Find a good clinic and see. Prices vary by location but it should still be in the low hundreds. What’s your skin type?
Prices will vary, I paid $200 at my first clinic, but my current one is $75, which to be honest is realllllly cheap but that’s the methodology with my clinic, they use really low price so you refer friends and are happy with your results. Laser on the face does hurt a lot, you have to be a special person to put up with it! I’m not trans, I just would prefer to not have to shave and to be young and beautiful looking forever. Haha jk. I think it’s worth it, I’ve had 3 treatments on my face so far, the last one was 6 weeks ago so most of the hair is back after this session. It’s definitely worked so far, except on my chin where hair is very hard to remove with laser due to it being so deep. I realize it’s not long enough to judge the permanency thing, but I have faith. Mainly because A) I’m skin type 3 with dark coarse hair and light skin, B) My laser tech is experienced in male beards and knows what she’s doing, and C) the fact that she’s not a scammer and uses as high of settings as possible, resulting in great shedding. So the only way it wouldn’t work for me is… well I don’t really know how it couldn’t to be honest.
Having said that, I really think you need more than 3 laser sessions if you want to go that route. Having had 3 myself and needing another one soon, I’d say so far I’ve had maybe a 20-25% reduction in the hair on my face. I’m definitely happy with it so far, even with that reduction, when I shave you barely see any stubble like before. However if you’re trying to do laser to have fast sessions before electrolysis, I think you will want to do more laser first.
It’s hard to say though, for myself, I did it like I said just because I don’t want to have to shave as often, and when I do shave I don’t want to see any stubble. Meaning, even if 10-15% of the hair remains that’s totally fine with me. Being trans though is completely different since you of course want 100% removal. Because of that, you may want to start with electrolysis. It will take much longer, but at least you know you’re not wasting any money, and you can be confident that every hair that’s removed will never come back.
This is all good advice thanks! It seems electrolysis is safer, but it seems lots of people have good experiences with laser too… So how much money did it cost to have that 20-25% reduction you were talking about Edokid? Was it $200 total or for each of the three sessions? If you had spent the same amount you spent for that reduction with laser on electrolysis treatment, do you think you would have more or less then a 20-25% reduction?
Also, does anyone know people who had laser treatment more then a few years ago, with sucessful permanent results?
After a long period of going back and forth, I tried laser first, since I was an “ideal” candidate for it and I could get a good deal on treatments. I figured I’d lose 90-95% with laser and clean up the remainder with electrolysis.
The reverse happened. Long term I have some spot reduction, but almost all of it grew back and I am back to where I was in the first place. Based on my experience and the experiences of people I know, long term laser doesn’t accomplish much of anything on male facial hair. However, the experiences of I and my friends are not a scientifically valid experiment, and some folks here have had good results with laser. However, if I had it to do all over again, I would just do electrolysis.
One thing that is not mentioned often about laser, is that it does not work well on distorted hair, and that is one possible reason I did not have much success with it.
LAgirl who responded previously has had long term permanent results. As well as many many others. I’ll let edokid answer the other treatment since I’ve never had either treatment on my face. 
As I said I can’t really comment on how well it will work since it hasn’t been long enough. What I can comment on though is that the results and reaction I’m getting so far match exactly the results I’ve had on my underarms, forearms and abdomen. I realize there’s twice as much hair on the face than these other areas but just saying so far there’s nothing out of the ordinary between my face and anywhere else, except on my chin. Hair is hard to treat here, it’s much deeper and I’ve gone back for touchups at the highest setting and spot size and still have 2 spots on my chin that refuse to shed. So basically when I shave now, I’m smooth everywhere but a bit dark in these 2 areas! (Nothing a little mac can’t hide though.)
My first session was $200, then I switched clinics and had 2 more at $75 each so $350 so far. Ah you had to make me add that up, now I’m starting to think of how much I’ve paid for everywhere I’ve done! (The good thing with laser is the no package per treatment approach but it’s bad at the same time since it’s too easy to be in there for a treatment and to say, “let’s do here or there too”!)
I honestly can’t compare to results with electrolysis, I’ve never had it or done it so I have no idea what it would look like. I’m very happy with laser so far though. I can’t wait to be done treatment so I can post and help people out. Actually that’s only half true, I sort of enjoy going for treatment, I find the whole process fun and exciting!! I just love it so much because it’s just such an easy procedure for such amazing results that can make you so happy. Like I said though, compare the cost with laser and electrolysis since we both have different goals. If money isn’t a huge issue, go ahead try laser then switch over, but if you’re tight on funds you might want to compare the two since electrolysis is more guaranteed. I figure I’ll switch to it eventually depending on the results I get, since like I said you still have a few light blonde hairs on your upper lip mostly that you don’t see until you do laser and have the dark hair shed out. Also if my chin doesn’t shed in my next treatment I’ll be forced to do electrolysis there as well.
Vicky, what laser were you treated with on your face?
I guess its just impossible to know what the best strategy is, which makes me lean towards electrolysis just because its safer. Laser sounds so much easier, and I do have dark hair, and light skin (not pale white, closer to a Mediterranean slightly tan skin tone)and people have told me that I am an ideal candidate for laser, but I’m scared to try something that seems to have such a little amount known about it.
