As I had mentioned in my introduction I am rather hairy but I am lucky enough to have quite thick hair on my head. What I was wondering is how anti androgens and E affect these types of hair? Secondly I am pre everything right now, in theory if I were to start the ball rolling and go to my GP tomorrow how long is the process until meds are prescribed and are there any fast track routes? BTW I'm in the UK. x



Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk

Hi Sam. We are in similar circumstances I went to the doctor for first appointment about 3 weeks ago and a second  doctors apointment last week he is referring me to an endocrinologist which has a 6 to 8 month waiting list where they prescribe relevant hormone treatment. I asked about the therapy but her said your 48 so you seem like you need this.I live in Ireland by the way.

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

Thank you Sandra. I hope the system in the UK is similar. It's good to know that you didn't need therapy based on your age, hopefully it's a step I can skip too. x

Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk

Hi Sam79 [emoji5].  To answer you first question, AAs and E should not have any negative impact. E will increase the growth stage of the follicle lifcycle,  giving,  in theory thicker hair. They will reduce body,  but not facial,  an YMMV.
The UK NHS does not prescribe for hairloss at all. My GP did me a private prescription for Finasteride which costs £5/month, cheaper than the NHS fees!
Full AAs and E will only be prescribed once you have been through the GIC assessment stages. Private GIC services are faster (and cost quite abit)  or the GenderGP will provide private bridging prescriptions while the GIC cogs turn. X

Sent from my MI 5s using Tapatalk

Thank you so much for the info Megan. BTW I'm not fully up to speed with all the acronyms, what does YMMV mean? x

Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk

Never mind, I know now x

Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk

Quote from: Sam79 on August 14, 2017, 05:39:40 AM
As I had mentioned in my introduction I am rather hairy but I am lucky enough to have quite thick hair on my head. What I was wondering is how anti androgens and E affect these types of hair? Secondly I am pre everything right now, in theory if I were to start the ball rolling and go to my GP tomorrow how long is the process until meds are prescribed and are there any fast track routes? BTW I'm in the UK. x



Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk

Hi Sam,

First of all, sorry for the length of my answer... I tend to be verbose. [emoji28]

Being originally from a southern European country, I was VERY hairy (and unlike you had already a quite substantial male pattern baldness) before beginning my transition. I knew that HRT would do some good to both these issues, but I didn't know how much.


January 2017... Hairy enough, hum? [emoji23]

I've been on HRT since exactly 7 months and although I DID notice some reduction in the density and coarseness of my body hair, I was since the very beginning pretty sure that I would need some other extra method to get rid of it. And I was right...

I could have opted for laser at a beauty institute, but the costs would be prohibitive because I'd need to be lasered several times from neck to toes (literally!). So I decided to invest in an IPL device (Philips Lumea PRESTIGE IPL SC2009/00). IPL (intense pulsed light) is a technology akin to laser, that is, it emits an intense light in a relatively narrow range of wavelengths; the light is absorbed by the pigmented hair, heats up and theoretically the root is literally cooked in the process. The main difference with laser is that the light of a laser has a much narrower wavelength and that allows to use higher energies.

So what I did was buying that IPL machine and I've been flashing myself once a month per area since the very beginning and am very satisfied with the results so far. I noticed that it is especially effectiveon my forearms, chest and tummy and the least effective on my thighs. Effectiveness seems to be related to the depth of the root, which is different in various anatomical regions.

As with any light-based hair removal technology, it is only effective on pigmented hair (the darker the better) and lightly pigmented skin (the fairer the better).

It's still too early to know if I will need laser, but even if I do, I am totally sure that the IPL device has paid for itself several times. It cost me around 450€. If laser is needed, I will have saved thousands of euros.

So here follows the interim result of 7 months HRT + monthly IPL. I only shave 2 days before doing IPL, but I can tell you I have no problems with wearing short sleeves until my monthly shaving because the newly grown hair is much finer and lighter in color, now.


August 2017... Much better! [emoji10]

Hope this helps. If you have any questions, just ask!

