Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Judging from recent posts here, it sounds like many of the trans women here have had to deal with having to allow beard growth for electrolysis after they were on HRT and in some cases already living full-time.  I just got off the phone setting up my first appointment for electrolysis.  She looks for 3 days worth of growth which for me at this point (pre-HRT) is a significant length of hair.  As I think is typical, she estimated 12-18 months for full removal.  With HRT starting soon for me, I think it's likely that I may need to go full-time before I'm done removing the hair. 

My question for those who've had to deal with this, how did you deal with the hair growth and hiding it?  3 days worth seems like a lot more than even the best concealer can hide. Any tricks you can offer up? 

I realize I could get lucky and she's got it all done except for small touch-ups in 8-12 months and that my changes on HRT don't become too much to hide by then, but I'm planning for worst case scenario (hard to call it worst when in so many ways I'm hoping for fast and significant changes). Any thoughts you have would really help me out with my planning.

I started Laser and Electrolysis 6 months before starting HRT and I was glad I did, because I noticed my pain threshold diminished following starting HRT.  I definitely recommend getting as much done before HRT and going FT.  I can only speak from my experience. Best of luck to you.  I can recommend that it is soooooo much better once it is finally done.

FWIW, when I was grocery shopping on Saturday, there was a woman handing out samples.  She appeared to have a "5 o'clock shadow".  Beyond that, she looked completely like a woman.

I go to electrolysis this monday.  I will shave Fri morn at 5 am, then not shave until I go on monday.  (I work mon-fri)  So, I only book on mondays and use the weekend to grow.  I just take that monday off for the procedure, then use concealer to cover the mess the next day from the treatment.  Usually by the following day I am not very swollen and the bumps have receded a lot.  When I grow it out, even at this point where you have to be close to me to see it, I am a recluse.  I don't go out.  Would have been tons easier if I did it before coming out....

My electrolysis tech commonly treats Cis woman with polycystic ovarian syndrome, so it's not just Trans girls that have to go through a few days of being socially uncomfortable with stubble for proper treatment.  As others have stated, start immediately....my sensitivity also seems to have increased after just a few weeks into HRT.  Also, I've started with both (laser and electrolysis) and having the laser zap the dark hairs really seemed to help me with the "look" of my stubble.  As the grey hairs come in for electrolysis treatment they are MUCH less noticeable than when the dark hairs were also present. 

As far as "3 days growth", that's probably just average.  If you grow quicker, I'm sure 2 days or even less might be fine.

I am not yet full time, but I did have to deal with this for the first time last week, and I expect it will become a regular thing.  I plan to go full time in the next month or two.  I had a doctor's appointment Tuesday, for which I always dress, and electro Wednesday. 

I decided ahead of time what area of my face I would offer to the electrologist to zap and shaved everything else.  I didn't use makeup (except eyes and lips) because that would have looked just too odd - drawing attention to the stubble.  I went to my doctor's appointment with half my jaw fuzzy.  No one really noticed.  Afterwards, I went to a cafe for lunch and no one noticed.  Or at least no one commented.

It helps that age and three laser sessions have lightened my beard considerably, making the stubble less visible.

Quote from: lisawb on March 21, 2017, 11:31:38 AM
Judging from recent posts here, it sounds like many of the trans women here have had to deal with having to allow beard growth for electrolysis after they were on HRT and in some cases already living full-time.  I just got off the phone setting up my first appointment for electrolysis.  She looks for 3 days worth of growth which for me at this point (pre-HRT) is a significant length of hair.  As I think is typical, she estimated 12-18 months for full removal.  With HRT starting soon for me, I think it's likely that I may need to go full-time before I'm done removing the hair. 

My question for those who've had to deal with this, how did you deal with the hair growth and hiding it?  3 days worth seems like a lot more than even the best concealer can hide. Any tricks you can offer up? 

