I would definitely trade a year of my life to be hair-free. I haven’t posted here in quite a while, but I’ve been feeling really depressed lately because my facial hair problem continues to worsen as the years go by.
I’ve been going to electrolysis for 20 years. My facial hair problem is 100 times worse than it was when I first started going to electrolysis when I was in my mid-30s. (I first started having problems with facial hair when I was in my mid-20s, but it was manageable for a number of years by just waxing and plucking.)
In the beginning the hair was confined to my chin and upper lip. I had my lip waxed once a month and had my chin hair done once a week. (With plucking in between. I tried trimming, but I can’t stand walking around with dark stubble showing.) After an electrolysis appointment I’m usually OK for 48 hours maximum, but then I find I have to start plucking again. I have scarring and hyper-pigmentation so I wear lots of cover-up makeup on my chin area during the day. (I avoid swimming because the water would wash off the cover-up and expose the red sores I have from picking the little scabs, as well as the scarring and hyper-pigmented areas.) After a number of years the hair on my chin got worse and started growing down my neck. I now have coarse hair growing on my cheeks, my lip area needs to be waxed at least every two weeks and I continue to get my chin done once a week.
I have been to a few different endocrinologists over a period of 15 years. I am in the process of getting another appointment booked in the near future. I am freaking out about the coarse hair growth on my cheeks. The electrolysis I’ve had so far on my cheeks is causing the skin to have a bumpy appearance (like my chin) and I have two areas where an ingrown hair has caused problems with resultant scabbing.
My hormone levels have been checked and re-checked many times. I’ve been told that my levels are “slightly elevated,” but not enough for a diagnosis of PCOS. I’ve been told that I have Idiopathic Hirsutism (IH) and that it’s most likely a hereditary problem. (It’s also related to the particular ethnic group I belong to.) I do know that it’s hereditary because my grandmother definitely had a facial hair problem. I remember feeling her whiskers when I used to give her a kiss on the cheek. I remember that it used to always freak me out when I was younger. I wondered why Grandma had whiskers on her face. The next related incident took place when my grandmother was in the hospital and dying. She had been in the hospital for three weeks and I distinctly remember being horrified when I saw she had grown a full beard and mustache during that time. I asked my mother about it and she said that it was due to the effects of her medication. (I would later learn that this was not the case. My mother didn’t want to tell me the truth at the time. I guess she was trying to spare me from knowing that Grandma had a beard.)
One of my deepest fears in life is that when I get older I won’t be able to “control” my facial hair problem any longer – due to illness or some other malady – and that I’ll be growing a beard when I’m on my death bed and terrify my grandchildren. I have been to an endocrinologist on at least four occasions about my problem as well as dermatologists. I have been repeatedly told that “THERE IS NO CURE,” and that all the various methods of hair removal are only temporary at best. Some last a little longer than others, but eventually the hair all grows back.
The problem also gets worse as you get older. I can attest to that fact. I’ve had excess body hair problems since I was 10 years old. I had to start shaving my legs at 10 years of age because I had thick dark hair on one of my legs from wearing a cast when I broke my ankle skiing. I couldn’t walk around with my one dark hairy leg, so I had to start shaving at a very young age. I also had lots of dark and coarse pubic hair (by the age of 14 years old), underarm hair, etc. I also have long thin dark hairs on my nipples. These areas of hair growth used to bother me, but not now. It’s nothing compared to the facial hair. That’s the worst by far! I sometimes think that I would give a year of my life if I could go away, hide somewhere, and devote every single day to getting rid of my facial hair for good. I’ve often wondered if this would work (i.e., if I got electrolysis done every single day for one year). I’ve also read that electrolysis and laser treatments can sometimes cause even more hair growth – causing a hyper-growth sort of situation. I sometimes feel that is what is happening to me.
I’m just feeling really depressed right now because of the hair growth spreading to my cheek areas. I’m horrified that the skin on my cheeks will soon look like the skin on my chin. In the past I’ve always calmed myself down by saying “at least I don’t have any coarse hair on my cheeks,” but now I do. So in answer to your question… “Yes, I’d definitely give up a year of my life to be hair free.” I currently spend about $130 a month on hair removal as well as countless hours spent driving to and from electrolysis treatments, plucking my hair in between and applying cover-up makeup to chin and cheek areas. I figure that I have spent thousands and thousands of dollars over the course of 20 years.
Thanks for letting me unload.
