First, I should say that I am a fully transitioned MtF transsexual, although this article is also about transgender females who haven't started HRT.
I'm here to give a little advice about hair removal, especially if you are on a budget, and let's face it - why spend more money than you need to.
DON'T use a hand or electric shaver, EVER. In other words, throw them away.
Waxing - great for pretty much any part of the body. Yes, that's right - including your face.
Epilating - the same as waxing, but much cheaper in the long run.
Electrolysis - Fabulous, regardless of the color of your hair, but can be frightfully expensive and very painful.
Laser - Similar to electrolysis, but not as effective (or not at all) if you have fair or gray hair.
This is my story and what I did to become pretty much hairless.
Body - thanks to my lack of testosterone and plentiful estrogen, most of my body hair simply disappeared. Of course, there were certain areas such as my legs and to a lesser extent, my arms, that still grew hair, but it was much softer as well as much more sparse. For me, epilating proved to be the best and cheapest method. The best epilator for me was the Braun Silk 7. BUT, you have to be committed and epilate often. In time the hair gets finer and finer and you'll also discover that in parts, hair will stop growing altogether. In fact, now, my legs are smoother than my 20 year old daughter simply because there is no hair there, except for the odd stubborn hair here and there. My arms are similar to my legs, although I never bothered with doing my arms as often as my legs. Just remember that ALL women do have a little bit of body hair, so don't get too hung up on being completely hair free. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having fine silky hair here and there. For example, my arms do have fine silky hair, but I stopped epilating them a long time ago.
Face - always a major problem as we all know. My facial hair ended up being definitely softer and possibly about 25 to 30% less. Still, it was a huge problem and for quite a while I used a hand shaver. I then got totally sick and tired of the shaving ritual and decided to have my face waxed. Honestly, it was all down hill from that moment onwards. In fact, rather than going through the horrible experience of growing my facial hair to a certain length and going back and having my face waxed, I started to use the Braun Silk 7 for my face as well. After approximately a year of epilating my face, the hair is so fine and so sparse that I now only epilate my face every now and then.
WARNINGS: Epilating (and waxing) can cause ingrown hairs, but there are ways to prevent this from happening. For starters, only epilate when your skin is totally clean, ie, after a shower or bath. It's only then that it is safe to epilate, simply because germs can get into skin where hair has been extracted. After epilation, use Witch Hazel to close the pores. Witch Hazel also has the benefit of being a very mild disinfectant and a toner all rolled into one. The next step, particularly if it's your face, is to apply a small quantity of aloe vera. You can leave the aloe vera on for as long as you like, although if you are going out and wish to apply makeup, then you'll need to wash it off. Simply leave it on for as long as it takes you to get dressed. If you intend applying makeup, use your favorite moisturizer sparingly and then apply your makeup. By the way, aloe vera is also a mild disinfectant and it also has certain healing properties as well as being a mild moisturizer.
While everyone is "made" differently, this is what worked for me. It should also work quite well for those who have not started HRT, although just be aware that it WILL take longer to achieve the same results as I achieved.
So, in summary, this is, by far, the cheapest way to get rid of all that unsightly hair. Yes, it's painful to begin with, so you'll just have to put your big girl pants on and suck it up!!!
FINALLY, you must be extremely committed.
