Hi. I’m thinking about having electrolysis done on my face. Obviously complete reduction is not realistic, but I would be quite happy with a reduction in the density of the hair.
Is it possible for electrolysis to thin out the facial hair on a man? How would it be done? Would the operator need to pick out hairs randomly for an even reduction? Will it be able to reduce the shadow?
Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me out with this.
Complete reduction and removal is possible if electrolysis is performed correctly. That’s why you investigate your practitoner options in your area.
You say you would be happy with a thinning and this is possible with electrolysis. By selecting individual hairs, the thickest ones first, and perhaps choosing every third hair to treat, this keeps things looking even. The shadow will be reduced. If you are a young man, you may have many hairs waiting in the wings ready to come forth, on their timeframe, for the first debut. This is something you need to keep in mind as you keep refining the area to the point where you are satsified. Even if you have every hair removed just one time, you still have new hair and some regrowth that will come forth after the first clearance because hair grows in cycles and what is presently seen today is not all the hair you really have. A lot of hair remains hiding below the skins surface or wasn’t treatable on the first pass because it was not in the growing phase. Bummer, but this is how it goes and all will get better with constistent treatments over a period of time with a skilled electrologist who has invested in good tools.
If complete removal of a male beard were impossible, I would not be doing this at all. I would not have half of my clients if male hairs could not be cleared once and for all.
Thanks for the quick replies!
I wasn’t actually suggesting it’s impossible, I was just assuming it would take years. I’m certainly willing to commit the time and money to achieve a good reduction.
My concern mainly lies with the possibility of ending up with bald ‘patches’ after individual treatments. After all, there are so many hairs on a man’s face, it seems it would be impossible to remove all the hairs that were growing in one session. What approach should be taken to deal with this issue?
If I saw a guy once every 3 months for 9 months, he would have an even reduction. He would also have 3 weeks every 9 months where he got to enjoy a vacation from shaving.
You just need a couple clearances. That should give you an even reduction overall.
What’s a clearance? How is it achieved?
Clearance means getting all the hair removed one time. So treating whatever is visible at that point once.
Actually, you could end up with such bald patches (and skin with shadow and spots with no shadow) if you opted to go the laser route. I found out the hard way :crazy:
I wouldn’t recommend laser on this area unless treatments are at high settings, overlapped by 10-20%, and you’re willing to deal with at least some patchiness (can be evened out with electrolysis). We’ve definitely had several posters here who achieved a reduction with laser on this area without any patchiness. But they used good equipment and went to very experienced well known techs for treatments.
So I am on hormones, estrogen right now and am a MTF trans. But for those that just want to cross dress how long once the beard is cleared after 2 years shall we say will it stay cleared? In 10 years will it grow back 25%? What have you electrologist’s seen?
Hi Beth:
Once a hair follicle is killed it won’t grow back. That doesn’t mean that someone might not get new growth from other follicles
in the same area due to hormone stimulation in the future however.Bearing that in mind, follow up treatments may be necessary to eradicate the new growth.
Since we are on the subject of cross dressers, I’m a strong believer in the theory of “where theres smoke theres fire”.
If a cross dresser is getting electrolysis or taking hormones
they may be more than just a cross dresser, whether they are willing to admit it to themselves or not.
Alicia
A Trans Client of mine named Tina Marie is a good example for you.
She presented with a very stubborn, and full beard composed of clear, red and auburn hairs roughly 500 hairs per square inch strong. As she did not have the time to really hit it like I would have liked to, it took us about two years to beat it down and claim victory. After that, she had the face of a normal woman her age, and by that, I mean she would come to see me twice a year for a nit-pick session to get hairs that looked like nothing other than the stray wild hair that a menopausal woman would have at the same age. Last year, I saw her only once for a 30 min appointment, and this year, I have yet to see her at all. Trust me, if she had anything to work on, I would be getting a call on The HairLine saying “I HAVE A HAIR!” 
I think most would be thrilled to go from daily shaving, to a hair removal situation that required 30 minutes a year.
On the cross dresser versus TG thing, I would have to say that in my experience, AliciaDarling’s stereotypical statement seems to be born out by my anecdotal evidence. I am well regarded and well known in the TG/CD community around here, and the only so-called CD’s I have ever treated are the ones who later go on to fully transition. The “hardcore CD’s” seem to cling to their beards as some sort of declaration of their male status. Even the CD’s who make their living in drag shows, and therefore would benefit most from either reducing their hair count, or a full removal refuse even a consult. This is true even when the person has ingrown hairs that desperately need resolution.
Of course, we have no scientific evidence to this effect, and the opposing view can be postulated in vigorous opposition and nothing would be gained by the conversation.
Hi:
As far as all that goes Denial is not a river in Africa.
When I mentioned that some CD’s who seek hair removal
or hormones later transition or secretly would like
to transition, I was speaking from personal experience,
and also from talking a lot to others on various message boards.
In some ways the CD thing is just the tip of the iceberg.
Most CD’s will deny that they ever entertain thoughts of transitioning, but we tend to lie a lot even to ourselves
at times, since the truth is pretty difficult to deal with,
and we are afraid of dealing with the truth.
Alicia
Once again, James and Aliciadarling your information is priceless, Thanks!!
Hi Beth:
I’m happy if I was able to help.
Even though an anti androgen such as spironolactone won’t help reduce already established facial hair, it should help with any future growth. You just mentioned estrogen, but it would be better overall for your developement if you combined that with an anti androgen.
Alicia
You are welcome.
All this and more, just for cyber hugs 
James, now technically, you have met one exception to that rule
I was on the fence for many years about having my face done. The ingrowns and other shaving difficulties is what finally pushed me over and I made the decision to just have it removed. As a friend of mine said to me, it is not like my facial hair does something useful, or my life would somehow be better for keeping it and scraping my face until the skin burns is a better option. 
As a straight male, I have never really understood the way most men cling to facial hair. Most jobs require it to be removed, and most women seem to like nothing more than a mustache on their guys, and so permanent removal of the constantly removed hairs would seem to be a savings of money and time.
Most straight guys just look at loss of facial hair to be a loss of masculinity. It almost is as great a mental thing as women getting mastectomies. While I understand a woman’s aversion to a mastectomy, I don’t understand why men would equate loss of facial hair in the same way.