Quote from: Kiwi Jayne on December 17, 2007, 09:05:20 PM
I'm "blessed" with hair on nearly every last little bit of my body. Think "bear" and you'd get a good mental picture.

I get to shave just about everywhere. It's getting lighter, but there is still way to much. The thought of that much electrolysis scare the heck out of me.

To the wooly bear from the hariy werewolf --- I understand completely!!

Daisy

After 3 years or so of hrt, and a year of spiro, I don't have any body hair to speak of, except light hair on my legs, and some very fine, sparce dark hair on my lower abdomen.  I used to have a little chest hair, but it all went away on its own.  I use an Emjoi epilator on my tummy, arms, and hands.  I don't really have to, and am more hair free than many natal women, but yuckers!  I hated having body hair, and won't have it now.  My epilator gets use about every other week.

IM ITALIAN....  i grow hair  on my hair . i have shaved almost every square inch of my body.it feels nice, but i go from smooth to stubble in about 24 hours.   i cant afford laser yet .... maybe if they gave a discount by the yard.. recently i have been using an epliator.  i have gotten most of my chest and 3/4 of each thigh......  in about 3 sessions that lasted hours each. OMG! the pain. the thighs werent too bad, but my chest.....WOW! after the first session i still had the shakes the next day at work.

results...
  shaving: 24 hours after shaving my chest my shirts started velcro-ing to my chest and noticable stubble.... ahter 72 hours i resembled a baby hedgehog

  epilation: 24 hours after epilation my shirt was my enemy but boy was everything smooth.. after 1 week i have new growth everywhere but it is all very fine at this time.... and im due for another go at it... iv never been so excited about pain before.

note: i  did have a nasty run in with ingrown hairs around my breasts, but most of it has cleared with regular loofahing. the breast area was done after a hot shower...  which seemed to make things worse (the pain and ingrowns) 

Question:
What is this Epilator stuff I am hearing about?

RE: Shaving:
I have a nice method:
I don't mind shaving my legs. I kinda enjoy it actually.
Same with my arms. For body and face: Ugh, can get ingrown and ugly, so I use the following method:
high heat showers! Yea, so I got  this technique from an old monk friend of mine, who shaves a lot. I turn the shower up as hot as I can stand it while I am shaving, and then let it go on afterwards. REALLY HOT! like almost can't stand it hot, but can just barely. This seems to have the best results, as I don't get ingrown this way, I don't break out, and It stays smother for a couple of days. I do shave every day. It has gotten easier with practice but I am going to get lasered.

The neck is the worst as it tends to get badly ingrown and broken out. Ugh.
But the high heat most definetely make a huge difference.
It's one of the reasons I don't care about passing: at five oclock its pretty well noticeable.
So I just care about acceptance and not looking perfect.

it looks like an electric shaver but instead of cutters it has rotating tweezer/wheels that pull the hair out by the root. my body is still getting used to it, but it has gotten considerably more tolerable.

Quote from: beth06 on December 18, 2007, 10:25:08 PM
IM ITALIAN....  i grow hair  on my hair . i have shaved almost every square inch of my body.it feels nice, but i go from smooth to stubble in about 24 hours.

Paesana, don't shave. It won't work for us, amica. Middle Eastern women (with a hirsute tendency equal to italiane) have been epilating with sugar since ancient times, it's a tried and true method. It's the gentlest on the skin hair removal method known to humankind. I haven't tried the epilator.

I attain very satisfactory results with sugaring that I can't get from shaving.
1) the result is smoother from the start
2) no stubble: regrowth comes after some weeks
3) regrowth is soft and not stubbly. (If it was done right)... epilation pulls the hairs out by the roots... if you break a the hair under the skin but leave the root in, the regrowth of that follicle will be stubbly because it was already there. When the root is properly epilated, a new hair doesn't grow until the next telogen cycle (is that correct?), and a fresh new shoot grows softer and tenderer.

Drawbacks: 1) keeping the sugar heated to the right temperature is a pain in the tooshis. 2) it can get kind of sloppy... but the good part is, it cleans up easier than anything... just rinse with warm water. Avoid balsam resin which is also sold as an epilation goop, but is a bitch to clean up. Sugar is all I need.

do you make your own? if not what brand do you use?  i tried a sugar recipe from the net and was frustrated because it only pulled about half of the hairs and hurt like in "40 year old virgin". i wan a trans'o'lantern. LOL  thats when i went with the epi. i  figured that if it was going to hurt  so bad i could at least control the rate... and would get moer hairs in the proces. now that i am getting used to it i think id like to try sugar again.

Hum,

To be honest I have never really had much body hair of any kind, but what I do have I epilate to remove it...keeps me silky smooth for weeks on end.

