Electrolysis timetables

[NerissaGrace]

One of the most consistent pieces of advice I've seen here and in the many online and print guides I've been reading is that one should begin electrolysis as soon as possible in the transition process. As I understand it, the common opinion is that it takes much longer to complete beard removal than people anticipate, and it is one of the most direct gender markers. I have a couple of questions as a result:

1. How noticeable was it to those around you when you began or completed beard removal? Did others remark on the fact that you no longer had a five o'clock shadow at the end of the work day? I do not anticipate I would come out at work until much further in the transitioning process so any guidance you could offer would be helpful here.

2. For body electrolysis, did you opt for laser or traditional (galvanic/other) electrolysis? How long did this take and how expensive was it relative to beard removal?

Thanks for any wisdom you can impart. I am so new to this and have so many questions.

Nerissa Grace

[Rachel]

Hi, I delayed in hair removal and started at the 16 month mark of HRT.

I should have started sooner on the face and later on the body.

My face has a lot of gray and red hair. So I did 3 sessions of laser which got rid of my black beard hairs. I am having my 2nd electrolysis session today (1.5 hours) of mixed galvanic and thermolysis. I probably need 200 hours, I am guessing. So it may take 2 to 3 years.

My body had little dark hair and now I do not have any. So that saved a lot of time, money and pain.

No one will notice the loss of hair on your face. You will be self conscious but no one will notice.

I hope this helps.

[ImagineKate]

I started about 3 months before officially starting HRT.

I was told about 1-2 years.

People do notice. One of my coworkers asked me about it and I told him basically MYOB. He's also looking at my chest, and I have the "I'm up here dude, not down there" convo pretty often. I want to report him to HR because he's not listening to me. Last week he came up and asked questions about work... He said "ok I was just curious." But he was staring at my chest. I asked him,"anything else you curious about, buddy?" He just laughed and said no and walked away.

Anyway he asked if I removed my mustache. I said basically why is he asking such a silly question. He is making me very uncomfortable now.

[Zumbagirl]

I started with electrolysis. It was very expensive but an ongoing expense. All told it was about 3 years start to finish. It took me about 120 hours of electrolysis before I could stop shaving forever. In those days it was electrolysis every week. So I would get electrolysis and whatever grew back was zapped the next week. Eventually it was every 2 weeks. At the end it was once a month. Near the end it was starting to become impossible to find hairs. The electrologist needed a separate light source and the hairs were fine but long.

Not all hairs are actively growing, some are dormant or were on the verge of dying off anyways so it takes patience. No one at worked noticed a thing about the electrolysis only that I was starting to become younger looking, which I attribute more to the hair removal than to hormones.

My electrologist recommended a 2 phase approach. Get to an initial clearing using flash/thermolysis. This is the technique that requires only a few seconds per hair. After that I switch to blend which is about 10 seconds per hair, so it's a lot slower but extremely effective.

I did do other areas of my body but it was always face first and then if time was left over then other areas. My favorite area that I am happy to have done was my underarms. Once the hairs are removed, the pores close up more and there is less sweat. After I had been on hormones for a while I also wanted those few pesky hairs on my breasts so that they would be nice and soft and smooth.

All told I would be taking a wild guess but I am guessing that I invested probably 300-400 hours in electrolysis treatments.

[FrancisAnn]

I would suggest to work on your face, some of those hairs are the most stubborn, upper lip area....... Concentrate & remove every one if possible.

Your body? Over time with normal HRT all those hairs will dissapear or at least they have with my situation.

Go for it early GF. Nothing is worse than nasty facial hair to ruin your day.

[islandgirl]

Sure want to have this done too but I would need to take out a mortgage to have it done here. I was shocked at the cost! I know I will need to get it done sometime, at least my face, but.......

[rosinstraya]

I started about 3 months before officially starting HRT.

I was told about 1-2 years.

People do notice. One of my coworkers asked me about it and I told him basically MYOB. He's also looking at my chest, and I have the "I'm up here dude, not down there" convo pretty often. I want to report him to HR because he's not listening to me. Last week he came up and asked questions about work... He said "ok I was just curious." But he was staring at my chest. I asked him,"anything else you curious about, buddy?" He just laughed and said no and walked away.

Anyway he asked if I removed my mustache. I said basically why is he asking such a silly question. He is making me very uncomfortable now.

What a sleaze!?!

[NerissaGrace]

Thank you for the feedback.  Of all the steps in transitioning, coming out at work would be my greatest concern. I think I would want to be pretty far along with electrolysis and HRT at that point, but it's hard to know when those changes would be visibly undeniable to coworkers. It sounds like electrolysis would be the place to start before considering HRT...or were your experiences different?

[Zumbagirl]

Thank you for the feedback.  Of all the steps in transitioning, coming out at work would be my greatest concern. I think I would want to be pretty far along with electrolysis and HRT at that point, but it's hard to know when those changes would be visibly undeniable to coworkers. It sounds like electrolysis would be the place to start before considering HRT...or were your experiences different?

I think a lot of people that I have seen here underestimate the time that needs to be invested into electrolysis especially facial hair removal. Once you get into electrolysis seriously and been doing it for a while, you will understand where I am coming from. I myself was not a very hairy person either. In fact I was very "unhairy" if there is such a word. Still it took a long time. Not all hairs are going to be active or growing. There are lots of dormant ones still in the skin waiting to poke out. I invested about 120 hours of time into electrolysis when I finally went full time. Why did I do that? In the event that I found myself in a hostile work environment or out of a job. I at least wanted to be at an initial clearing where all the nasty visible hairs had been treated. I also wanted to be able to safely live full time while being able to complete what I started. I started at 2 hours a week and then changed to marathon 4 hour sessions 3 times a week to get it all done as quickly as possible.

The hormones from I what have experienced on myself do actually have an effect on facial hair but it takes years and the difference is not that much. Personally as an "agent of change" I believe that hormones are way over rated,

[Kristyn74]

Ok so we've got around 120 hrs but what was the average cost?

[Zumbagirl]

Ok so we've got around 120 hrs but what was the average cost?

I have no idea of what electrolysis costs these days. I started my electrolysis about 16 years ago and it was running me around $50/hour back then. My guess is it costs more today. I would also assume that it depends on where one lives.

A good alternative that some people have tried is to be the guinea pig at an electrology or cosmetology school. Maybe with a few phone calls there might be some place to try and to be the live practice dummy for the students usually means a deep discount on the treatments. All it takes is picking up the phone and asking. In my area there are probably 5 such schools in a short drive.

[ImagineKate]

I pay $75/hour, but that's NYC prices.

If you want to go somewhere like E3K it will obviously cost more, but some say it's worth it.

[Jenelle]

I have my first appointment next week so can't answer the initial questions but the cost for my area is $90 an hour

[Shodan]

The one that I want to go to is $80/hour, and the one I was going to go to in Oregon was $75. This seems to be about average from what I've seen, but your mileage may vary.

[Rachel]

$105 for combined galvanic and thermolisis. I am covered by insurance for the one I am going to now out of network. Friday my insurance trans contact e-mailed a provider in network (only one available). So a visit would go from $30 out of network to $15 in network, my cost.

[Jenelle]

That is awesome Cynthia your insurance covers electroylsis!  Mine will cover HRT, therapy and GPS but no hair removal.

[Rachel]

It is Administered by Aetna POS II through a trans specific coordinator but covered by the hospital where I work in excess of Aetna's coverage.