Hair removal questions

[Rikosa]

I've been thinking about starting hair removal as something I can do to be more comfortable in my body before starting HRT (got my ears pierced ~3 weeks ago and I love them).  I ended up with 3 main questions I was interested in seeing if people knew the answers to.

1.  Is starting hair removal something that should be done after starting hormones because of changes hormones will cause to hair, or does existing hair not change all that much from hormones?  I wasn't going to jump straight into facial hair (no matter how much I want to). I was going to start with chest, so I guess it's more of a body hair question.

2.  Laser vs. Electrolysis.  I have a significant number of follicles and from descriptions online, it sounds like laser might be the better treatment for the beginning since I can work on the bulk of a larger area and do any cleanup with electrolysis.  I want to go for the most permanent solution, which is probably the goal of everyone in our situation.

3.  I know it's generally fairly expensive, and being a "cosmetic" surgery, I doubt it, but has anyone had any luck with health insurance covering any portion of hair removal?  I was kind of wondering if I till I had an official gender dysmorphia diagnosis from my therapist, it might be possible to have it partially covered as part of treatment.

~Riko

[rachel89]

If you have relatively light skin and dark hair. you can do laser and get most of the dark hairs. after a certain point a very low density of dark hairs remain, and the laser won't do anything about the light hairs. After this point (a lot of people say 6 sessions of laser with a 4-6 week break between sessions) you have to do electrolysis to get rid of light hairs, and it will be more cost effective when there very few dark hairs. If you have dark skin or light colored hair, you will need electro, and it can easily be over 120 hours under the needle.

[Rikosa]

Ya, I've seen that the light skin/dark hair combo works best with laser, which is fantastic news for me.  I'm just about as pale as you can get (I don't tan, just burn) with fairly dark hair (dark brown, but not quite black).

There's actually a relatively close clinic to me for hair removal.  I'll probably schedule a consultation with them and see if I can explain what I'm wanting to do and see what their recommendations are.  Hopefully I can schedule appointments with the same people so I don't end up having to explain every time.  I just recently came out to a few friends and haven't even told any family yet so I'm not really ready explain to a bunch of strangers (or ever want to have to).

I guess it's more of a question of if it'd be wasted effort/time/money, or will hormones tackle some of it for me?  I haven't seen a whole lot of pre-hormone hair removal discussion, and I kind of figured it would be a good idea to start now so I can get those grow-out periods done while I'm still presenting as male in public.

[warlockmaker]

You are one of the lucky ones and dark hair on light skin makes laser very effective. HRT wil eventually get rid of hair on the body and if you do laser 6 months plus into HRT it will be more effective and should take less time. I have not lasered my body and now after 2 plus years on HRT I have no hair at all on my upper torso and the legs have thinned so very much. I have just started laser on my lower legs and underarm, not much left but its nice to be clean of hair.

The face is everyones bane, it does not go away, maybe slower growth. I suggest that you work on that asap. It takes the longest to clear. I'm on 8 laser sessions and then over 130 hours of electrolysis. It will all go in time but we tend to want everything to be ok tomorrow.

[Claraaa]

Good information for me,  thank you.  I recently read in a review for an at home IPL device that the body will shoot up new follicles making hair removal a constant thing to be dealt with.  Does anyone have experience with this?

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[Rikosa]

Sounds like I might just go ahead and start on facial hair and wait a bit on body hair until I can start hormones and they do what they will for a bit. I hate shaving anyway and I can never truly get rid of facial hair while shaving due to my complexion without using makeup of some sort.

Thanks for the info!

[Emileeeee]

I initially started with electrolysis because I didn't trust laser. After about 3 sessions on the upper lip, all accompanied by lots of tears streaming down my face, I gave laser a shot.

It's not the same for everybody. I'm blessed with minimal facial hair to begin with, so they did a full clear on every session, which took them about 15 minutes. It took about a week for the hairs to fall out, leaving no shadow at all. Then about 3 weeks out from the last appointment, that shadow would start coming back and I'd repeat it again. I've had 4 laser sessions so far and the only hair that's been coming back is on my upper lip. It takes longer to come back each time too.

[Rachel]

My insurance pays 70% for electrolysis and it paid 50% for laser.

I did laser first, 3 sessions, then switched to electrolysis.

I would start beard laser ASAP and hold off on body hair removal for after 1 year on HRT. If you are doing GCS then you need to sweep the area 3 times over a year and I would only do electrolysis in that area.

[warlockmaker]

Just one issue I feel very strongly about and that is the need to do electrolysis on the lower area for srs. It is not required and is barbaric. I suggest that you challenge any surgeon on this matter. I have confronted surgeons that require this on another post on this forum. Sorry if this in contrary to what you think but its just an issue that I feel so strongly about

[Rikosa]

I think I'll go ahead and start with my facial hair and wait till after starting hormones for body hair.  It's nice to know that insurance has the potential to cover it.  One question about that Cynthia, did you have a diagnosis before starting, or was it just covered without any questions asked?  I don't have an official diagnosis yet, but having 50% of the cost covered for laser might be worth waiting for.

I'm still a ways out from SRS (someday though!), so I'm not all too worried about that area yet.  I've mostly been looking into things I can start on before hormones or going full time while I work through getting a diagnosis and anything else my therapist feels I should do.  Got my ears pierced a few weeks ago, and since I know hair removal can take a while, I figured that could be a relatively easy next step.