Peace and love,
Isabelle St-Pierre

Quote from: beth06 on December 31, 2007, 08:55:19 PM
do you make your own? if not what brand do you use?

I tried making my own the last time. I think I prepared it wrong. When cooking sugar, to get it the right consistency is a skill that requires exacting precision. A sugar thermometer is a must.

The brand I always use is Parissa, for reliable quality and affordable price. I recommend the Chamomile Body Sugar.

When you have a good quality sugar preparation, it becomes easier to use and gives better results. The pain is manageable; it smarts sharply at first but quickly subsides. <i>Bisogna soffrire per essere bella</i>.

i started shaving recently and will be starting HRT rather soon
so much bloody work though there is no question in my mind that its worth it
esp feeling so good getting dressed up after..for me just sort of brightens me up
-smiles-

Wax,sugar or use an epilator, they all last longer, 4-6 weeks. The more you do it the finer your hair will get. I have a small patch of hair between my boobies, I waxed it off about a month and a half ago and it
s just starting to pop out again.
I've had lasering done on my legs,most of it is gone but a fair bit grows back. I want to have more done, but it's pretty expensive so I'll just have to wait till I can afford to have more done.   Mean while I'll stick to my wax and sugar.

Waxing and lasering don't mix. I'm sure you know that, but in general... if you're planning to laser an area, don't wax it for at least two months before beginning laser there. Shave instead.

Quote from: Hypatia on January 02, 2008, 10:47:02 AM
Waxing and lasering don't mix. I'm sure you know that, but in general... if you're planning to laser an area, don't wax it for at least two months before beginning laser there. Shave instead.

Yes, they prefer that you shave and yes no waxing,sugaring or epilating at least 2 months before laser treatments. The place that I went to said to stop waxing 6 weeks  before treatments was enough. After a whole year of shaving and having my legs lasered at a rate of one treatment per month, a fair bit grew back, most is gone. the rest I sugar off.  I will consider getting some other areas lasered when I can afford to. The years worth of treatment cost me almost 4000 dollars, but I understand that lasering is getting somewhat cheaper.

I'm pretty ... when it comes to epilation, but I shave basically every second night, even after about 9 months on anti-androgens (I LOOOOOVE those, but I really HATE hair). I'm pretty lucky though in that I've never had much body-hair, only a bit of fluff on my tummy and about enough hairs on my chest that you have to count them using your toes as well. I also shave my arms and pretty-much anywhere else I can reach, though I probably don't need to.

As for the itchiness and irritation, I'd suggest trying an aloe-vera and/or tea-trea based gel to soothe those after shaving. I find those to work exceptionally well on the occasions where I do get a bit of a rash or something. Otherwise, unfortunately no suggestions. I have heard that laser is really effective in thinning out body-hair, but that's a wee bit above and beyond my budget to be able to make first-hand comment.

Good luck

Quote from: beth06 on December 30, 2007, 05:10:30 PM
it looks like an electric shaver but instead of cutters it has rotating tweezer/wheels that pull the hair out by the root. my body is still getting used to it, but it has gotten considerably more tolerable.

What??
This sort of thing exists?
Does it work on face and body hair?

Quote from: Sarah on January 02, 2008, 09:25:07 PM

Quote from: beth06 on December 30, 2007, 05:10:30 PM
it looks like an electric shaver but instead of cutters it has rotating tweezer/wheels that pull the hair out by the root. my body is still getting used to it, but it has gotten considerably more tolerable.

What??
This sort of thing exists?
Does it work on face and body hair?

Yep...they exist and can be...um...painful depending upon the place of the body you're using it on...

Peace and love,
Isabelle St-Pierre

So, I checked that link Ashley gave,
Does anyone have a particular model they reccomend?

this is what i  have found.. i started with an emjoi model. it worked but seemed to break quite a few hairs instead of pulling them all the way out. for as much pain as it causes i really want to get it done the first time. after reading reviews on line i decided to try a braun model. it has massage bars that actually helped with the pain. they kind of tingle as the epilator moves across the skin causing a kind of pain radar jamming effect. lol. you still feel the hair get pulled but there is so much going on in the area that it is less noticeable. i got both epilators at a local target. i would highly recommend the braun model.

http://www.101shavers.com/related/1080-2119/Women-Hair-Removal/5270.html



Posted on: January 11, 2008, 10:11:14 PM

---

also they are both noisy, but the braun is so loud that i had to rock my ipod to drown out the noise. lol.

One thing I haven't seen anyone address is back hair. That is really tough to reach to get rid of by any method.  Anyone have any tips?  Or am I the only one trying to deal with it?


Kristi

AGK! epiltors are horrendous :S

Personally i just swipe away in the shower with my razor and its done... (venus envy ftw)

Kristi: Delapatory creams?