Hey all! I am starting to think about getting hair removal now that i am comfortable going full time and i was wondering if laser or electralisys would be better for that? if anyone could share their experiences in this it would help me greatly. thanks!
I'm not really sure which is better but I decided to go with electrolysis myself! just had my second appointment today and it seems to be working pretty good it is a slow process and takes a lot of hours. from what I have heard laser is more of a hit or miss and if you have any white, gray or light colored hair on your face the laser will not work on those hairs, the best scenario for laser is light skin dark hair! good luck in whatever route you choose
Personally I had no luck with laser... Electrolysis, though, worked perfectly. It was when I started to really notice my facial hair getting thinner and going away :) laser doesn't hurt at all, Electrolysis does... But it's doable :)
Thanks for the insightful comments. this will definitely help me when i choose :)
Quote from: gabimoneratt on November 13, 2014, 07:15:24 PM
Personally I had no luck with laser... Electrolysis, though, worked perfectly. It was when I started to really notice my facial hair getting thinner and going away :) laser doesn't hurt at all, Electrolysis does... But it's doable :)
If the laser didn't hurt at all maybe it was not used correctly. The pain you feel from laser is usualy really stronger than electrolysis, but as it is pretty fast you don't have to endure it hours long.
Sorry, I confused laser with IPL(sorry for the mistake, here it's all mashed together under the "laser hair removal" blanket) ... IPL doesn't hurt at all but didn't work for me... I had laser done on my upper lip for my last sessions and it is a fast but sharp painful shock... Electrolysis hurts more though :(
Since it is a lot faster, I did some laser treatments to get the bulk of the hairs. Now I am doing electro to get the hairs laser didn't take care of.
aaaaaaaaaand now I'm back to not being sure which lol. seems like there is more then just the two that i thought there was. are the costs similar to the two?
Just don't even bother with IPL. If laser is the route you go, make sure it is a real laser. The results are far better than IPL.
If you're a good candidate for laser, the results can be like magic - I had my face almost fully cleared in about 5 months (4 sessions), and about 1/20th the cost of electro. I'd originally planned to do laser first and then clean up with electro, but as I've ended up with like half a dozen hairs and I'm lazy, now I just wax them. :)
For people with pale skin and dark hair laser if often the quickest and cheapest form of hair removal. I've had 6 laser sessions and I now have no beard shadow at all. There's a few stray dark hairs on my upper lip, that I might finish off with one more laser session, but I have zero dark hairs anywhere else on my face or neck. I have a few white hairs that the laser can't remove on my chin and upper lip that will have to be finished off with electrolysis. If I had started with electrolysis I would have spent far more by now and have made nowhere near as much progress. That being said only electrolysis is 100% guaranteed to remove hair permanently so YMMV. It can depend on how dark your hairs are at the root and how strongly that contrasts with your skin. Plus I've heard rumours that after years and years the hairs removed by lasers can slowly start to return for some people. This wasn't a concern for me, personally, as I wanted results FAST as I wanted to go full-time very soon after deciding to transition. I'd probably just use electrolysis to kill any strays that may (but probably won't) emerge years from now.
I spent a while researching all the local laser and electrolysis clinics nearby and read reviews/ testimonials. I found out what type of equipment they have and how highly rated that equipment is by professionals online. I found out that a clinic that was an hour further away from me than the downtown clinics had one of the best laser machines in the world for pale skin/ dark hair so I went the extra distance each time to ensure good results. I also had a practise session where they just blasted my face once so I could see if it'd work before I made an investment... and it was quite a big investment of $1200 for 6 sessions. I think it takes about 4 to 10 sessions to remove all the dark hairs generally, depending on the patient's skin, hair, the skill of the technician and the quality of the equipment. I highly recommend that you research the local clinics as thoroughly as possible. Or at the very least make sure you get a real laser not IPL if you decide to go down that route. If you have a lot of pale hairs then electrolysis might make more sense though... but I found starting with laser and finishing my few pale ones with electrolysis to be the quickest and cheapest method for me.
I kinda rambled there more than I intended but I hope it helps. Having no beard shadow is really great. Good luck! :)
Btw in my experience laser hair removal is VERY painful. If it's working it should be at least.
