Hi everyone,

I've been on HRT for two months, and have noticed that my body hair grows in lighter, sparser, and slower than before.  Occasionally, I get a truly black hair on my shoulder or chest, but it's honestly kind of an odd sight at this point, just because I'm not used to seeing them.  However, I still have body hair nonetheless, most prominently on my legs.

So, my question is: Is body hair reduction a continual process, or is it just kind of an initial reaction to being on anti-androgens? If it is a continual process, how long does it typically take for body hair to just stop growing?

Thanks (:

Jasper

Hair is only reduced in thickness, coarseness and length (longevity of growth cycle) but it will not disappear completely. All genetic women are covered in body hair but for the majority of them it is very light, fine and short vellus hair rather than the longer, coarser, darker terminal variety that genetic and trans men develop due to testosterone. So it never disappears fully. Depending on a number of factors, including racial genetics, you may find body hair is a lot less noticeable but without permanent removal (laser or electro) it will always keep growing back.

It's continual, but how long it takes is widely variable, which may not help you much. For me, I didn't see much change after about six months in. At that point, I had vellus hair everywhere except lower legs, forearms, armpits, and pubic area.

Don't forget that most cis women have non-vellus hair on their legs (and arms, and underarms); it's generally a bit shorter, sparser, and finer than male hair, but even that's not a guarantee. I've known cis girls with more leg hair than I ever had! After all, women wouldn't complain about shaving their legs if it weren't necessary to look hairless (=if the hair there was invisible, they wouldn't shave it).

Well my 10 cents worth. I lost all of my body hair from male pattern to female pattern within 6 months of Spiro. I used to get my body waxed and never have since. I get two patches of leg hair growing, same place on each leg

Yes reduction in facial hair is somewhat different.

Just for 'this is a weird fact'. My first research publication was on hair growth cycles in male and female rats; I'm going to use my female perogative of not saying how long ago that was published

I've found that waxing has considerably helped to stunt regrowth and density/coarseness. Although my forearms and hands appear hairless it is still there, albeit very light and very fine..

Quote from: Ms Grace on November 09, 2014, 12:34:47 AM
I've found that waxing has considerably helped to stunt regrowth and density/coarseness. Although my forearms and hands appear hairless it is still their, albeit very light and very fine..

Yes it goes to the female light hair growth, I'm not 'hairless' just female distribution.

BTW this needs checking as when you go for GCS some surgeons want electrolysis down there if too hairy, some surgeons don't care as they will scrape off follicles and some are happy with the light feminine growth (apologies if that is TMI )

I'll throw in my experience from about 7 months or so of hormones(a lot longer on spiro, anything I'm saying is in regards to change from E since I can't remember my hair growth patterns from 2 years ago). I'm decently hairy naturally(Italian genes yo), so far the hair on most of my upper legs(minus the inner thigh) has become considerably more sparse. The lower leg is only a bit more sparse, same with the chest/abdomen, but it also grows in quite a bit slower, even on my face(I don't get stubble by the evening anymore). I don't know about my arms, I've been shaving them since I was like 19 and I'm pretty religious about making sure there's no stubble.


Now here's the irony, it's actually harder to shave now, everywhere, even my face. The hair grows in slower, but that means it doesn't all pop out of the skin at the same time like it use to.
edit: I'm 26 for age reference

My body hair is feminine and on that the light side. Beard growth has slowed but unfortunately still growing. My head hair is recovering and at 50% recovered, last off first on. I guess I noticed the hair changes at about 6 months and it took a year in total.

My body hair became thinner and lighter but is still around @.@ even my chest But its so thin waxing is more then enough!

To answer your question yes it will stay but get more feminine.

Thanks everybody for the timely topic. I just started my HRT today (yay!) with a Barbie-sized dose of E (hope this doesn't violate the forum rules). I'm naturally low on T so we're going to let that ride for now and look at ramping the E in a month. My problem is that I make Chewbacca look like a Chihuahua and have hair in places I'm pretty sure the Creator didn't intend for it to grow. So it looks like I may have some reduction with HRT based on the comments above, but it doesn't sound good for getting to a feminine level without some help. The endo is basically saying that I'm not going to see much reduction even with DHT blockers.

Any advice or comments on my doing a round or two of laser would be appreciated--I'm fair with mostly black hair. I'd hate to incur the expense, but if I'm gonna I'd rather get the benefits now. My disphoria is being exacerbated by my chaetophobia.

Cheers,

Julie

My body hair has reduced quite a lot over the past two years, Other than fine hairs my arms and some patches below my knees, I have essentially no body hair.  I have to search by feel to find the few arm hairs I have left.  Even my pubic hairs are less dense and a lot shorter and finer.

I would guess the effect is from a reasonable dose of Spiro I have been on since I was being treated for Cardiomyopathy prior to starting HRT.  I fully recovered from Cardiomyopathy, but have continued the Spiro and added the Estrogen about 2 years ago.

Freya

My body hair was never really a super big issue, but more of it than I'd like existed. I used to sugar my whole body once a month and shave once for maintainance in between after about 2 weeks. I had to shave my face daily, twice depending on my plans (go out on a date etc.) and the hair cycle I guess.

After about 5 months on HRT my body hair noticeably different. It grows in more sparce and much lighter as well. I don't have to spend much time to maintain it. I will tweeze for about 5 minutes a week for my torso. I have sensitive skin so shaving my legs/arms sucks and often irritates my skin. I will only shave my legs and armpits about once a month. The legs get pretty hairy still, but I think it grows in a little lighter and slower now.  As for my face, I still have to shave daily, however I never have to twice. Some mornings aren't that bad, but I plan on getting electrolysis to get rid of that sometime early next year, unless somehow I find some way to start sooner.

I have been on Estrogen only for 21 months, and now although my hair as not stopped growing, (In fact it started growing on my bald patch) what body hair is much more soft, it definitely lighter, it grows much slower and is much lighter in colour. Before I was on Progynova, if I had a full leg wax and my bikini done, I had thick black hairs in 6 weeks. Now after a full leg wax and bikini wax, after 10 weeks I have no growth below the knee and the hair above it is soft downy, a lot thinner and going blonde. I am staring to get that laser from next week. Also I have noticed that my pubic hair has dramatically changed in appearance. Its now soft and a different distribution and sort of downy, not coarse and thick as before. The pattern is also changing into a sort of Y shape.
JudithLynn

I have lost most body hair, with lightening of Leg and Arm Hair, softening of facial hair... but took a very long time... probably due to starting late in life...

As mentioned in other places, I am looking at Laser to help with face hair reduction and possibly reduce leg hair too... today I still depilate Arm's and legs occasionally as that and HRT has given me the best result... although now thinking of trying no depilation for a few weeks to see how much HRT impact has been made 

Love Katy