[Samantha Rogers]

My legs used to have a light coating of fairly dark hair. Never a lot, but noticeable under hose. Before I began shaving a few years ago, if I "dressed" I needed two or more pairs (or something opaque) in order not to show. Now, after all these years, the hair on my lower legs, which I only shave in the winter (shorts in the summer...you know) is almost gone. What few strands that are left are nearly invisible.
But, I am with you Clara. I would love a solution to the ingrown hair "measles" that regularly turn up in the pubic area after epilation.
Does exfolliating and scrubbing really seem to help?

[GoneGirl]

But, I am with you Clara. I would love a solution to the ingrown hair "measles" that regularly turn up in the pubic area after epilation.
Does exfolliating and scrubbing really seem to help?

Yes, exfoliating is essential to avoid ingrown hairs. I have a tendency toward ingrown hair in some areas and not in others. As best I can determine, it depends on the angle that the follicle makes with skin surface; the more it's perpendicular to the skin, the less chance for the hair getting trapped within the epidermis. By scrubbing the skin hard, the layer of dead skin cells is removed, exposing the hair to the air. Some hairs inevitably get trapped, though, and I get the red pimple forming. They take way to long to heal up, too.

Today, I was looking again at LHR units for personal use. The Tria 4X Laser for $450 seems to be the best out there because it uses a diode laser instead of a light bulb to deliver the energy to kill the hair root. The cost of professional laser treatments is prohibitive for me. I can only used it where I still have dark hair (legs, chest, belly, etc.) That rules out my beard which is mostly gray now.

Wow, I didn't expect to write this much. What a chatter box!

Lotsa love,

Clara

[GoneGirl]

I was going over some old threads and thought I'd bump this one to describe my experience with facial hair removal.

I seriously began to consider facial hair removal back in August of this year when I made an appointment to see an electrologist. I have 95% gray facial hair, so laser was not an option for me.

I was nearing a decision to go full-time, and the thought of having to shave twice a day was not a pleasant one. It became apparent that I had made a serious strategic mistake. Most transsexuals get rid of their facial hair well before going full-time. It meant that I was going to have to grow out a section of my beard every week for two years or more. That was not going to work for me.

I heard about volume electrolysis where you check into a clinic for a couple of days during which time all your face and neck hair is removed. Searching the web, I found a place in Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX called E2000 (now called Electrology 3000) that does volume electrolysis. I tried to contact them but got no response.

In the mean time I discovered that the Zukowski Center for Cosmetic Surgery, right here in the Chicago area, did volume facial hair removal in association with About You - Permanent Hair Removal. After talking to the proprietor, Belle Brine, at this year's SCC in Atlanta, I was convinced this was my answer. She spent loads of time with me explaining the technology and methods for removing facial hair permanently in the shortest amount of time.

More to come......

Clara

[GoneGirl]

So, I made an appointment to have my face and neck cleared. It was made clear to me that one clearing would not permanently rid me of facial hair. I had to return every 6 weeks to have my face re-cleared until all hair was killed off. Based on her evaluation of my beard (I sent her up close pictures) she estimated 6 to 9 clearings would be needed, each one taking less and less time to do. The first four clearings would eliminate almost all hair, but killing off the stragglers takes diligence.

So last week I had my first clearing done under her "lumber jack" package. It covers 30 hours of electrolysis over two consecutive days. Local anesthesia is provided to make the treatments virtually painless. The price was $4000 for the 30 hour package.

By electrolysis, I really mean flash thermolysis whereby high frequency microwaves (emitted from the tip of a needle inserted into the follicle) heat the hair root to kill it and seal off the blood capillaries so another hair cannot grow, thus killing the follicle forever.

It ended up taking 32 tech-hours (2 techs working a total of 16 hours over the two days) to clear all my face and neck hair.

More to come....

[GoneGirl]

On the first day, Belle picked me up at a nearby hotel where I spent the night. We arrived at the Zukowski Center at 6:00 am. I was instructed to put on a gown and then seated in a reclining chair. Belle cleaned my face and neck with alcohol which gave a mild burning sensation. She then applied a prescription lidocaine numbing ointment to my beard area. It was stronger than prescription EMLA. I could feel my face and lips getting numb within a few minutes.

Next a medical tech came in to insert an IV drip in my arm. Dr. Z then administered a quick acting, short lived, narcotic sedative. It put me into a kind of twilight sleep. As soon as it took effect, the doc injected lidocaine together with a vaso-constrictor at several locations around my face and neck. I don't remember this happening, so the sedation must have been effective. Without the numbing and sedation these injections are extremely painful. I came out of the sedation amazingly fast with my face and neck completely anesthetized.

Two techs, one on each side of me, one left-handed and the other right-handed, began to extract the hair on my face. They used a 27 MHz Apilus Platinum epilator device using insulated probes. The probe is like a thin needle, but with a rounded tip. It's inserted deep into the follicle along the hair shaft. The tech then sends out a double pulse of microwaves from the tip of the probe to literally cook the moist cells in the vicinity of the hair root (papilla). She then extracts the hair out with a tweezers. It usually comes out with little effort, indicating an effective result. The tech will make adjustments to power setting, type of probe, etc. until the best results are obtained. Without the local anesthesia, this procedure would be unbearably painful. I believe that is why traditional spa electrolysis with just EMLA numbing is not as effective. High skin moisture is critical for good results. It's wise to hydrate your body well before a session.

They work very fast pulsing 10 or 12 follicles in a row, and then coming back with the tweezers to extract them. Extraction is not necessary, but done so they know which follicles have been treated, as well as to judge the effectiveness of the flash; the hair should come out with little resistance.

