Seeing the forest for the trees ( journal of sorts

Hair Removal Methods Do-It-Yourself Electrolysis
#1

So last night I went out, with Nightfrost, to meet someone in from out of town. Hands down one of the hardest things I’ve had to do for a long time, just having a coffee, why? Well, I have a face full of hair . Great long ones, I havent shaved in at least 3 weeks to a month in most areas. It’s no secret I have dysphoria over hair, but not shaving REALLY bothers me. I’ve never been able to go more than 3 days even years ago when presenting as a guy I would get too much irritation from the hairs. And I have to admit, the sensation of hair on my face has been driving me absolutely NUTS.In the last 3 weeks, I’ve been called Sir more times than I have in 5 years. This is a problem to me.

Nightfrost has been working under my chin , and neck . This is by far the densest area. He’s made headway, but as he is only able to for a few hours a week it’s been slow. This morning, I shaved off the neck because he wont be able to do any treatment there for a week. Lots of time for growth.

I then stood back and looked in the mirror. I’ve done literally a TON of work on my face in the last 4-5 weeks. Yep, there are still hairs, but they are minimal now , and looking in a regular bathroom mirror, I cant really see them. I do when I get up in my magnified mirror, but just looking at myself in the mirror, nope. This gives me a better idea of what OTHER people see. And it makes me feel alot better that all the work I’ve done has seen significant progress.
I could show pictures at this point, but I’m waiting till it’s clear. Then I’ll repost what I did a month or so ago.

So…I see hope. Even the neck will get better once it see’s more work. I’m not quite at the point yet where I’m just maintaining to get regrowth, but even in this short amount of time, it’s easy to see the massive amount of work I’ve done has NOT been a waste of time.

Seana

#2

Hey Seana! I completely understand what it’s like to be unhappy with hair (and I’m sure pretty much everyone else here has some discomfort with it as well). It’s much more severe discomfort when it’s causing people to treat you differently than you’d like. Hair on the face is especially tough.

It sounds like you’re limited in the amount you can treat at any one time. Have you considered completely treating the majority of other hairs (through plucking, shaving, epilating) and just leaving ‘work areas’ alone, so that you’re mostly clear but you always have something to work on?

I know for myself, I never let facial hair grow much at all; I actually pluck or use an epilator on my face outside of work areas (works wonderfully for me), even though I do know it can twist follicles over the long term; I do lots of exfoliating. As many hairs as there are on the face, I find it’s really easy to always find something to work on despite keeping my skin very clear.

I also choose to focus on the very accessible areas: chin, upper lip, just beneath the chin, and along the jawline to either side. I keep the rest handled through other means until I have the time to have someone else take care of that for me.

Also, I don’t know what you do with makeup (if you wear much), but I do know that the right products can completely minimize the redness or even the stubble of shaved hair. It’s probably not great to wear it over broken/irritated skin long-term or regularly, but I could suggest some very wonderful things if you are open to makeup.

I just recently did some more research on the subject (after dealing with the same issues for years and years and years), and I learned even more. So there’s a lot to share.

And it’s really awesome to hear about your experiences btw. Please continue sharing. I’m interested!

Much love,
Lily

#3

I’m going to take out a huge banner: DONT FREAKING PLUCK! NOT EVER! I’m going to let you do a little reading here on what plucking does, because it’s knowledge best understood for yourself. But the synopsis is that plucking can make the problem worse, and harder to remove. It also makes any hairs you pluck unavailable to electrolysis for up to 3 months or more. Just dont do it.

For me, I’m “working” all over. I have someone else working under my chin and neck that I cant reach as well. So that gets shaved, but not when they will be over soon. They are here usually at minimum once a week so I shave it when they leave.
My chin and upper lip have been the bigger challenge. There are hairs here that grow VERY slowly and a are hard to see and fine. I’m ALMOST through with that area for now, maybe another day or two. This is the area bothering me most. IT’s been fussy. Every time I thought I was near done I came back the next day and there is more than I remembered. It’s taken nearly forever.
The cheeks and sideburns are much sparser hair than they used to be thanks to laser but what is there is big black terminal hairs. Wouldnt take a pro here more than an hour or two to whip through, and they are next on the agenda. So they are grown out.I find it easier to identify hairs for removal when they are.

In short, I’m, short term discomfort for long term gain. I’m in the home stretch of having my face clear, and I’m hesitant to shave any of it because it makes removing them more difficult.

