So I had my first sessions for both voice therapy and electrolysis yesterday.  Both went fairly well, though I have yet to learn anything in voice therapy.  They took a lot of recordings on a computer, had me read things and sing scales, they assured me the results were great.  Soooo hopefully next week I'll get some actual instruction.

Electrolysis hurt less than I was afraid it would, and covered much greater area than I was expecting as well!  So yay for that!  My chin looks something of a mess, but it should be cleared up again just in time for next week's session.  Burn the itchy, ugly mess off my skin!  Wooooo!

I have a good friend doing both. She loves the speech therapy and it sounds like they joke around a lot. She doesn't describe the electrolysis in such a happy way.

--Jay

Well, the electrolysis is painful, but it's something I'm more than willing to bear for progress on my road to being me ^^

I'm definitely curious about both.

Luckily I have a naturally large range when it comes to my voice. I'm able to sing high and it sound natural, but the moment I try to talk the same way, it sounds falsetto and fake. Please be sure to let us know how the voice coaching goes. I'm anxious to hear what all they teach you and the techniques that they use.

How long is each session of your electrolysis? What all does it cover? How many sessions do they expect you'll have to go through?

I will definitely keep you updated.  I have hour sessions for both, every Wednesday. Not sure about estimated duration, I've heard 300 hours before, but that seems like a wild exaggeration given that my session yesterday cleared my entire chin. Neck, cheeks and lip obviously still need work and I wouldn't mind some eyebrow sculpting either.

That's really uplifting to hear. Yeah, 300 hours sounds insanely exaggerated. Are you a fairly "hairy" individual? I, luckily, am pretty hairless, minus my face. I have a good shadow coming in after a couple days. I'm hoping to get rid of it as soon as possible. I hope your sessions continue to get better and better. You are a beautiful woman

Electrolysis = Ice after will help with pain. As you know its going to be a long process but in time things will get better with how you look and feel about things. Keep positive and relax as much as you can.

Hope the voice lessons work out for you.

Izzy

Electrolysis is painful at first but after a while you get used to it take pain killers about 30 mins before as sometimes help. Speech will take few sessions and practice a lot a home as well but don't over do it.

Thankfully I've always been pretty much hair free aside from my face. Maybe the 300 estimate came from including body hair? Anyways, yes absolutely. I used ice packs all night long after the treatment and covered my face with a hot towel soaked in Epsom salt on day 2 as per my electrologist's instructions.

The voice is still tricky, we only laid groundwork during that first session, but I want to sound like a woman, not a parody.

Hi Jaelithe, I am curious about the electrolysis as I elected to use the Laser hair removal method, I had very dense facial hair when it started but I have lost maybe 50% of that already after 4 sessions, the problem with Laser is it is still expensive, it costs me £100 a session currently, for that she does my facial hair area, between my brows and my earlobes.

As for voice coaching I am dreading that as I sound to myself like I have a very deep manly voice, it always sounds so very false to my ear when I try to change my voice to something more feminine, I either sound like a pantomime Dame or a chipmunk

Good luck going forward anyway, I have my first GIC appointment in a few weeks.

Alex xxx

Quote from: alexjrogers on September 27, 2013, 06:38:24 AM
Hi Jaelithe, I am curious about the electrolysis as I elected to use the Laser hair removal method, I had very dense facial hair when it started but I have lost maybe 50% of that already after 4 sessions, the problem with Laser is it is still expensive, it costs me £100 a session currently, for that she does my facial hair area, between my brows and my earlobes.

As for voice coaching I am dreading that as I sound to myself like I have a very deep manly voice, it always sounds so very false to my ear when I try to change my voice to something more feminine, I either sound like a pantomime Dame or a chipmunk

Good luck going forward anyway, I have my first GIC appointment in a few weeks.

Alex xxx

Hi hon, I did quite a bit of research before choosing any treatments to have done.  The primary thing about laser, is that it is not permanent(or almost never when dealing with facial hair).  It lasts several months, but all, or nearly all, of the hair will start to come back.  The advantage being that different hairs will regrow at different intervals, making later electrolysis treatments only 'spot treatments' instead of starting with a full set of facial hair and working at it bit by bit(the way I'm doing).

After 2 treatments my chin, lower lip and the area to the sides of it are now permanently clear.  We've started on the upper lip too, but as that area tends to be far more sensative we're only doing that in stages. 

As for the voice therapy, the clinic assures me I'm doing fantastic so far, but I'm not really seeing much in the way of results beyond where I was to start with.  I'll carry it to the full regimen though, Trans people know the virtues of patience better than most, I think. ^^