hair removal stupid question

[mary83054]

Sorry Ladies, I do not want to go over an issue that i am sure some of you are tied hearing about but I really have lookied around and have not found an answer.  I wonder about my leg hairs, currently I am just shaving as I still need to be in my male personna on occassion, but my question is this when I start to tansition do I need to worry about my leg hair or will being on hormones basically take care of that issue.  I will be doing electrolysis for my beard and am reading how long and how expenive that is going to be if I need to do electrolysis on my legs the cost is going to get astronomical as I am pretty hairy.  Also has anyone heard about needing to do electrolysis in the groin are prior to surgery to have a clean result.



Mary

[Annie Social]

To coin a phrase, 'there's no such thing as a stupid question'. 

Hormones, especially t-blockers, will tend to reduce body hair in most people, as well as making it somewhat softer. If the hair is light to start with, it may disappear completely, but as you say you are 'pretty hairy', it probably won't go away completely. Remember though, everyone is different, so you really just have to wait and see.

I was lucky; I've always had extremely light body hair, and now after 4 months of HRT, I can go days without shaving my legs before I can even feel it, and weeks before anything is visible. Even then, you have to look hard. (Sorry; body hair is one of the few things I can brag about, so I had to throw that in there!)

At the very least, you should get some reduction, so it may be a good idea to hold off until you've been on hormones a while to start hair removal on the legs. I would also look into laser; there are a couple of good threads here on the subject.

Hair removal on the groin area is required by most surgeons prior to SRS; you certainly don't want hair growing on the inside! I have heard one doctor say that hair should be removed from the shaft of the pens itself, and in a one-inch radius around the base.

At least one doctor (Suporn, I believe?) doesn't require it; he uses a technique in which the hair follicles are scraped away from the underside of the skin during surgery.

Annie

[Melissa]

Also, assuming after you've been on HRT for a while, you still find your body hair unacceptable, if you have dark hair, laser may be a better option for you.  It's much cheaper and even if it doesn't completely go away, it will at least reduce it.

Melissa

[stephanie_craxford]

Hair removal on the groin area is required by most surgeons prior to SRS; you certainly don't want hair growing on the inside! I have heard one doctor say that hair should be removed from the shaft of the pens itself, and in a one-inch radius around the base.

Actually Annie it's about a 50/50 split.  The surgeons at the Menard clinic in Montreal do not require it either.  In-fact a lot of surgeons are now scrapping the follicles during surgery, thus eliminating the hair.

As far as leg hair goes Mary, many, many, if not most GG have leg hair and each uses the many methods of hair removal available.  It's a common problem so not as important as beard removal for the trans person unless you are hairy like a bear .  Leg hair is easily and affordably dealt with by waxing.  Many women use this method and the results are very, very good.  I've been waxing for at least 7 to 8 years and my leg hair is almost nonexistent now.  You would be surprised at the number of women who live in the colder climates (northern US and Canada for example) who let their leg hair grow during winter months as it is easily covered by the seasonal fashions worn by women during those brisk cold months - Pants and tights easily cover the winter fur.

Personally I get my legs waxed every 6 to 8 weeks at $45 for a full leg and bikini.  The results are excellent, but as others have mentioned you have a lot of other methods of hair removal available at a varying degree of permanency and cost.

The big issue is that all women have leg hair, not as hairy as men but hair just the same.  HRT will over time, cause your body hair to grow in lighter, and sparser, it's just a matter of time and choosing an economical method of controlling it.  Leg hair is easily controlled.

Steph