I realize I could get lucky and she's got it all done except for small touch-ups in 8-12 months and that my changes on HRT don't become too much to hide by then, but I'm planning for worst case scenario (hard to call it worst when in so many ways I'm hoping for fast and significant changes). Any thoughts you have would really help me out with my planning.

Yesterday was my first time and I hated it...I even put on some foundation and whilst it made me feel a little better you could still see up close that I was badly in need of a shave...mine is very patchy in most places but still really noticeable after 4 days growth...my beard grows reasonably slowly due to HRT...going forward I am going to be much more careful about what I am doing in the days leading up to my electrolysis. Basically I am going to stop booking any appointment or procedures in the same week I have electrolysis. I don't work so am very lucky I don't have that to contend with.

Liz

As soon as I knew what to look for in treatment, I started electrolysis going twice a week. After about a year I was ready to go full time but I still needed a fair amount of cleaning. Fortunately my facial hair was also brown and by that point the faster growing hair had been picked off so a light coat of makeup was sufficient to conceal three days worth of growth.

I did one hour appointments twice a week but you might consider two hour appointments twice a week if you can handle and afford it. I should have done that as well but I was doing pay as you go and I didn't want to touch my savings as I considered that surgery money. Unfortunately when I lost my job, I had to live off the savings putting me below the amount required for surgery.

Liz, early on I started booking my electrolysis on Mondays, with my 'last shave' on Friday mornings.  That let me spend my Hairy Weekends in hiding.  Not that THAT lasted...

About 6 months in, when I had started full-time life, I found that I occasionally needed to get out on the weekend.  Once I joined a church (Unitarian Universalists, a church that matched my belief systems at last!) I found that I had ot be out on Sundays.  Jodie, the electrology operator I was seeing, cleared the black hairs out, and tried to keep the 'muzzle' clear of dark hairs in particular.  That plus concealer and setting powder helped hide everything from more than a few feet away.

Jodie is clever.  She started completely clearing the 'muzzle' after repeated thinning passes as part of each session, and then cleared the jawline, where hairs are visible in silhouette or as the light shines around us.  She kept these areas clear as she expanded the thinned out areas on each visit.  This helped enormously.  The 'muzzle' cleared area has been expanded, and the jawline and neck are mostly cleared now.  (Yes, doing 2 two hour sessions each Monday sped this up.  Thank goodness!)

All that's really left are 'sideburns', and those are now largely free of dark hairs, and are readily covered by my hairstyle.  These sweeps of hair down each cheek are not accidental, ya know!

Soon they will all be gone.   Soon, so very soon!

I think what really frustrates me is with this first clearance of all the thick heavy hairs my tolerance for pain is really low. My Tech said she is able to reduce the current for the new finer stuff...she is able to drop the current by about 4 points...I don't know how much difference that will make but the only way I currently manage to do an hour is with facial injections...so am limited to how much I can do by the number of injection appointments available.

If the dropping of the current is enough so that I can tolerate it, then I will do 2 x 1 hour session a week without injections at the moment I am doing about 1 per week.

So here is a question

When your tech was taking the new/regrowth was there a significant reduction in discomfort compared to when the thicker tougher hairs were being done?

I guess I will find out later todays when I go for todays session of injections and zapping.

Liz

I'd have to say the regrowth, or new fine stuff comes out with much less discomfort than the Old Growth stuff.  Blasting through the virgin forest on Monday's session sure as heck hurt in some spots.  It might have been the spotted owls fighting back, though.

The new stuff on the upper lip is nothing like the original stuff when it needs to be cleared.  I'd say it is much easier.

I've been doing laser only and go for my 4th treatment next week. Not as painful, I've heard, and it is working great and I shave daily and the day of. No hair growth needed. I got 6 treatments for under a grand in the San Antonio area. You can see from my avatar it's working good.

