Top male beard removal specialists in NYC?

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

Hi all,

This is my first post here(hope it gets noticed). I’m a male looking to get my beard removed. I’ve got a 2-3 skin type and very dark brown/black hair with an average amount of beard growth. I should be shaving daily, but due to it being an irritating process, I need to limit it to every other day and let my skin “breathe” on weekends. Thankfully no ingrowns or other skin issues due to the process however.

After lurking on this forum and other sites on and off for quite some time(and learning a lot!), I think I’m ready to take the plunge.

I was initially set on doing laser(I think I may be a good candidate), but after connecting with a some people who’ve had it done on their beard and learning a bit more about the topic, I’ve decided to start out with electrolysis instead and see how that goes from beginning to end(100+ hours, I know). I’ve not completely shunned laser, but it’s safe to say that for now.

Two major factors influencing my decision are:
A) Electrolysis being the only FDA approved method for hair removal.
B) What seems to be the inevitable obvious random patchy-ness involved with laser on the male beard. Don’t want to have to end up shaving daily just to conceal weird patterns on my face which far too often seems to be the case. Electrolysis looks to be a part of, if not the “end game” either way.

That said, I’m looking for guidance on finding top electrologists in the NYC area(Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn) who are experienced and comfortable with male beards specifically and can allocate the time in a clean/professional setting. I’ve searched the forum and followed suggestions from this thread but still having a difficult time finding “before and after” beard case photos from NYC practitioners or their clients. This is rather important. I’ve seen consistent skilled work(online) done in other regions and overseas and just a little surprised at not finding similar examples available here in NYC of all places?

Here’s some of my research thus far:

Chains/Franchises:
[color:#3366FF]Lucy Peters[/color] - Video of beard removal case on their website. Are there more examples? Who should I ask for here?
[color:#3366FF]New York Electrolysis Office[/color] - Yuki seems highly regarded. Are there examples of her work?

Practitioners:
[color:#3366FF]Arlene Batz[/color] - Seems highly regarded here, does she treat male beards? Are there examples of her work available?
[color:#3366FF]Stephanie Fracassa[/color] - Someone recommended by James Walker in a thread. Does she work with male beards? Any examples?

I’ve seen other names mentioned in the forums but I’ve left them out because either there was only 1 mention of them here and no info anywhere else online or I got the sense that male beards were not their specialty. I may have missed some though. I also viewed local practitioner websites(of those who had one) on the AEA site, but without before and after beard examples, it isn’t too comforting and not sure who to consider.

If anyone can add to this list, guide me to a thread of cases or help out, I would greatly appreciate it, thank you!

#2

Arlene Batz, Yigi Mark, or Lucy Peters International would be my recommendations. All have outstanding track records.

#3

Thank you Laurier. I saw you recommended them in another thread as well. I have not been able to find much info on Yigi Mark here or elsewhere? Perhaps I searched wrong?

Can you point me to any before/after cases?
Also who should I ask for at Lucy Peters? This is a chain correct?

#4

I don’t know of any of them posting before and after photos. That would actually be irrelevant since every case is different. Arlene is in Queens I believe. Lucy recently retired and a dermatologist runs it now. She used to be all over the country but I believe Manhattan is the only office. All their training is done in house under very strict standards and with equipment of her design.

#5

Who would be the Electrologist to contact at LP? How highly regarded are they?

As a prospective client, I wouldn’t consider before and after photos or videos irrelevant. Every case being different is true for just about any cosmetic procedure. A successful track record on a large and easily visible area such as the face is important, at least to me.

Practitioners in other regions seem to have no issue sharing examples of their beard removals and I’m just a little perplexed at why there’s difficulty finding the same in NYC. I would think there would be a much higher than average demand for that here.

#6

In NYC a lot of electrologists share same level of skills: some worse and some better. The pool of good electrologists is shrinking. I would say stick to the older ones who have better training and experience. Try 5 or 6 until you start discerning good hands from mediocre on efficacy, confidence, knowledge. Many if not all will repeat the same set of standard answers so learn to ask correct questions and you will understand based on their answers if they can deliver what you’re looking for.

Unlike cosmetic surgeons, electrologists are not encouraged to catalogue the cases they complete so you won’t find anyone with before and after photos. And don’t rely on good Yelp reviews much.

