Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Am pre hrt and not planning for hrt for almost 5 years and want to try laser on my face.will it grow back.

You need to have multiple sessions for it to be permanent. Once every 4 weeks.

Even with several treatments with laser, you may still get regrowth. But any regrowth will be finer hairs and less numerous than before.

As long as you are not using any hormone therapy or testosterone blockers, you will get some regrowth.

Now is the time to do as much facial hair removal as you can.  Most that pursue laser also end up doing some electrolysis to get the stragglers (under ideal conditions, light skin and dark course hair, laser is expected to stop 80-90% of the growth).  Both procedures become more painful once the estrogen has started to change your skin.  I've heard this from many trans women.  Also, as you start going out presenting more and more as your authentic self, you're not going to want to have to leave 2-3 days worth of hair growth that you need for electrolysis.  Good for you getting started early.

I started laser hair removal on my face about a year before I started on hormones. Obviously, speak to the expert who will be giving you the treatments, but the information that I received was that the combination of lighter skin colour and dark hair results in the best treatment with laser. For me, it certainly required several passes, spaced 6 weeks apart as I was told that, for me, that was how often the various hair folicles were moving through their growth cycles. For me, the face was a very sensitive body area with thick hair that absorbed a lot of heat. For that reason, the first few passes had to be at a very low energy level compared to the rest of my body to prevent burns to the surrounding skin. (I started laser on my entire body in 2013, a good 3.5 years before starting hormones). This is a very long process, especially for those of us who were quite hairy to start. Unfortuantely, I'm at the age where probably 40% of my beard had already turned grey. Laser does not work on grey hair, so I'm now enduring electrolysis on my remaining beard hairs.

The reason it is a good idea to wait until you are on hormones to start laser is because otherwise the high fluctuating T levels can cause regrowth.

It will kill about 12% with each session but fluctating hormone levels can cause the hair follicle to regrow.

You can take a chance and start early and do the math, about 9 sessions every 6-8 weeks. If you have dark hair after that amount of time then there was probably some regrowth at some point.

In addition to the above, if you are not on HRT, there may be some hairs that are currently still vellus hairs(peach fuzz), that will eventually turn to terminal hairs from long term exposure to DHT.

Depends what age you are, but a few odd patches didn't fill in until my mid 30's. Some other areas might have gotten slightly thicker as well, though it's still rather patchy even now in my early 40's. Presumably, if I just do laser and/or electrolysis, and not HRT, those areas could fill in later.

Still, I'd rather deal with a little touch up work later if necessary. I think having the bulk of my beard shadow gone ASAP would make a huge difference, even if there might grow a handful of stragglers I need to shave.

Quote from: LShipley on June 29, 2017, 07:01:54 PM
The reason it is a good idea to wait until you are on hormones to start laser is because otherwise the high fluctuating T levels can cause regrowth.

I disagree. It's best to start hair removal ASAP, regardless of HRT because when a hair follicle is killed PERMANENTLY (with laser, no guarantee, it's a gamble), it will NEVER regrow, however high the T levels get. If hairs regrow, it's because laser just isn't effective...

Quote from: KayXo on June 29, 2017, 07:56:58 PM
I disagree. It's best to start hair removal ASAP, regardless of HRT because when a hair follicle is killed PERMANENTLY (with laser, no guarantee, it's a gamble), it will NEVER regrow, however high the T levels get. If hairs regrow, it's because laser just isn't effective...

Like my first comment i am only referring to laser and only suggesting waiting on laser, but you are saying a hormone imbalance does not affect hair regrowth? Because it does. Women with a hormonal imbalance shouldnt even get laser treatment. Laser kills the follicle that is mature/growing, but testosterone quickly stimulates regrowth of the remaining follicles not in the growth stage.

Testosterone will cause you to develop new hair follicles over time

If you are going to transition and have the ability to permanently eliminate facial hair right now, do it now - don't wait.  If your skin and hair type supports medical quality laser do that first and then follow up with electrolysis. 

I followed the advice of other MTF and didn't wait to tackle facial hair.  Three years later I am very glad I followed that advice.

At the time I started hair removal I wasn't 100% certain of transitioning, but at least looked forward to not having to shave every morning (and sometimes 2x per day).  Now I'm about to start HRT with no worries about increased electrolysis pain.

I started hair removal about 3 months before starting hormones, got in a good 2 sessions before starting and 2 since. Starting next weekend I'm doing face every 3 weeks and full body every 6 instead of just every 6 weeks. I ended up getting a great deal on a year of unlimited sessions so I'm taking full advantage and clearing away pretty much all the hair on my body, minus a couple areas. My face is showing noticeable results after the last 2 sessions, but I think it has more to the power of the laser being increased for both of those sessions than from switching to hormones. Over all I've responded very well, but i have a very light complexion and medium-dark hair, so I'm pretty ideal for laser.

Quote from: LShipley on June 29, 2017, 09:55:35 PM
Women with a hormonal imbalance shouldnt even get laser treatment. Laser kills the follicle that is mature/growing, but testosterone quickly stimulates regrowth of the remaining follicles not in the growth stage. Testosterone will cause you to develop new hair follicles over time

Exactly, new growth in follicles where there was no growth before, caused by hormonal changes like increased T but any hair that is killed permanently will NEVER regrow. Electrolysis can be started whenever and the sooner, the better. Those hairs will be gone forever. Laser is a gamble and personally, that is why I would NEVER recommend it. To each their own...