I’m not removing the zillion light velus hairs, they cause me fewer issues.

I rarely wear makeup, and it’s not good on treated skin. Like maybe once in three months if I have a special date or something, but everyday no. Now of course I could shave, but then I wouldnt see the hairs for removal. I guarantee the cheeks will be done before the end of the week.I pretty much have a few more hours of fine hairs on the chin and lip, and that will be shaved too ( until next time) . But some of those fine hairs are barely 4 mm long, and have taken 4 weeks to grow that much. I want them gone, and shaving will eliminate that possibility.

For the moment I dont have to be seen in public all that uch.So I can suck it up while the bulk of the work is done.

Seana

#4

So today I’m back at the chin.Getting all the little tiny missed hairs. Plus regrowth. The worst part is the area just under the upper lip, ya that painful shallow patch.Time consuming to say the least. A few days ago I thought I MOSTLY cleared the right cheek. I look over in the mirror, and I see DOZENS of great long hairs I hadnt seen before .WTF.
Left cheek, has been more of a challenge. Insertions there are difficult to impossible, even with a bent probe. Nightfrost has been asked to abandon the neck and under chin, and work there instead.
It’s turning out to be a much more time consuming process than thought previously. I’m limiting areas now. The skin though is looking way better and I can still see progress. The last two weeks I’ve had the cold from hell, and felt like typhoid Mary and the hacking crud. So less progress than I like. Time to play catchup

Seana

#5

More work today on the upper lip and right cheek. Nightfrost is taking a crack at the left cheek on monday.
I’m noticing the differences in the various levels of magnification.When working on myself I tended to use my 12X mirror. Now that I’ve adjusted my position, I’m finding I cant see the hairs unless I wear my 3x glasses too. This explains some of what I saw as regrowth earlier in the week. I’m seeing in ever increasing detail. I think I’m getting 99% of it.

My insertions, even doing DIY in the mirror, are getting really slick. I’m starting on a few new people too. My skill is definitely getting better and better. I’ve experimented with the upper lip settings on my cheeks, since I think the chin settings are too strong for there. Hairs are coming out nicely.

when I look in the bathroom mirror, I see nothing on my right cheek glasses or no. On my left I do but that’s relatively untouched.This tells me what other people see.
The area Nightfrost worked on under the chin has seen zero regrowth.There is hope!

All in all I’m feeling a lot better about progress today.I have some scabbing on my chin, quite a lot actually. I’m probably using too much there, but none of it looks horrible. As they fall off the skin looks really nice but the massive amount of treatment over two months there has taken it’s toll. I should probably leave it alone and shave it for a few weeks and get whats visible everywhere else.

Except for under the chin/neck, my face hasnt been shaved in well over a month.I’m slowly making all the hair go away anyway. The nice long hairs make removal so much easier but it’s been a challenge emotionally and often all I’ve wanted to do is grab a razor. If I stick with it though, there will be nothing for the razor to remove. It’s getting there!

Seana

#6

So , another day another hair of 500! Nightfrost was here for two days, but he had an appointment on the second day he was particularly nervous about. On monday he managed to clear 90% of the big terminal hairs on my left cheek with just a small patch t the bottom left I can clear on my own, despite the difficult insertions. I’m thrilled with progress.
A quick check in the mirror yesterday confirmed my suspicians, upper left lip and part of the chin have a few regrowth hairs, no more than an hour’s work to clear them. I’m loving that I’m able to keep up with the regrowth there. I havent shaved in what, 2 months now? I’m getting closer and closer as days go by to my goal.
Neck and under chin are still thick. I’ll work on what I can reach myself, and let nightfrost do the rest.It’s coming, but as always electrolysis is SLOW
Seana

#7

Progress!!!

Ok, first, hen viewing these pictures please bear in mind I’'ve had work done on my face this week. LOTS of it. And probably 7 or so hours today, so there’s some red lumps, some minor scabbing. It’s not perfect.

