Have you "Cleared " your facial hair yet?

[juliekins]

I'm curious how far everyone has gotten with clearing their face. In your comments, please tell us how many hours of electrolysis or how many sessions of laser you've completed. If you did a combination, like me, tell us that too.

Also, please let us know if you are living f/t, p/t or are still not yet getting out as yourself.

For me, it took about 6-8 sessions of laser, and about 80-100 hours of electrolysis. I still have some hairs under my jawline that occasionally appear, but since I'm fulltime now for a year or so, I haven't wanted to finish that last 10% or so.

[Janet_Girl]

I am full time for a year now.

I still have dark hair on the upper lip and chin area.  But maybe I will be able to get things done, after I get a new job. 

But I will need electro on the grey hairs.


Janet

[lizbeth]

I'm not full time (yet, although I might as well be since my "boymode" is close to a complete failure now, lol) but i voted 90-100% by laser (9 sessions so far). i'm closer to 90% than 100% though and have one really annoying cluster of hairs on my upper lip and then just a hair here and there. I will get a few hours of electro next year when my laser plan expires.

[Sandy]

I'm full time.

I did 7 hours of IPL.

About 100 hours of electro.  Dark hairs still occasioinally show up which depresses me.  I go for about an hour and a half every other week.  I usually only need to shave about every second day.

My face has been cleared a couple of times but grey/light non-vellus hairs keep showing up.  It takes a certain dogged determination to keep going and having a hot needle stuck in your face 700 times an hour.

This is not counting the other electro I needed for my surgery.  That was about 7 fun filled hours.

-Sandy(I feel like a pin cushion)

[Hannah]

I'm defacto full time, with most of it done by laser. There's some grey left, and a tiny bit of black regrowth, but it's slow. I haven't decided yet if I'll go for more laser to get it or just have the electrolycist get it while she's getting the grey. After a recent binge I'm out of pain meds (it was worth it, nothing beats a short narcotics binge) and the laser place gives abundant refills so I'm tempted to go there 

[Julie Marie]

I clear my face every time I go out in public!

[V M]

I've never had much facial or body hair to begin with. I pluck and wax

[Autumn]

I've had something like 12 full facial treatments with laser over the last year, and 3 more touchups on my upper lip. One electrolysis treatment for about half an hour.

I have a LOT of little blond soft hairs on my cheeks, it almost looks like sand (I can't remember how long ago I shaved, though.) I definitely need a couple more treatments on the major rough hairs, but I have to decide where to draw the line because i could conceivably be done in the next few months, barring unforseen growth cycles.

I'm part time, I suppose.

[heatherrose]

I guess I'm "lucky", I have light colored hair.
I can get away with not having to shave for a few days.
In light of the expense, I feel there are other things that take
precedence over hair removal. I would love not having
to ever shave again but it is not to be right now.

[MeghanAndrews]

I had three laser sessions and didn't like it, I got burned severely on the second one. I have like 215 hours of electrolysis in the last two years, it's pretty much gone at this point. I go about an hour or two each month just to get rogue hairs done, it's kind of relaxing at this point, it doesn't hurt too bad. I just started electro down there and it doesn't hurt anywhere as bad as the first sessions on the face. Facial hair removal was something I planned on having done in a year and a half to two years. It's expensive and painful but kinda necessary to transition I think.

[juliekins]

For anyone starting their transition (MTF), I would strongly recommend starting stubble removal. Especially if you do electro, it takes a couple of years if you go every week or two.

Trying to manage hair removal once you've gone fulltime is for the birds. If you're not willing to grow out your face for 3-4 days while going to work, along with another 3-4 days for the swelling to disappear, don't do electro while you are f/t.

Laser, for those who can afford it, and whose beard color will respond, is a good option if you are on the cusp of needing to go f/t. I personally just never found laser real effective for me.

[V M]

Even though I don't have much facial hair, it is still a pain in the something, something. I feel for the girls that have to deal with allot of it

[Tammy Hope]

I'm kind of "pre-transitioning" (i.e. doing all the surface things but not yet able to go "full time" only because I can't afford any actual physical alterations).

Laser for the face is probably #1 on my things to do when the income is right...i try not to think about electrolysis right now - one step at a time.

[Julie Marie]

From my tiny myopic view of life I'd say get the hair issues resolved first if you're MtF.  You will fly under the radar a lot easier.

Julie

[Ms Bev]

hmmmmm......*sleepy yawn*......
It's too late for me to worry about it anymore.  I'm beyond full time.  I'm just another woman.  But no, I didn't have my face cleared.  I didn't have the money, or the time, or the same need that others do.  Sure.....I would RATHER not have to shave, but, OH WELL.  Life goes on.  Like Heather, I have light, fine hair.  I have about 30 or so dark upper lip hairs that require tweezing about every 2 or 3 weeks.  I takes that long for their sleepy little shafts to peek through.  Otherwise, I shave every day.  I could do it every 3 or 4 days without raising an eyebrow, but.......I like SmOOOOOOOthe.....ness!
Want to hear something really vain?  If I could choose between having my face magically cleared, but not buy new clothes, which I really like........well, I'd have new dresses skirts and tops, and......
shave.
Go figure.


Bev

[NikkiJ]

I have a way to go, I started back in late 2004 with someone who turned out to be an incompetent rip-off, and by the time I realized it, I didn't have the capital to keep it up and had to stop for several months. Fortunately, I have very light facial hair, but that means laser won't work on me, it has to be electrolysis.

I have an excellent practitioner now, but have been full time for 2 years and nine months. I just can't wait for electro to be over to live my life. Fortunately, friends tell me they can't even see it when I grow it out for a session.

[Alyssa M.]

I hardly consider 90% to be "complete." That's still as many as sevaral thousand hairs remaining. Considering the tenacity of some of those hairs and the asymptotic behavior of the process, this seems like one of those situations where the first 90% of the process takes 90% of the time, and the last 10% takes the other 90%. So I'd feel premature in saying I'm even half-way done, with most of my face cleared and much sparser hair on my upper lip and chin.

[Tammy Hope]

for me, the urgency is in the mustache/gotee area. that's the place where I have the hardest time getting smooth and the quickest regrowth.

If that were clear I'd consider myself 90% done even if I wasn't REALLY.

[gilded]

Oops ! I should not have voted. I'm so USA'd that I forget I'm Asian, ie I have few facial/body hairs.
So sorry.

BTW www.Target has Braun epilators that claims head to toe hair removal. Non-TG st8 man says it's permanent removal, he owns a Y'group called "Guys with Large, Sensitive Breasts"

I should start a Epilators that work thread

- gg

[CynthiaAnn]

Yes ! and i voted in the minority in this poll.

90-100% done by electrolysis - over 300 hours in the chair over 6 + years to be free

C -