Hi HairTell folks! I chanced upon this place about a week ago and I just wanted to say I am so thrilled I’ve gotten to read some of the perspectives and wealth of knowledge that’s here to learn. The Men’s shaving threads have been especially fantastic to read! Such a clear statement of “I’m doing hair removal and I’m doing it for me” was something I really needed to see others talk about. And there’s so much more reading and learning to do ^^
Up until just this February, I’d been using a rotary epilator, tweezing, or shaving (varies by my age at the time or what body part it is) my full body pretty much since I first noticed terminal hairs growing in, and I’m almost 30 now so it’s been a while! But surrounded by people who talked about hair removal “only because they were pressured to” or who stopped hair removal “because of the pandemic & aren’t going back” was always so unrelatable, as someone who just authentically likes the smooth look and feel for myself better! Even just a few weeks ago I was trying to find threads on any social media of people who felt like me, but so often the answer to “why are we doing this?” wasn’t just a resounding “for ourselves!!” and that made me so sad (and a little confused).
But those hair removal techniques (aside from shaving I suppose) were up until February, because I found an electrologist in my area who I am absolutely thrilled with so far :D. She knows thermal, blend, and galvanic and has been practicing for a long time; I didn’t take any before/after pictures for our consultation because I wasn’t thinking of doing a progress journal at the time yet (where do peeps here normally do their journals?) but I was very pleased, no scabbing or noticably upset skin at all, and she talked about how she was checking for the best frequency for my skin & probe size and learning that stuff was cool :3 I didn’t see any info about her, or anyone in Lacey/Olympia Washington, on the site . . . I should ask her next time if she’s comfortable being mentioned here more than just my vague doting.
My relationship with hair removal has always been a little interesting I think; I was born female but identified as a guy (FtM) until I was ~19. So most people with bodies like mine were probably dealing with feelings like “why am I being expected to shave my legs?” In Highschool, whereas I was dealing with feelings like “I’m probably the only guy in my school who is actually just shaving my pubes and arms and legs all the time because I want to . . .” XD. It was a very interesting cocktail of different gender norms and expectations vs my desires clashing as a teenager! Now I only worry if walking around with smooth legs would get me an earful from an especially opinionated feminist in my very liberal area, haha, that’s probably unlikely to happen though. But I am so excited to begin—and eventually finish!—a more permanent hair removal journey; never before have I looked at body hair and felt empowered by the feeling of “that’ll be gone for good someday!” :3