Try Barbara Leibowitz who does multiple needle galvanic, as she is highly skilled and gets good results.

Try Arlene Batz who isn’t afraid to switch modalities, machines and use different approaches to help get better results.

Try Lucy Peters place.

Try Yuki Arai.

#7

Thank you fenix, those are the names and places that seem to consistently appear highly recommended here in NYC that I’ve seen so far. I’ll add Barbara to the list above of electrologists to consider.

#8

Unfortunately Barbara doesn’t seem like an option for me due to her hours 10am - 5:30pm weekdays. Those are about the same hours I work. I only have 5 sick/personal days a year and 2 weeks vacation.

We’re talking about removing an entire male beard 100+ hours over the course of a year or more. While I can be flexible on using my time off, I generally need a practitioner who is either available weekends and/or early mornings or evenings.

#9

What about Arlene? If I was in new york, she would be one of my top choices.I’d offer to do it myself, but I’m in Canada and it doesnt sound like you have that kind of vacation time available.I’ve done similar though, had a girl up here from New Jersey for the month of august, who got a massive amount of work done int hat time. Do you travel anywhere regularly on business? Would it therefore make sense to look in some of those cities?

#10

I am considering Arlene, I’ve heard great things about her skills here. Has she removed entire male beards before?

The more I read about it, the more I see the unique challenges such as ability to allocate a lot of time up front to achieve a first full ‘clearance’. I would feel a lot better if I could actually view photos. I don’t travel for business unfortunately(how I would love to). I work in a windowless office, but the pay is not so bad.

Would love to go to Canada, but don’t have a passport. After much reading on this forum, the 2 options for “marathon” male beard removals in the U.S. that stick out are James Walker in Boston and E3000 in Texas where 2 electrologists work on you at once.

I’m probably going to try a few recommended local practitioners first to get a better sense of the actual process/expectations and then just take it from there. This is something I’m determined to move forward with whether electrolysis or laser.

#11

James is in Buffalo, but he will travel to you. You can email him to get a price quote.

I would consider laser first to get the bulk of the hair, if you are a good candidate for laser and then finish up with electrolysis.

#12

Thanks dfahey, my apprehension with laser on the full male beard is just how unpredictable it can be. Having a crazy patchy/zebra striped face soon after the first session seems inevitable.

I spoke with one guy who had 25 laser sessions total over the course of time(at that point he was seeing diminishing results) but came out with an amazingly smooth outcome. The pain he describes sounds like torture however and he still needs to shave every day to conceal weird patches, but you’d never tell as long it’s shaved.

Also saw another case on this forum of someone who went to ‘Romeo and Juliet’ to get laser done(the place is near me) and the end results looked good.

I’d much rather prefer thinning out my beard evenly(and permanently) over the course of a year. I suppose I’d want to assess the electrology experience first and take it from there.

Thanks for the tip about James, I was not aware he travels.

#13

I thought you wanted all the hair off, but now I see that you want it thinned. Thinning male beard hair is better done with electrolysis alone. Laser does leave the beard looking like swirls in a marble cake, very true. Had I understood that you are not looking for ALL the hair to be gone I would not have recommended laser.

So, if you get one full clearance of the hair that is present now, you may be happy enough with the results, However, a second clearing may be desired. That is one way to do it.

Another way is to remove every third hair to get a thinning. You will need several sessions, no doubt, when using this strategy.

I say this without seeing your hair density.

#14

I do want all the beard hair removed… I’m just not even sure it’s 100% entirely possible on a male (who is not on any type of hormones ect) as I haven’t come across an example of someone who has done both laser and electrolysis with success on total complete removal of the male beard(no weird patches remaining after a day or 2 of not shaving). If there are visual cases to view that I’ve missed, please let me know. I am hopeful of significant improvement just not total removal.

I’d like to know if electrolysis works for me first or at least know I’ve found a good practitioner that’s giving me results before I sentence myself to years of daily shaving to conceal weird beard patterns through laser(the inevitable outcome).

By “thinning” I meant I would prefer to thin it out evenly through electrolysis until it’s entirely gone(IF possible).

#15

It’s completely possible to remove an entire male beard for someone that isn’t on hormones. I’ve completed a bunch and have another 8 or so currently going through the process.

