First off thanks for James and Lagirl and all in the forum!! You have helped me safely get rid of my facial hair. I am a MTF but I am not on hormones because I can’t afford both them and electrolysis. Also I don’t want to be a hairy lady. I had a full clearance for 2 hours of all the black hairs below my lips. I am going to get a full clearance with a 2 hour session next week, all remaining black and white hairs will be gone. If I don’t go on female hormones once all the hairs are gone how soon before I need touch ups. Every 1, 2, 5, 10 years?
Hi Beth:
From my personal experience, and from talking to others the average male beard takes about 200 hours total spread over a couple of years. Some take more hours and some less.
James will have his own statistics on this, but probably once you get to first full clearance you may only need a couple of hours a week to maintain that, and then gradually less.
HRT does not eliminate facial hair growth on adult terminal hairs.
Alicia
Oddly enough, it is genetic females who have to worry about new hairs growing after clearing out all growing hairs over the 9 to 18 months it takes to reach Full Clearance, not men. Why; because men have more follicles active in the first place. When a person born male has reached Full Clearance, (all hairs currently growing have been treated, nothing left but follicles which have never grown hairs before.) that person will have treated an average of 100 to 600 follicles out of a possible 1,000 follicles per square inch (2.5 square centimeters) and the rate of recruitment for new hair bearing follicles is usually very low, say 3 to 5 new follicles every 3 to 6 months.
Since each instance of hormonal imbalance is an opportunity for a woman to recruit new hair bearing follicles, everything from her monthly cycle, to an argument with her boyfriend is an opportunity to sprout 3 to 5 new hairs. A person born male, who is having no drug interactions has nothing but the natural continueance of what ever hair growth he may have had going forward.
So you see, a Genetic Female who has hormonal issues, stress, and unresolved drug interactions, or maybe PCOS will actually spend more time over the years at the electrologist’s office post Full Clearance, than any Genetic Male.
I even have a client who is a good example of this. I have a guy who came to me due to having a testosterone imbalance that made his face grow in excess of 600 hairs per square inch. In order to look like he had shaved, he had to shave 4 times a day! We achieved Full Clearance, and although he never did anything about the high testosterone, I now see him twice a year for touch ups. Last visit, we cleared his whole face and neck in 45 minutes and a total of 333 hairs. This from a guy who once had a 1,000 hair row per line on the upper lip! This guy had more hair in his mustache than many men have on their entire face! Do you get it? His touch up yielded less hair over the entire face and neck than going one across on his upper lip once required. I call that success, and so does he.
Thanks James and Aliciadarling. By reading some post I got the impression that if I killed all the hairs on my face and remained on male hormones, new hair would grow. I’m glad that is not the case. Then when I go on female hormones the electro is not a waste of my hard earned $$$.
You are welcome.
In either case the electrolysis is not a waste, as it still removes the hairs you have, and makes it easier to get clear later, as there will be fewer hairs to deal with, if there are any to deal with at all. I think I can speak for all of us when I say, a 5 minute appointment once every 6 months would be much more perferred over more treatments at shorter intervals, like when one was going for first clearance.
Hi Beth:
Depending on your age, it is possible to develope new hair growth on your face into adulthood due to the influence of testosterone. Approximately what age group do you fall into?
Were you planning on going on HRT some day? Anti-androgens would probably reduce the potential for new hair growth.
As far as electolysis goes, sometimes a hair is killed on the first treatment, but sometimes it takes several treatments to permanently kill it. Also hair goes through various phases of growth, so even if you have treated an area once you may get a dormant hair coming out in that same area you just treated. that is why getting a first clearance and maintaining a regular schedule of tratment is important.
Alicia
I am 34 years old. I would be on hormones today if I had $$$ and my family understood. I had my testosterone levels checked and they are in the middle. Thanks again for your help James and Aliciadarling. P. S. The best thing is I almost forget to shave below my lips because white hairs are pretty much all that is left.
Hi Beth:
I think if you get to full clearance and get on a regular schedule to keep it clear you should be fine. The good thing about white hairs is that they don’t show under the skin as with the dark hair. Electrolysis will remove the white as well as the dark ones.
As far as family goes, that is a tough call and a personal decision. Sometimes though we have to do what is right for us,
and it could be that 10 years from now you may just “have to do it”. If it is any consolation there are 10’s of thousands of us who have been in that position before. I have no regrets about my decision whatsoever.
Alicia