Yes, if you want a sure thing, you’ll probably want electrolysis. Laser offers a lot of advantages, but “100% guaranteed results” isn’t one of them. 
Thanks for your input.
If you’re looking for the method that will get you results fastest and cheapest, you will need to combine the two. You will need to have a full set of about 8-10 laser treatments (good ones at good settings with a good machine) and then remove the remaining finer sparse hairs with electrolysis. Laser can only target dark coarse dense hair and you won’t have that after 8 or so treatments.
The reason some people need touchups is for NEW hair that your body may develop. If you’re TG, you’re on hormones, so that won’t apply to you. The hormones will prevent new growth and probably help with current growth too.
To get results with either laser or electrolysis, you need someone with a good machine who will know how to set good settings. That’s what the FAQs are for and the other form you can see at the third link below. You will need to sample 4-5 clinics before you choose one that fits the bill. Same with electrologists afterwards.
We have past threads on the Bay Area clinics here that you can find by running a search. My friend got great results from Aura Skin Spa in SF. They have good lasers. However, you still need to do your own research to make sure you understand what they’re doing and so you know whether you should ask them to be more aggressive etc.
Start by telling us your skin type and hair color and we can go from there.
Costs vary and you can bargain. Generally, laser for full face costs in the range of $200 per treatment. Electrolysis is paid by the hour, usually around $70 per hour. A good electrologist using thermolysis removes 5-10 hairs per minute.
I should add that my last laser treatment was over 3 years ago. Still no hair.
On your face? How many treatments did you get? How dark is your hair and how pale is your skin? And how much did you pay? Also where did you get it done? Are there any good places near San Francisco that you know of?
Sorry for so many questions but if you could answer all of them that would be great, Also, with people you know how often was facial hair laser sucessful for men.
LAgirl did not have her face done (to my knowledge she’s a genetic female). You can get some of your questions answered by reading her treatment diary that she has linked in her signature, since she’s not online at the moment. She said she has skin type II (light skin) with very dark hair. She got most of her treatments in Southern California I think.
It’s pretty simple in how it works, and how to get results. Laser DOES work if done correctly. The problem is that there’s hundreds of clinics out there that say they do laser hair removal, yet they only use IPL, or a Yag, or Diode or an Alex etc. IPL on the face, forget it. Same with Yag, there’s so many clinics that say they’re laser hair removal, yet they only have a yag. Nothing against yag but it’s more for tattoo removal and darker skin colours, meaning way less effective on lighter skinned people. The other issue is training, a lot of clinics hire people or start up themselves, and they have the manual that says “Skin type 3, put machine at this setting” which may not be high enough to permanently destroy the hair. That’s why with laser it’s so important to know what you’re doing and have someone that knows what they’re doing as well otherwise you won’t get good results. So again, the risks with laser are really more that they’ll use a bad machine, or the tech won’t have experience and so on, versus whether the technology behind laser will work or not.
Also it seems like people who have much less sucess with laser on facial hair then on other body hair. At least thats the conclusion that I’m coming to. I’m tempted to just go the safe route with electrolysis.
If I got one session of laser done, would I be able to tell if it was working, or would I not be able to tell until I got multiple sessions.
No you won’t know. You’ll get an idea if you’re on track if the hair all sheds out. If it doesn’t shed you know something is not working and they should re-treat you, but just because the hair sheds also doesn’t mean it’s working, it may only be damaged but not permanently. It’s just a good indication. Either way you won’t notice anything after 1 session, when the hair grows back it will look the same. I’ve had 3 and have maybe 20% reduction if that. Like I said, I’m all for laser but if you want 100% results then electrolysis is the only guaranteed method.
So 3 laser session is 20% reduction and probably about $500 I’m guessing. It seems like electrolysis might be cheaper than that, right?
It was a Cutera Coolglide
We work on ALOT of transgenders in Texas and have several video testimonials from them on working with us. My question of you is why are you so overly persistent about what other people’s results were?
No humans DNA or body is the same, you could talk to a hundred different transgenders that have used laser hair removal with great results and your results could be suck for lack of a better word. Or vice versa.
Bottomline transgenders more than any other group in the 35 years experience we’ve had in hair removal business are very impatient and want damn near instant results. Hair removal doesn’t work like that or fast like they want (we understand fully why this is), there will always be maintenance treatments maybe for life.
Hair NEVER really stops growing, so even if someone (you can’t) but if you could kill every hair follicle on your body today, more hair wouldbe growing back tomorrow to some degree.
Transgenders more than the general public also don’t just want a big reduction of hair, they want no hair at all in certain places. There expectations and goals are off the charts high compared to say a guy with a hairy chest who just wants his chest hair reduced alot, but not look like a Calvin Klein model.
Best advice go to Laura’s Playground website and she has a great transgender “friendly” list in every state of electrologists and laser hair removal techs to choose from. We’re the only one for example on there for Austin, TX metro area.
Take care Emma