Hey everyone,
I’ve been blessed with black body and facial hair along with quite dark skin (type 5) as a cisgender woman (25). I have very coarse hair in the normal female areas (full legs, armpits, brazilian), but I also grow thick hairs on my butt, lower back, toes, and top of feet. The rest of my body (face) is covered in medium black hair (not vellus, but not coarse - but still thicker and longer than the typical “female” arm hair. I hate the hair, it completely destroys my self esteem, and it consumes my thoughts daily.
I’ve done everything under the sun to remove the hair, and I’m hoping to use this space to update folks in similar situations about what has worked for me and what hasn’t. I may ramble a lot and honestly most of the information may not be new, but I hope it helps someone out.
Hair inhibitors: don’t bother with them. The only thing that somewhat worked was Kalo but it stinks A LOT and the hair grew back normally once I stopped using it. Probably worth using if you’re doing electrolysis and want to hide the hairs until your electrologist gets to that area. FYI I’ve tried Skin Doctor’s Hair No More, Completely Bare Hair Inhibitor, turmeric masks, and some random cream from Amazon. All have been a complete bust.
Electrolysis: I’ve been doing it on my face for almost five years now and fairly consistently. I can say for absolute certainty that it works. HOWEVER, my facial is somewhat fine and very very dense (probably denser than a typical man’s beard) which means that I still have a long way to go. Plus, I see some really dark coarse hairs pop up here and there and that has been a huge source of my self esteem issues because I realized I may have to continue touching up my face for the rest of my life 
Waxing/Shaving: Would work wonderfully with my type of hair but I suffer from really bad ingrown hairs. I’ve tried all sorts of topical applications including Tend Skin, PFB Vanish, and others.
Laser Hair Removal: As someone with dark skin, I knew going into it that my results would not be ideal. But I figured it would be work pretty well on the really coarse hairs.
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Full Legs: First round of 8 was done using Nd YAG, with the last treatment completed in fall of 2018. It seemed to work, but I don’t think my practioner used high enough settings because I only had about 60% reduction, with the remaining hair still as coarse as it was originally. I started another round of 8 in Summer 2020 with a Diode laser. It was somewhat effective, but my practioner was useless and would miss multiple spots. I should’ve left her, but the treatments were cheap so I kept going… Fast forward to Summer 2021, I moved to a different practioner who also uses a Diode laser which she calls SHR. I’ve done four treatments, and now barely grow any hair because even the fine hairs fall out after each treatment. It’s only been three weeks since my last treatment so I’ll continue to update the longer term results.
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Brazilian: Did Nd Yag for 8 treatments during the same time as my first leg sessions. The results were still really patchy so I ended up going to a different place who also used an Nd Yag but a different machine (stamping method here vs hovering in the previous place). Purchased the 6 treatment package and saw fantastic results. Last treatment was in Spring 2019 and now although I do still have coarse growth, the longer term reduction is at least 90%.
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Underarms: Did Nd Yag for 9 sessions at the same place as my Brazilian and Legs. Unlike the other areas, I had all the hairs fall out after every treatment but I always had significant growth afterwards. I have almost 70% regrowth.
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Back + Neck: Prior to knowing about the possibility of paradoxical hair growth, I had my upper and lower back treated four times using a Diode laser, with the last treatment in Spring 2017. To be honest, I think it did a good job of shaping my neckline and my lower back grew back a lot patchier. However, the practioner never smoothly shaved me so I stopped treatments because I didn’t see a massive difference in the rest of the back. I saw no paradoxical growth, thank god.
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Buttocks: Did 9 sessions starting in Fall 2020 with the Diode laser. I’m on a course of 6 more treatments with a different practioner who I feel is covering all the areas more thoroughly. I’ve had pretty good reduction so far with 3 treatments, but I probably need the additional 3. I haven’t experienced any adjacent paradoxical growth on my lower back, in fact I feel like the hair growth in that area also reduced with the treatments but hard to tell…
Home IPL System: I initially started out using one on my full arms way back in Fall 2015. I’ve used many different systems over the years, and this honestly has been my most reliable method. To start off, the Philips Lumea, Tria, and Smoothskin were completely useless to me. My skin was too dark (even though it was on the tail end of the acceptable range for the machine to work) and I saw very minimal results. The only tried and trusty machine for me was one with the Elos technology. Apparently it uses a combination of IPL and RF to reduce the hairs and I gotta say, the newest machine (Elos Lescolton machine) packs a punch. Am I hair free on my arms and tops of shoulders? Not at all, because I need to touch up every month for the fine stragglers that come along. BUT I’ve had no paradoxical growth at all. Well, let me clarify ~ I’ve had no paradoxical growth in the adjacent areas. Since last December, I have also been using the machine to clear my abdomen, underneath breasts, toes, top of feet, armpits, and mustache. All these areas have responded very well, especially my toes and top of feet. The only resistant area has been the armpits. You can also use the machine immediately after waxing, which I feel has had led to more successful results.
So what do I do to deal with my hairs now? Lots and lots of money have been spent, but I think I have a system that works for now as long as my hairs BEHAVE and don’t decide to become coarse all of a sudden. I don’t think I have a hormonal imbalance because of the type of growth I have (not quite hirsutism) but I should probably get it checked out.
Diode laser: Legs (stopped for now, but will resume for a maintenance session hopefully in the far distant future…)
Elos machine: abdomen, lower breasts, toes, top of feet, full arms
Shaving: Front of neck, collarbone, and chest. I still get horrid ingrowns but alas, I can’t do anything else since I don’t want to risk laser, even the home IPL.
Something new I’ve started is laser hair removal on my back, shoulders, and neck… I know I know, I’m significantly putting myself at risk for paradoxical growth. If I could, I would continue waxing but my skin has really suffered from the ingrown hairs. But as it stands, my ingrown hair situation is quite extreme and I am unable to find any electrologists in the Indiana area that can do marathon sessions 
The sad thing is, I make really good money now and could probably afford full torso electrolysis but electrologists like the wonderful people who frequent this forum are scarce I signed up for a Nd yag laser this time at a clinic that offers lifetime guarantee which is why I decided to go with the treatment. I’m hoping that since my previous diode treatments didn’t cause paradoxical growth, I’ll be fine… fingers crossed and I’ll continue updating this thread. I’ve had one treatment so far, had good shedding, and I’m due for the second session in a week.
Anyways thanks for reading!! I wanted to post pictures, but I have a really hard time taking a clear picture with my phone’s camera. I wish you all the best and I know it can be really hard to believe, but each and everyone one of you is beautiful despite anything going on in your life.
