Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Okay, my mum offered to get me laser this Friday for the soft but darkish few hairs iv'e got and she wants an immediate answer but im starting puberty blockers in 3 months so my question is 1) Should I start it this friday or 2) wait until I start injections. Ps Im asking because my facial hair has nowere near "fully formed" its more "barely begun" as in would getting laser now make them grow back thicker or something?
Alexis

Since laser is done in cycles, I would say you should be safe to start it now. Any new hairs that grow later will be getten on a subsequent visit.

Take it asap

the hair will not grow back thicker or darker it may not grow back at all, that is the point!

The hair that is zapped during the growth phase will never grow back, as I understand it. However, especially with male hormones in your body, NEW follicles will grow. Being on HRT will prevent the NEW follicles, laser zaps the old ones, no worries. Get going and zap away! :)

If the hairs that you have aren't fully developed (they aren't terminal hairs yet) avoid laser because they might not respond well to treatment. Laser may even spur more hairs into life. It's a different story if your facial is mature and is as bad as it is going to get because chances are you're not going to make it worse. I understand that hitting the hairs whilst they aren't fully developed seems to make sense but this may not be the case. In the short term the laser will cause an increase in the blood supply to the area that has been treated and this could potentially kick start follicles that aren't yet active. I don't think anyone knows for sure in spite of what you might hear.
If the hairs aren't fully developed you might be lucky and they may revert back to the downy fluffy hair that is typical on women.... This phenomena sometimes occurs when a woman is pregnant. She may develop some growth but once her hormones have returned to normal the growth sometimes returns to normal as well....
It's a tricky one, if you can hold off for the 3 months before blockers it's not going to make a massive difference to the growth that you have.  If you zap the hairs you have now with laser it may have a negative effect.
Starting electro now mightn't be the best idea either unless you target only the hairs that are close to terminal. If you start hitting the fine growth you might be throwing money down the drain as it may disappear once the blockers do their work.
Hope this helps  :)

Omg what should I do :( Im all scared now because It's tomarow and im afraid of bringing on even more hairs!

Get the laser treatment. I did almost 2 years of laser before starting HRT. I did not grow more hair after laser treatment. Laser does not stimulate hair to grow. That's not true of the high powered Alexandrite or NdYAG laser most often used for hair removal. The sooner you start, the better.

JennX I'm curious you did two years of laser? why did you do two years didn't it work.... "Laser does not stimulate hair to grow" If you do a search you'll find plenty of sites advertising laser hair rejuvenation. It seems there is no end to what lasers can do. One thing's for sure they are very effective tools for removing cash from your bank account.
Even the high powered Alexandrite and ndyag lasers have low settings. Low levels of energy are being used to encourage growth. When you go for your first appointment at a laser hair removal establishment they normally start low.... Any hair growth that is potentially stimulated by low levels of energy won't respond to further treatment because it will be too fine and in it's early stages it probably won't have much pigment. Such hairs cannot be treated with laser. That's not hear say it's fact!
I agree with "the sooner you start the better" but not for someone with immature type hairs. If you have full blown gnarly thick black hairs then yes, why not, but otherwise no! Have a look at laser induced paradoxical hypertrichosis.
Follicles can be fired into action in a number of ways, basically anything that stimulates blood supply for example, low level laser....
I am aware that some people do have a level of success with laser hair removal, I had a degree of success myself but from AlexisB's description of the hairs that she has I'd say she isn't a good candidate for laser.
Alexis you'd be better off waiting and having electrolysis with someone who knows what they are doing. You might be lucky and experience a reduction once you start blockers and by your description you shouldn't need a lot of work....

Thank you :)

Quote from: smooth on November 30, 2012, 12:46:38 PM
JennX I'm curious you did two years of laser? why did you do two years didn't it work.... "Laser does not stimulate hair to grow" If you do a search you'll find plenty of sites advertising laser hair rejuvenation.

I had all the hair removed from my entire body... thats why (if you must know)... not just my face. My face alone took about 1 year. It worked just fine too. I haven't shaved my faced in almost 5 months.

The type of lasers used for hair removal are not even remotely the same as those you are referencing to stimulate hair growth. The settings used for hair removal are usually in the 20-30 kJoule range... not what you'd use to encourage hair growth. I have spent a lot of time and money on hair removal. My experience directly contradicts what you saying above. I'll leave it at that.

I'm sure you mean well but spending money and time don't necessarily put you in a good position to say "the sooner you start the better" There are things to consider that you may not be aware of. You're coming from the standpoint of a consumer and in spite of what you might think you're advice was a little adrift in spite of your good intentions. Immature hair will not respond well to laser....I understand that Alexis is keen to get rid of the hairs that are starting to appear but some sound information before she starts will go some way to avoiding a potentially negative outcome, that's all I'm trying to get across.

It's great that you haven't shaved for almost 5 months, I wonder have you found it necessary to pluck the odd hair on occasion and when was your last laser session? Your own experience doesn't contradict what I'm saying unless you were at the same stage of development as Alexis whose case and considerations are possibly very different from your own.

I apologise if I'm coming across as antagonistic, that's not my intention. I've also spent considerable time researching true permanent hair removal but from both standpoints, consumer and practitioner and there's a lot of BS out there. It's not until you really get into it that you realise just how money driven it is. The interests of the consumer and becoming permanently hair free are a secondary consideration where a lot of businesses are concerned. that's a sad fact.