Hi lagirl,
Like you, I am in favor of doing whatever is best for my clients, including some things that a lot of electrologists might shudder at. A case in point would be with things like brow shaping.
I am using this method myself as I want to be certain that before I have the pattern cast in concrete that I like the shape. What I am doing, and recommend to my clients who want to have their brows permanently shaped is to go to a good estheticist and have the shape waxed first.* If they are happy with the results, I will begin treating the hairs outside the pattern at their regular visits. This generally only takes me a few minutes per treatment and the client is absolutely certain that they like the shape.
If I begin to clear brows and shape them, besides taking about an hour ($65) to do an initial shaping, with only about 30% to 40% effectivity, that percentage of kills will be permanent and, if the client decides they want to go with another shape, there will likely be weak points in the areas I have previously treated.
Conversely, if I get a client that has very fair skin and dark hair, and they ask me about laser, I maintain a list of practitioners that some of my friends have used with good results and will refer them if they desire to go that route. I know that virtually 100% of laser clients will require some degree of electrolysis as it is not safe to work laser anywhere near the eyes. There are also some hairs on most individuals that resist laser. These I can usually eliminate fairly quickly, and if they stick to their schedule, get them to where they want to be within a reasonable time frame. Again, we are limited by the regrowth cycle of the areas of interest.
Realize that I see quite a few TS clients that are working towards RLE as a prerequisite for eventual SRS. They want to become as “passable” as possible (no pun intended) prior to beginning RLE. I fully appreciate the costs involved with transition. I also know that anyone seeking gender transition is usually to the point in their lives where it’s a case of transition or live a very limited, emotionally damaging and painful life in their birth gender. If they can get quicker results with laser then I will be happy to refer these individuals. However, I also maintain a list of practitioners that I consider, and have several negative reports on, to be on the chow wagon, especially with the TG-TS crowd, and I will give anyone who asks “who to avoid” this info.
One thing that I know for a fact is there are a lot of people out there who do everything they can to exploit this group. Most TS are desperate by the time they accept the idea of transition, making them very easy targets of opportunity for those with a gimmick and a slick tongue, making unreasonable statements of what they can do and “promising” results. Most TG-TS are a group that’s not too likely to file complaints or file civil actions for recovery as to do so will usually out them.
They are also a group that generally does not do well with civil actions as they usually wind up having their life dragged through the mud by the lawyers who represent the defendents in civil cases. This also has the effect of prejudicing the juries hearing the cases so it becomes a very humiliating, and usually a minimal, if any, recovery experience.
I guess the main point that I’m trying to make here is that it’s very much a matter of buyer beware when seeking anything related to beauty or gender transition. Unless the guarantees are in writing and the client is capable of producing a preponderence of evidence that the failure of the method was due to negligence on the part of the operator, any type of recovery is very difficult to achieve unless the client has sustained disfigurement or other serious injury. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />
Sigh…Sometimes I feel very old when I hear some of the things that I’ve heard.
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Best regards,
Joanie <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
- While I generally do not make recommendations on this board, I do highly recommend the following estheticist. I have been having her work on my skin for a while and she is very good. She’s also very nice to boot. Karen works at Claudia’s Body and Skin Care Center in Hayward, CA. She can be reached for appointments and consultations at 510-786-2988. She’s the one who shaped my brows and Claudia is doing the electrology. For more info:
Claudia’s Body and Skin Care Center