"It was the face of a handsome brunette just verging into womanhood."

The history of electrolysis has its origins in the 19th century, as evidenced by an article that ran in the September 20, 1885 Brooklyn Daily Eagle. An excerpt:

“It was the face of a handsome brunette just verging into womanhood. On her upper lip and slightly shading its scarlet hue, grew a dark, silken mustache that on a dude would have been cherished and cultivated as the choicest treasure on earth. Her head rested in a metal plate connected by a wire with a galvanic battery on the table. The doctor took up from the table at his elbow something that looked like an ebony pen staff. This also was connected with the battery. In the end was a very fine gold plated needle. The doctor looked cautiously over the young lady’s dainty little mustache, and at length, singling out a hair, inserted the point of the needle down by the hair bulb and, pressing a little spring in the handle, turned on the current from the battery.

"The doctor looked cautiously over the young lady's dainty little mustache."

When the electric current ran down the point of the little needle the young lady winced and clenched her hands, while the tears came to her eyes. This lasted only for a moment, for as soon as a little froth appeared around the needle it was removed and the hair dropped out. After forcing out about a dozen of the hairs on each side of the lip the doctor stopped. The young lady removed her head from the metal plate, wiped her face with a scented pocket handkerchief and tripped gayly to the mirror. She took a long glance of intense satisfaction and gleefully remarked that they would soon all be gone. Then she put on her hat and left, after having made an appointment for another sitting.

‘So you remove mustaches from young ladies who are unfortunate enough to have such hirsute adornments?’ remarked the reporter. ‘Will you tell me how it is done?’

‘The operation is not very new,’ was the reply. ‘It has been known and practiced for several years, especially in the East. The electric current decomposes the salt in the skin into acid, which goes to the metal plate and alkali, which accumulates around the needle and destroys the hair bulb so that the hair can never reappear. This method is also very useful in removing the ugly bristles that grow in moles, for the hairs are then large in size and few in number. It is only necessary to spend a few seconds on each hair, and but a few minutes on a dozen, after which a rest of several days is taken to allow the inflammation to disappear before undertaking any more.'”