I, too, was full time when I started facial hair removal.  I had the same concerns about the visibility of facial hair grown out for 3 or 4 days ahead of each electrolysis session.  For that reason I opted for volume hair removal at 6 week intervals instead of doing it on a weekly basis.  It meant having my entire face and neck cleared of hair at one time.  I then had nearly 6 weeks without visible hair until the next session was scheduled.  I did this 4 times in a 6 month period.  After that, facial hair that was left was mostly colorless, thin, and slow growing (I was on HRT all through this treatment).  This approach is intense.  The first clearing took place over two days at the Zukowski Center in Chicago and incorporated lidocaine injections for pain relief.  Recovery following volume hair removal is quite long at first, but gets shorter and shorter on each successive treatment.  There was no need to sequester myself for more than a few days before and after a clearing.  I continued to have full face clearings after that using only lidocaine numbing cream, and by then recovery was just 24 hours give or take. 

I don't know how many hours of Electrolysis I had in before I started fulltime...but quite a few!!!


Liz

While I am not yet full-time, growing out my whiskers before an electrolysis appt. still sucks. Especially so since I'm trying to go out the door looking as feminine as possible. I find there's really no way to conceal it. I just have to grin and bare it. For me, the shortest period of time after shaving that my hair removal tech can grab the hairs during electro is about 20 hours. i.e. I shave at 5am to go to work, and late the following afternoon, my tech can perform an electrolysis session successfully. I'm lucky to have two long stretches off each month, and my tech can fit in several sessions over those weeks. But, it means 5 to 7 days without shaving in a row. Now, that is truly dysphoric for me! I wish I had started facial hair removal several years ago, before my beard started going grey. I would have been able to complete the removal with laser (which has removed all the black beard hairs that I still had). Unfortunately, approx. 50% of my beard hair had turned grey by the time I got around to removing it. That's really lengthening the time it's taking to clear my face. Grrr.

Hi Lisa,

I started electrolysis A few months before going full-time. What I found was the electrolysist's recommendations for 72 hours of hair growth was an on average rule of thumb. I would ask your tech for feedback on length of hair. See if you can go shorter.

I was able to go 48 hours at the beginning. However after nine months The growth slowed to where I needed 72–96 hours to get enough length.

This is also highly dependent on your tax comfort level with shorter hairs, as well as how much shorter hairs affect their speed of removal. Some are much slower at shorter hair removal either due to eyesight, or just grasping the hair. If it's too much of a difference you end up paying for it with your wallet.

I would start practicing with different makeup techniques, for cover up and/or color correction.

What worked for me in the end was airbrush makeup and color correction. The foundation for airbrush makeup is like a layer of clear glue. It allowed me to matte down the longer stubble. I would then color correct with a traditional blush, and then apply the regular airbrush makeup. This provided me with a much smoother surface, a more natural appearance, and allowed me to use minimal makeup rather than looking like I had caked on makeup.

The later months this was also useful for either longer periods of growing out or stubborn patches, for me the corners of the upper lip were extremely stubborn.

I would occasionally use a liquid concealer on especially bad patchy areas then blend with airbrush.


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I do plan to get her feedback.  When I go to my initial consultation I'll have a little over 2 days growth (I'll be shaving Sunday morning and then going to see her Tuesday evening).  We'll see what she has to say about the length and then I've been considering too that HRT may slow down the hair growth making it more of a pain.  Hopefully I can get enough done quick enough and figure out enough tricks with makeup  to get through reasonably comfortably.

A big yes on both accounts for me, it takes longer for the hair to grow and I have found electrolysis more painful since being on HRT....it means my last shave was yesterday...I have nothing visible today but I can feel the scratch...by Tuesday it will be just long enough for her to work...although I am having my doubts...This is my last one for a month and I am wanting to get my cheek cleared. Once these final big thick hairs go it will make it much easier to conceal with makeup...at the moment I hate it and there is nothing to be done but smile you way through. I have about 3 hrs to finish my cheeks and the few stragglers around my lip and chin. After that we are dealing with secondary growth which is finer and softer and easier to conceal. I am currently getting about 10% regrowth/new growth so should not take long to mop that up over the next 6 months...fingers crossed

Liz

If you can wait going full time until electrolysis is over and done with, wait.

No one waits.