Before we begin, I thought it would be useful to have a starting point. Yep, this is me, 6 years ago, and prior to laser OR electrolysis:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/66437553/07-06-19%20021.jpg

Here’s my chin from a little over 3 months ago before any electrolysis:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/66437553/IMG325.jpg

There’s not alot of growth there, so here’s the same area a few days into starting. I took these because I was concerned over the scarring from the galvanic but they show the other growth REALLY well:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/66437553/IMG387.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/66437553/IMG389.jpg

here’s my chin and upper lip today. I havent shaved since those first pictures were taken!
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/66437553/IMG413.jpg
Left Cheek, I still have a little hair at the bottom to do:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/66437553/IMG412.jpg
Right Cheek:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/66437553/IMG414.jpg

Under the chin. This area I DID shave, about a week and a half ago but we are still working here:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/66437553/IMG415.jpg

The further I get from treatment, the less godawful my face looks. Unfortunately I’m just always working on it these days, grabbing regrowth, and expanding into the few areas not done yet.
So, that’s a partial work in progress report!

#8

Good job! Just continue to be very careful with your face. Those reds spots on your chin will heal, Seana.

#9

Thanks Dee! I’m not at ALL worried about scabbing. My upper chin looks a bit red and swollen, because well it was the target of 4-5 hours of fine cleanup work yeserday ( with more to go). That chin has been my complete nemesis. The pictures from 2-3 months ago, when I did galvanic, with the scabbing underneath, is all healed and gone long ago. If THAT can heal, then anything I’ve done to my face certainly will!. My method , unlike Michael, tends to be heavy on the galvanic with just a little bit of thermolysis to heat it up. My machine is wired that way for the presets which I used as a starting point.The complete opposite of fast blend.

The change in the amount of hair though, is freaking amazing. I’m still getting large amounts of regrowth which keep me busy clearing out ( thus the 4-5 hours on the chin yesterday) but they are getting less and less. I cant wait until I can post a picture where I havent actually touched my face in a week, because the difference from starting point will be amazing.
A transgirl I used to date a few years ago saw this post. She didnt believe the picture from 6 years ago was me. It is though!

Seana

#10

So today I kinda worked all over the place. I went after a whole bunch of the finer hairs on right cheek. I tried on the left, I just cant insert in them right.I gave up on there and left it for Nightfrost. Ican actually reach some under my chin and neck easier than I can there!

I went back and did the upper lip again. The hairs are sparser nd sparser every time I do it. It’s getting there! The skin looks a lot better too, REALLy smooth and nice. I’m liking this! My next big challenge will be some of the finer hairs on both cheeks. Right now they are long, but I’ll need to shave everything in a week for an appointment.

Seana

#11

So Today Nightfrost worked for about 6 hours on my left underchin . He managed to clear MOST of the left just a small patch left to finish up. He was getting frustrated by then, and difficult insertions as a result, so good time to stop.He
'll work on the right side tommorrow.

As for me, well I did a few hours tonight on my chin again. All tiny little regrowth. Didnt even get all of it, but I felt I had to make progress after looking in the mirror. Yep, those pesky buggers are back with a vengeance, upper lip, chin and cheeks. I am beginning to wonder if I’ll ever get it all. I want to just shave it all off, but then of course I cant work for days. Maybe I should anyway after the neck is done, just to give my face that break. I am completely alarmed a tthe amount of regrowth on the lip and chin. It’s definitely wearing on my nerves and causing more than a little depresssion. Every time I think “I’m almost there!” I look, and realize I’m starting all over again.

150 hours? Pffft. I’ll be lucky if I’m done in 1500 .

Seana

#12

The reason why those of us in the profession look to find someone whose work we trust to work on us, is we can’t see dropping from the rate we work on someone else, to the snail’s pace that working on oneself can be… then you add the lowered quality of insertions and treatment outcomes. Yes, the buddy system is best.

#13

And I do put it to work for me! Nightfrost spent several hours yesterday woring on my neck and under chin. He got the left half done and today finished that up and started on the right. He didnt unfortunately get more than 1/3 of the right side so it presently looks a little odd, but I can live with that for a few days, he should be back in a week.
The regrowth on my lip is in the normal range I think, it’s just frustrating. My insertions there are pretty good, but I have to say that Nightfrosts are better than mine even with less practise, because he can see better. You are right working on yourself sucks and is very difficult, but in order to make the progress I have I need the extra time put into it. It is what it is.
If I had a choiceI wouldnt do self work, but it’s better for me in the long run as I make 3 times the progress I would otherwise. Yes, it’s PAINFULLY slow.
Nightfrost is enjoying my pain at the neck work, a little too much. He’s turning into quite the little sadist over it. My neck is one of those area’s that I’ve had to use the maximum setting and at least two cycles at that, and just suck it up as far as pain goes. The hairs are THAT thick. Thankfully with 4-5 more hours, it will be done at least first clearance, and any regrowth will be thinner so I can turn down the juice a bit.
I’m actually thinking of shaving this week. I’ll do some more work on the lip, chin and cheeks, get the majority of it, but then it will be time to give my face a few days break anyway. I’ve tortured it enough for 2 months and it’s due some down time to recover. I’ll also enjoy having a clear face for a change, I’ve hidden myself from public view largely over the last few months.I need a few days of me time.