This is useful info... I was also thinking Laser for the bulk, electrolysis for lingering if they show or fell too much... My problem is after 10+ years of HRT my hairs may be lighter and certainly age may mean that laser may not work, based on what I have read... which could be devastating for me
Love Katy
Quote from: katrinaw on November 13, 2014, 10:21:22 PM
This is useful info... I was also thinking Laser for the bulk, electrolysis for lingering if they show or fell too much... My problem is after 10+ years of HRT my hairs may be lighter and certainly age may mean that laser may not work, based on what I have read... which could be devastating for me
Love Katy
You could ask for a consultation and ask them to do a test patch and wait a few days to see what happens before you commit to anything.
Btw I forgot to mention but laser reverses aging in the skin by stimulating collagen production. I'm too young to notice any difference but for older trans women that could be a pretty nice bonus.
Thanks Jessica.... :-*
Good bonus is the age defying benefits ;D
Also finding certain moisturising products are helping the face tendering too..
Love Katy
May I suggest going to a laser or electrolysis technican and asking them which one they believe you will need? Remember Laser can be very effective for certain skin tones and hair colours(I say skin tone because the darker your sin the worse)
LAser is a cheaper route but not as permanent for some.
I feel that im an expert as ive a few hundred hours of electro and at least 10 sessions of laser.
Get laser first, buy a package price of what they sell. Go once a month till the laser wipes out what it can. It does hurt but real pain is being pretty with whiskers. Then get electro as much and as often as you can. Get trans references or dont go there. It hurts and expensive, takes time and you have to let it grow for a week to get it done but real pain is being pretty with whiskers...as i said..i used to have a heavy beard from my eyes to my chest but now as smooth as a baby. Licking my lips and feeling smooth is wonderful and worth the hell of hair removal.
Stevie K.... Love the thought of soft, non razored face ... I am sold as I figured the Laser then Electrolosys path was the smartest way
L Katy
I had great results with a Tria laser, but YMMV. Not everyone is suitable for laser but going by your avatar you may be a suitable candidate.
Laser would clear all but the most stubborn hairs with less time in the chair per session and then electrolysis would catch those final few hairs.
Since I have dark skin I really don't have much of a choice. Sure, there are lasers that would work on my skin but I have heard of horror stories of hyperpigmentation and burns. So I went with electrolysis. Believe it or not it's not as slow as I thought it would be. The electrologist said that by 6 weeks or so most of it should be gone but full, permanent clear would take about a year. I did my 3rd session this week and a lot of it is gone so far.
But if you have light skin/dark hair, laser can work for you.
My electrologist is a trans woman and she is really good to work with.
The pain is there but the pain seems manageable to me. I don't use any numbing anything but I have a pretty high tolerance for pain. The upper lip is the worst and it makes me tear up but it's not as bad as I thought it would be.
During my eval the electrologist strongly suggested I do a hybrid approach with laser for the black hairs and him for the gray hairs. He says he's had other long-term clients with really good results from the new lasers--he tends to stay in touch with the girls because he does the pre-bottom surgery electrolysis for them. I was impressed that he'd give up a lot of income by telling me this, especially since he didn't direct me to a specific laser center with the possibility of a kickback arrangement. So I'm doing the laser with electro visits in between for the all too many gray hairs. The nice thing is instant gratification and the gray hairs don't require color correction and aren't very visible when I grow them out for the electro sessions.
Having now done a lot more research, but needing qualified guidance, I am now suspecting that I will need a hybrid approach too, like JulieM has identified...
I am fairly much at a mature age :-X and have much grey, light brown and some slight smattering of dark hairs on my face, my arms are mostly light brown, white and a slight smattering of dark hairs, same with upper legs and butt... Lower legs are almost hair free and my body is hair free (oh so much a big thankyou to HRT)... anyway back to the point... I have fair skin which has also led to some sun damage and minor skin cancers on my upper face... despite overall good skin condition (e.g. Softness and radiance).
I have gotten a lot of good insight out of this thread and has been very motivating for me
Thanks 8)
Love Katy