Sarah

Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk

Wow Sarah what a difference. I although I'm not so hairy on my chest, my hands, forearms, legs and behind are close to what you dealt with. I think one of those gadgets might be on my shopping list soon. Thank you[emoji11]

Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk

That's impressive Sarah! What brand/model IPL did you use?
I've had 2 professional (thanks to a groupon-$199 USD) laser clearings on my face (out of 6 - #3 is Saturday), and so far I've had no results. In fact, my upper lip hair seems darker & much harder to shave now. I know I need to be patient, but I'm paranoid.
I was originally planning to start electrolysis on my other areas (Thankfully, I have very minimal hair on my chest, but my armpits & below the waist are pretty bad) next month, but I'm starting to worry whether I can afford that right now (I could really only afford one visit a month). So the alternative is home IPL or find a groupon for a different laser place.

Quote from: Sarah_P on August 14, 2017, 11:58:35 AM
That's impressive Sarah! What brand/model IPL did you use?
I've had 2 professional (thanks to a groupon-$199 USD) laser clearings on my face (out of 6 - #3 is Saturday), and so far I've had no results. In fact, my upper lip hair seems darker & much harder to shave now. I know I need to be patient, but I'm paranoid.
I was originally planning to start electrolysis on my other areas (Thankfully, I have very minimal hair on my chest, but my armpits & below the waist are pretty bad) next month, but I'm starting to worry whether I can afford that right now (I could really only afford one visit a month). So the alternative is home IPL or find a groupon for a different laser place.

Hi Sarah!

I bought a Philips Lumea PRESTIGE IPL SC2009/00 because there were good reviews and it includes a smaller headpiece which theoretically is for the face, but I found it very handy for my knuckles and other irregular and bony parts of the body, such as the wrists.

I tried IPL on my face but with very limited results (if at all) - at least in the beginning. I didn't mention the beard because it wasn't OP's question, but I can say that I went for an entirely different solution that requires some willingness to learn and a good pinch of DIY (PM me if you wanna know)... That method got me rid of most of my coarse beard (except under the jaw) so now on these areas I have mostly a fine beard which has been responding quite well to laser (2 sessions so far, next session in two days). The other day I tried IPL again on that finer beard, but it's difficult to ascribe the effect to IPL or to laser from 1 month ago... I decided that 3 weeks after laser I'd do one IPL pass on my beard anyways... Might help to get rid of some hairs and it doesn't hurt. I bought 5 sessions of laser in advance because there was a good discount (5 for the price of 4, meaning 400€ for 5 sessions, beard + neck).

And yes... patience is needed with laser and IPL. [emoji4]

I don't know about the hair density in your problematic areas, but unless you're fortunate enough to be almost glabrous, starting immediately with electrolysis would probably be unpractical and painful, even with anesthetic creams, etc. I think I'd give a shot at IPL or laser, first.

Hugs, Sarah

Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk

Spiro & other AAs as well as finasteride will help to lower T/DHT that cause genetic male paternity balding and estrogen can help to increase fullness, influence texture, and affect the size of the follicles. Depending on your stage in hair loss you'll most likely see at least a cessation in continued thinning and if you are lucky your hair will thicken too. I was  slowly balding from about age 21 and was very thin up top back in January but 7months of finasteride & 4 of HRT has done a lot to reverse the balding and increase fullness & my natural curl and color are even coming back. I've still got a while to go before I see 100% recovery, but I'm confident in growing it out now where a few months ago I felt like I'd be wearing a wig for the rest of my life.

Quote from: Rambler on August 14, 2017, 12:59:56 PM
Spiro & other AAs as well as finasteride will help to lower T/DHT that cause genetic male paternity balding and estrogen can help to increase fullness, influence texture, and affect the size of the follicles. Depending on your stage in hair loss you'll most likely see at least a cessation in continued thinning and if you are lucky your hair will thicken too. I was  slowly balding from about age 21 and was very thin up top back in January but 7months of finasteride & 4 of HRT has done a lot to reverse the balding and increase fullness & my natural curl and color are even coming back. I've still got a while to go before I see 100% recovery, but I'm confident in growing it out now where a few months ago I felt like I'd be wearing a wig for the rest of my life.

Thank you Rambler, I'm glad the HRT has had that effect for you. Hopefully I'll be able to grow my hair out too. x

Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk