counter light technology to treat cellulite, reduce the appearance of wrinkles, and reduce or prevent acne.
The home laser treatment will be revolutionary but unlikely to unseat razors and blades anytime soon, said analyst William Chappell of Sun Trust Robinson Humphrey -- in the same way that laser technology to repair vision has not made eyeglasses and contact lenses obsolete.
"This will make a dent and allow Gillette to target a high end of the market," Chappell said.
Laser hair removal, which was commercialized in the mid-1990s, generated more than $2 billion in revenues last year from more than 12 million light-based hair removal treatments. This is exceeded only by waxing, which brought in over $4 billion through more than 133 million treatments, according to market research firm Medical Insight Inc.
For Gillette, the focus will first be on women, who make up about 70 percent of the light hair removal market. Globally, the female hair removal market is valued at about $10 billion, and women make up the fastest growing segment in Gillette's razor and blades division, Vanasse said.
Gillette has the option to work with Palomar to create a male version that would target men's hair, which grows at different rates and thickness than women's hair.
Now that the FDA has given the green light for the female device, Gillette will make a $2.5 million development payment to Palomar, as part of a collaborative agreement signed in 2003 before P&G bought the Boston grooming company. A California company, SpectraGenics Inc., is also trying to develop a similar over-the-counter hair removal device.
Over the next 12 months, Gillette is likely to undertake limited launches of the device to see if the product is marketable, according to Alexander Arrow, of Lazard Capital Markets in New York.
"Gillette needs to ascertain the public's reaction to differing shapes, colors, price points, and marketing packages. It will likely test this in limited geographic regions until December 2007, at which point it faces another decision -- whether to proceed with a full national launch," Arrow wrote in a report yesterday.
Michael Moretti, president of Medical Insight, said the appeal and adoption of the product will largely depend on price.
"This approval is an incredible milestone," Moretti said of the FDA action.
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