I’ll branch from Dee here, when I say that I recommend straight electrolysis and no laser if you want to avoid the patchiness and the likelihood of hair returning. I’ve got at least a dozen clients that had laser 3-5 years ago, thought they were done, and all the hair is trickling back in. The worst case I’ve seen was someone that made it about 6 weeks (male back) and then required about 36 hours of electrolysis for just the first clearing.

IMO, laser is better suited for those areas that you don’t care about being perfectly cleared permanently.

I’d like to know if electrolysis works for me first or at least know I’ve found a good practitioner that’s giving me results before I sentence myself to years of daily shaving to conceal weird beard patterns through laser(the inevitable outcome).

Try people out and see their results for yourself until you pick someone to stick with. Have them do a test patch in a somewhat concealed area like underneath your chin.

By “thinning” I meant I would prefer to thin it out evenly through electrolysis until it’s entirely gone(IF possible).

It’s completely possible and is one of the options I offer to people doing a full beard removal (thinning vs removing it in ways that keep it looking like typical male facial hair vs some trans clients that are already living as a female want the middle part of their face cleared first).

#16

Great advice, EE.

The reason you don’t have to look patchy after laser reduction is because you are doing electrolysis to punch out the hairs that are left all along the way. Some people even do this simultaneously , in order to get the lighter hairs that laser can’t see.

I did electrolysis on a trans woman who had had laser and IPL ( first choice), on her face. I simply came by and “mopped up” the clusters of hair not affected by laser. It worked out nicely.

You want to find an electrologist that will work on you for more than 15-30 minutes for this strategy to meet your needs.

#17

Thank you both. I’m still trying to learn and absorb as much info as I can. I’m aware there are 3 modalities of electrolysis: Thermolysis, Galvanic and Blend.

What is the preferred method for the dense male beard with least potential for scarring(provided I have a good practitioner)? I see thermolysis is vastly preferred here, but I have heard blend is a safer approach. Is this true? Or does it even matter?

#18

ALL THREE MODALITIES can get you hair-free without scarring.

I use Picoflash or Synchro thermolysis for beard hair or any hair. There is no scarring, when your go to a professional who is skilled. The last statement is what gets potential clients going off on all kinds of tangents.

If you can figure out who has had beard removal and ask about their satisfaction level years after the hair was removed, then that can allay any concerns you may have. Even though no two cases are exactly alike, a recommendation can give you some level of comfort.

Hopefully, some past Hairtell consumers will check in and and offer you information about their experience. You can check out some trans gender blogs, too, and maybe pick up some potential practitioners, who are experienced, that can help you with your goals.

#19

I should point out that when Lucy Peters retired recently she sold the company to a dermatologist who also runs a laser clinic so he can offer the best of both worlds.

#20

well, I can give you one trans perspective.

I did 12 sessions of laser.The results were horrible, visible lines down my face of hair 3 months after ceasing, and a patchy face. I turned to electrolysis instead, in fact, I learned to do it on myself, right here on hairtell.

I was on hormones, but Emancipated was completely correct when she said a male beard can be done too. Dead follicles are dead forever. I have a few pre-hormones trans clients that are removing beards.

As for time frame, a month or so ago I started a case on a CIS woman with a full beard that would rival most mens! IT’s a month later and 23 hours of treatment ( wow that was alot!) and we are now having to space out to let the regrowth happen, just to have enough hair.She’ll be at it for a good long time yet, but boy has it made a difference already!

James is a good option as Dee suggested, if you need to make the schedule work, or arlene as I previously suggested.I’ve seen some laser cases with ok-ish results, but by far most of whatI see from laser is disappointing. I get regrowth from it years later,as emancipated suggests, I have some clients who are ok with the patchy look on their arms, but still want it cleaned up 9 when I’m done with their face!) . My own personal feeling, is I wouldnt do it again, but that’s just me.

What I can say, is that somewhere, in NYC, there is a competent electrologist who books evening hours (it’s out busiest booking period!). What you need to do now, is find them, and book a shortish appointment to evaluate their work. One thing is for certain, the hair isnt going away on its own, you have to do something about it for that to happen.

Blend is a safer approach for DIY work, but any modality when used by a professional on you can be safe and effective. I wont use thermolysis on myself ever again unless they are really simple and accurate insertions.I cut myself some weeks ago that way.It’ll heal, but it taught me a valuable lesson, my precautions are warranted and for good reasons!

Seana