It was completely painless. They chatted back and forth, myself joining in when they were not working on my jaw. You can't read or watch TV during these long hours due to the bright overhead lights. It can be rather boring when the conversation dies. I nodded off many times and could have slept through some of it except that my snoring kept waking me up...LOL.

More to come....

[GoneGirl]

We broke for lunch at noon for 30 minutes. They ordered in Jimmy Johns sandwiches. My face had already started to swell and my lips were numb, so I had some trouble eating and drinking.

About mid-afternoon the lidocaine started to wear off and I was told to let them know when I started to feel the probe discharges. The girls would move to a different spot on my face where the anesthetic was still working. Eventually, though, it becomes necessary to inject more lidocaine to renew the numbing. When that time came, they offered to administer the sedative again, but stupid me, told them not to bother. Well, that was a mistake. OMG! Those injections are so painful as the vaso-constrictor produces an intense burning sensation.

They finished up for the day late in the afternoon after 9 hours of actual electrolysis. They had removed all the hair on my cheeks, upper lip, and sides of my neck. They still had my chin and the front of my neck to do. It didn't look like much, but oh my, appearances are deceiving.

I was pretty well drained as Belle and I returned to the hotel to have dinner. I just wanted to crash, but I was told my day was not over. A woman was going to arrive at my room to administer what was called "lymphatic system conditioning". It's meant to reduce swelling through body massage that is designed to get an overwhelmed lymph system flowing again. Massage sounded great, but it wasn't what I expected. She put me into a pair of inflatable boots which when connected to a computer controlled pump, inflated pockets with air so that a massaging action was produced. It took about 45 minutes.

I filled my ice packs and applied them to my face to also reduce the swelling. It didn't help much. My face felt and looked like a balloon.

More to come....

[GoneGirl]

The second day started at 8:30am. I had 12 hours of electrolysis left in my package which it was felt should be more than enough to finish up by 3:00p when Dr. Z was leaving for the day.

They put me through the same preparations as the first day. I was instructed to put on a gown and then seated in the reclining chair. My face and neck were cleaned with alcohol, and the prescription lidocaine numbing ointment applied to what was left of my beard. She needed less to cover the remaining hair, so it didn't have as great an overall affect.

The medical tech inserted the IV drip, and the doctor administered the sedation. Again I got really spacey, and the doc injected me with lidocaine/vaso-constrictor at several locations around the bearded portions of my face and neck. Soon I was ready to go. It took 7 hours in the chair to finish clearing my chin and neck, again with two techs working on me.

I presented as a mix of feminine and masculine both days, but they always called me by my preferred name (Clara) and used the female pronouns. They tried to make me as comfortable as possible at all times. If I needed a break, we took one.

It looked like we were going to go over the package 30 hours because the hair on my chin was so dense, so we skipped lunch to make sure the doctor would be around when more lidocaine was needed. I had to have a couple more lidocaine injections to get through to the end. Again, I took them without sedation (what's wrong with me???), but they weren't quite as painful as the day before. That's really the only painful part about volume hair removal when done this way. It's the only way to go, IMO.

Over the two days, my face handled the trauma of being subjected to an estimated 35,000 needle pokes and double microwave pulses pretty well. There was not much redness or secretion (except in the chin area where follicles where density packed). I had no lifting of the skin (blistering). I had moderate swelling in the lower face and neck. My lips were enlarged as well, but not grossly so (some clients are able to see their own lips due to swelling - yikes!).

It's strange to run my hand over my face and not feel any whisker stubble at all. My face will be back to normal in less than a week. At day three of my recovery, the swelling was already way down.

I expect that 25 to 50% of the hairs will have been killed in this first clearing. The kill rate depends on the skill of the electrologist and my own physiology. On the second and subsequent clearings, the kill rate is even higher if the clearing is done at the optimal 6-week time interval. If I allow those new growth 'baby hairs' to grow strong before hitting them again, it will reduce the kill rate substantially.

I've scheduled my next session for January 8, roughly six weeks from now, and I anticipate needing, at most, the one day 23 hour package instead of the two day 30 hour package.

After the 4th clearing, 90 to 95% of my face and neck hair should be permanently removed at an accumulated cost of about $10,000. Yeah, not cheap, but that's accomplished in just 6 months, it's painless, and it's permanent. The remaining hair can be cleaned up with regular short visits to my neighborhood electrologist over the course of another 6 months or so at about $75 and hour.

More to come....

[GoneGirl]

So that's the story. Probably TMI for most of you, but I wanted to provide the details for those who are contemplating facial hair removal.

On day 5 of my recovery, I was able to do a light shave and apply some makeup. I stepped out for the first time in 2 weeks as my female self on a fun little shopping trip with a girl friend. My face and neck still showed some swelling, and my skin was a bit sensitive, but it was so nice to be back in the saddle.

Clara

[EvaMarie]

Good Luck!!! I know kinda how you feel, (looks pretty intense to me) Im stuck here all weekend growing out the very few but still too noticeable dark hairs for my laser appointment on Monday...

Your experience makes me VERY THANKFUL Im having good results with laser

[GoneGirl]

It's been nine days since my full beard clearing by flash thermolysis. My face is healing up nicely. The chin still has a few red spots where the hair was so dense that there wasn't much skin left to take up the empty space. There are white 'baby hairs' sprouting up mainly in the chin area. They are few, however, so at this early point, it looks like I got a pretty good kill rate for a first pass clearing. I love to wake up and feel a smooth face.

Clara