Maybe this might help others & myself.

My electro lady is in her mid 50's, very nice & a very smooth face. She told me she had terrible facial hair as a girl, she actually shaved on her wedding day, she had to hide from her husband to shave. She was so embrassed she never told anyone. She felt like a freak of a woman. Finally some 15-20 years ago she found some older women that did hidden away back room crude electrolysis. They did not use any numbing cream & kind of just strapped her down on some hard table & zapped away as she cried in pain. It took her months & months of pain & even back then it cost her $2,000 to finally have all her hair removed.   

After that experience she learned the craft herself & is now booked solid to help other people remove unwanted hair.

Electrolysis is really the best way to permanently remove hair. It's a shame that it takes so long, and is so expensive though. I have a friend who has an electrolysis business, and she's always telling me it's the best way to go. Too bad she lives thousands of miles from me.

I had a shock when I looked at my unshaven face in the mirror last night (2 days of stubble) and realized a good portion of my beard has turned gray! When the heck did that happen? lol

That's going to make laser less effective as it's only going to get the black hairs. Dammit.

Looks like I have more electrolysis than I expected in my future. 

Why is all this so difficult?

I think it's almost a right of passage. If any male person can endure complete facial hair removal it will be easy to have SRS.

Haaaate it. I'm starting on laser as soon as I'm on HRT, and can afford it.

Hated having it for years.  Waiting to do something about it was a mistake.  I had so much white, grey, red and brown that laser had limited effect.  So, electrolysis was the go.  About 85 hours (coming up to 2 years) with 2 techs operating 8 probes each later, I am down to going once every 2 or 3 weeks - 175 operator hours. It is now slower as it is difficult to see the very fine, white to clear hair.  It still grows long though so it has to be done.  I am now having to not touch my face with any sort of shaving tool for at least a week to give them a fighting chance of seeing the hair.  HRT started about 2 months ago and this may have slowed growth a bit too.

Given how thick many of the hairs were, we decided not to use any heat to minimise the chance of any visible damage so it has been galvanic only (hence the number of probes). 

Stick with it, you will get to the end.  As I have said to my electroysists, you wouldn't do this unless you really had to - $$$ and ouch!

No fun at all. I'm sure everyone in here is further along here than me, I'm trying to set up my first laser appointment right now.

Quote from: Gene24 on December 13, 2013, 04:48:36 PM
No fun at all. I'm sure everyone in here is further along here than me, I'm trying to set up my first laser appointment right now.

If you are young with dark facial hair you may want to consider purchasing a Tria laser. They work & you can treat your face & other areas yourself. I've used one & it worked some for me on darker hairs.

I spent substantial monies on laser treatments when I was in my early 20's & it helped remove darker hairs however now you can purchase the same type laser equipment direct.

Good luck young girl.

Its not so much the hair growth itself which seems to be the major practical problem, its more of that dismal grey, tired and shifty looking stain under the skin that is beard shadow. It seems specifically designed to add dubious character to one's face.

I never used to have beard shadow... if I shaved, then I looked like I had no facial hair. Now I can really close shave...and still have shadow lurking under my skin. And that is disgusting, it makes me look like a tramp.

So...hmmmmm laser or electrolysis, decision time me thinks!

I hate it too. I use some electric razor each morning and its quite annoying.

I am not a fan or any hair other then on my head. Would be nice to to get laser or electro but I can't afford it. I got a new car payment, and college to pay for and off because I can really afford anything.....this probably includes therapy and HRT.

Back in highschool my friends called me a hobbit because I had hair feet, it was one of the first things I shaved before I really even "knew" I was transgender. It probably the place I had to see hair the most.

Quote from: "I'm Stella Stanhope, and that's why I drink". on December 13, 2013, 05:34:30 PM
Its not so much the hair growth itself which seems to be the major practical problem, its more of that dismal grey, tired and shifty looking stain under the skin that is beard shadow. It seems specifically designed to add dubious character to one's face.

I never used to have beard shadow... if I shaved, then I looked like I had no facial hair. Now I can really close shave...and still have shadow lurking under my skin. And that is disgusting, it makes me look like a tramp.

So...hmmmmm laser or electrolysis, decision time me thinks!

Me too! Now when I shave, no matter how close it is, you can see the shadow. And now the shadow is spotty, since a lot of my beard is gray.

I had quite a bit of concealer on in my avatar photo! The sucky part is it makes my skin look bumpy. 

Because of the gray hairs, laser won't get them all. I was actually just looking at buying my own electrolysis unit. They are only about $600. That seems expensive until you factor in how many sessions you need, and people spending thousands of dollars on electrolysis. Being on a budget sucks, but I think I might go this route.

It can't hurt any more than the first time I epilated my arms! My chest hurt even more!

Electrolysis is the only FDA-approved method of permanent hair removal, and works for most skin/hair types, unlike laser which is not always permanent and only works effectively on light skin and dark hair. Electrolysis seems to be more worth the pain and time, given that it is guaranteed to be permanent.

But yes, I too hate facial hair. Plucking is oddly satisfying though, and gets rid of the little blighters for about 2 weeks.

Plucking would take me too weeks just to clear my face! lol

Quote from: RavenMoon on December 14, 2013, 04:44:20 PM
Plucking would take me too weeks just to clear my face! lol

I once spent 3 hours in the mirror doing it, and I have extremely patchy facial hair given the prominence of it in the male members of my family. I'm hoping this has something to do with my testosterone levels, but I'm dreading waking up one morning and finding my face and neck covered in a sea of blackish spikes

Perhaps I'll try to get some sort of blocker when I finally see somebody about this next year.

Your face looks very hairless.

Mine wasn't as bad when I was younger, but I have progressively gotten hairier. I can't be shadowless, even right after shaving. 

Quote from: Michaela J. on December 14, 2013, 04:50:44 PM
I have extremely patchy facial hair given the prominence of it in the male members of my family. I'm hoping this has something to do with my testosterone levels

I wouldn't make assumptions. I had patchy facial hair too but my T levels were around 500, which is average. Could just be genetics.

My body is covered in hair and just want it all gone, hopefully since I'm kinda pale with dark hairs lasers work for me, find out at the end of the month. I probably won't get to start HRT until end of January or February though.

Sorry to go a little off topic. But this is very important to me. As far as facial hair though as I put it in another reply, I've spent near 2k on my own lasers and Flash-n-go. $$ well spent however being Native American what I had was light and patchy to begin with. I still have to treat every two weeks though. I'm going to give my devices a little more time as I haven't started hrt yet due to not being able to find a doctor near where I live, but I'm hoping to soon as I have found an Endo within reach, and I'll be seeing a new Family Doctor after the 1st of the year.

Ashley, I noticed your in the 'greater Tampa Bay' area, as you put it. So am I and I'm having trouble finding the right Doctor to get me started on hrt. Could you maybe pm me with some info? I'm north of Tampa a bit but it's not too far to drive -about an hour and a half each way.

Thanks in advance.

Ladies, Ladies, send me your fur.....

Thanks Ashley. That office would actually be closer -only 50 min away! I thank you sooooOO much!!