wait for laser/hair removal(?): opinions from the girls

[Galadriel]

Girls:

Presently I am maybe 1/3 of the way through hair removal. I've done my face and chest several times, and I've started on my back. I was hoping to get my legs soon (these hairs are the thick dark ones, and they're bad enough to make shaving really a hassle because of how bad the razor bumps and redness gets) and my arms and that would kind of be the minimum for going out into public more often. I'm also about 2 months into hormone treatments. However, I recently heard the opinion from a couple of different girls here in Austin that I should wait til about a year on the hormones before getting laser done on my body. I assumed the idea was to reduce the amount of hairs that need to be removed in order to reduce possible damage to the skin (discoloration) but I wasn't certain. Anyways, I was just wondering if any of the other girls out there have an opinion on this. Is it better to wait for some reason? If so, why? Or just get it done as soon as possible?

[Vicki Richter]

I say do it now. There is no sense at all in waiting. It sounds like you have quite a bit of hair to get rid of. That is tough. I would consider taking a larger dose (ask your doctor of course) of spironolactone. Regardless, all the hair you kill off the better. If you wait and the hair does become wispy in places, it wil actually make it harder for the laser to find.

Do as much as you can afford.

[Galadriel]

Thanks for your input Vicki, it was helpful. Yeah, I had actually thought about the idea of perhaps the laser being less effective further on, but neglected to mention it. Money isn't so much of an issue for the time being, so I'll stick with my original plan and get through it all as quick as I can... it's just a matter of stomaching the pain (then again, I suppose the reason the pain is so bad is because it is actually pretty effective on me).

Since my testosterone count was so low to start with, my doctor only has me on 100 mg spiro right now. I might ask her to up it to 150 mg with the next prescription.



I say do it now. There is no sense at all in waiting. It sounds like you have quite a bit of hair to get rid of. That is tough. I would consider taking a larger dose (ask your doctor of course) of spironolactone. Regardless, all the hair you kill off the better. If you wait and the hair does become wispy in places, it wil actually make it harder for the laser to find.

Do as much as you can afford.

[tsntx]

Do as much as you can afford.

and as soon as you can as well

[justatransgirl]

I agree - go ahead and do it. It will make you feel much better - and it takes forever to finish anyway.

My experience:
3 years on hormones. At this point so far as torso hair goes I wonder how much was laser and how much actually was hormones. I have been on a relatively high dose of Spiro 300mg - but I find if I drop back to 200 I get occasional hairs returning on my upper torso which go away when I go back to 300. I'm going to have an orchid. soon to solve that problem.

Leg, underarm, pubic and facial hair - hormones won't affect to any substancial degree. The only way is laser and electrolosis.

I did a total of about 14 treatments - mainly because I got a really good deal in Tijuana. For $3,000 I received 1 full body treatment per month for a year, plus a couple I did before the deal. I also did about 350-400 hours of facial electro.

I have virtually no body hair left (anywhere - I LOVE it). Though 18 months later I've noticed a few underarm and pubic hairs coming back, along with a few facial hairs, so I'll probably do a 3-5 treatment series on those ares at some point.

Unless you went on hormones very young you will probably occasionally have to revist hair removal occasionally for a few years.

And finally... I have a TS friend who is an electrologist. She had SRS many years ago. She said her experience was most of her body hair stopped after srs. She told me that other than facial she recommends people not do laser until after they've been on hormones a few years.

Have fun,
TS Jamie :-)

[BrendaQG]

Everything is different for everyone. It sounds like you have much hair to ger rid of and I agree with what has been said so far. Nuke the hair with everything you have. But I do want to make you aware of a possible hazard.

You can see from my picture what color I am. That picture is from winter and I am lighter than I am in summer. I tan inspite of being brown to begin with. I have had laser on my face since last August 06, it has worked and elminated 99.9% of what hair I did grow.

The problem is that it has left me with what I can only describe as a noticeably darker area of skin. A semipermanent suntan. I have read online that it does fade over time. Just be prepared for this. Since I am the color I am anyway people don't seem to notice. If you are white, it could be wrose for you.

ymmv

[Galadriel]

Yeah, I have heard of this problem before, and in fact there are a couple places on my stomach area where my skin has kind of an uneven appearance, and I think it is a result of the laser. There's also one small discolored area that is definately from the laser, I think an example of what you are talking about. That's a big part of why I was asking the question in the first place. But even with that spot, the present situation is a big improvement over what was going on before. So I'll probably stick with my plan, and gradually get my whole body done.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts.



The problem is that it has left me with what I can only describe as a noticeably darker area of skin. A semipermanent suntan. I have read online that it does fade over time. Just be prepared for this. Since I am the color I am anyway people don't seem to notice. If you are white, it could be wrose for you.

ymmv