Seana

#14

I’ll also say I considered taking a crack at my brows and tried a few insertions there. It’s damn difficult area to work.Maybe with my lying down station it might be easier but getting the angles there in such thick hair is a total bugger. I havent trimmed there in 4 months since I stopped plucking them and the hairs are long and get in the way. I’m considering trimming the areas I want gone to very little with nail scissors and then working from there. If I get the shape wrong, well they will grow back.I also considered the option of giving the students at the school a shot at the first clearance there, but it’s money I cant budget right now.

#15

So after re-clearing the upper lip today I realized the regrowth wasnt nearly as bad as I had thought first time. I’m definitely removing less and less with each clearance. This is in keeping with every thing I have learned here, and it gives me hope. I have almost no large terminal hairs anywhere. Everything I am removing seems to be fine, and in some cases quite long. Looking in the mirror, I cant notice them.

I’'m realizing I’m very close to reaching my goal. If I had to stop now I have almost zero beard shadow, the give-away for us transgirls. It’s mostly my pickiness ( and refusing to want to have to shave) that is keeping me going now. 3 months! surely it will take me at least 9? With the speed I am addressing regrowth though I’m managing to cut that time I think. I’m in posative spirits today. It’s been nearly a full time job keeping up with it, but not having to wait even a week to remove new hairs has meant there is less of it to deal with. Time will tell the tale I suppose.

Seana

#16

Sweet

#17

There are days I just hate regrowth.
It’s been several dys since I did ANY electrolysis, it’s just been a busy week. Today I spent a couple hours on my back getting regrowth. I have to admit my lip and chin are getting better. But the newer cleared areas are atrocious. My cheeks, even the area Nightfrost did a week ago under my chin has regrowth or missed hairs… I know it’ll get cleared again and get less and less. It’s just disheartening. I feel like sometimes screaming at no one in particular.

Seana

#18

So nightfrost came over yesterday, and today finished most of the other side of my neck. All the big terminal hairs are gone it’s just a few of the finer ones left, the ones no one can see but me and under magnification. They’ll come out but I had reached my limit for today.
When I’ve been working in one area for too long it becomes oversensatized, and after a while I dont react to the pain nearly as well. It had been 3 or 4 hours and I was reaching that point where a minor brush on my skin anywhere is going to make me jump, adrenaline is pumping and I become hypersensative to pain. It was time to stop, at least on the neck. Did a few hairs on the upper sideburn I couldnt reach, still a few more to do there but they arent obvious so no big deal.
Next up if to snag some regrowth on the upper lip , cheeks and chin again.That is becoming a regular task. I’ll get at that myself as much as I can in the next day or two.

Seana

#19

So lip and chin work today, got most of it but I think there is still some on the chin. I can see the “leaders” those fine thin clear hairs that I cant see under the light because they are washed out that tell me, my work there is not done yet. Cheeks still disgust me. There is so much work to do there. I start, but I have sort of a “random” method and arent really clearing any one area. I nee to assign some me time this week and clear as much of it as I can.

Seana

#20

zero progress today, at least on myself. I’m afraid to look in the mirror!I was out all afternoon working on my friend Sara’s face. I think we worked for 4 1/2 hours on her chin before she was reaching tolerance levels and I ran out of time. I’m going to guestimate she has 300 or so hours to do though thankfully she doesnt have as many fine hairs as me Went a little higher on intensities on such thick terminal hairs. The issue on her is SEEING them they are light red on freckled skin. But lots of nice big terminal hairs which came out with huge root sheaths.

Part of the idea of DIY and having partner who gives of their time to you, is giving back to someone else. Sara is just such one of those projects and when you are trans and doing this kind of thing there are lots of other low income transgirls who cant afford it any other way. My face can take the day off :slight_smile:

Seana