For most girls it is an ongoing battle to get and have their face smooth and feminine,  Most of us settle for shaving.
 

Don't Expect ANY Product to Permanently Remove Hair
or Cause Hair Re-growth to be Less Dense or Finer

The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and AMA (American Medical Association)
recognize only electrolysis and some lasers as permanent methods to remove hair
 

The chemical agents in order to be gentle enough for the face just don't do a decent job of dissolving tough facial hair in most cases.  And yes, I have tried regular Nair on my face...OUCH!!  I burned my face quite nicely I am sorry to report.  Your skin and beard type might allow using this method (IE not very sensitive skin and relatively fine facial hair).  If you do find a product, that can work for you, this will probably give you the best and longest lasting temporary solution because the hair will be dissolved below the skin line in most cases.  Also, you will not feel the stubble as with shaving (which shears hair off at the skin line) as the hair would have been essentially melted into a less sharp shape.

Waxing only works if you have some hair length on your beard for the wax to "grab onto" so it can be pulled out of the follicle.  Being that this long beard growth would normally be an oxymoron for most T*girls, that pretty well eliminates this method!

In my experience, that leaves shaving as the best alternative for most girls I am sorry to say.  The best solution to that for me before my facial hair was removed was the expensive 3 blade razor systems. If I was going out, I used to shave twice before making up; each time with a brand new cartridge.  Expensive but worth it to me at the time!

So what about Electrolysis and Laser Hair Removal?

• It cost $1,200 for 3 session covering my entire face and neck.
• It hurt!  About like taking a small rubber band, stretching it about 6 inches then snapping it on your face. Definitely a challenge to sit still!
• The good news is each "snap" covered about a 3/8" diameter at a time.
• Each time I had a pretty hot sunburn from the treatment that faded in 1 to 3 days.
• The hair was gone as it was zapped so I left each session hairless!
• It was only affective for dark facial hair.  If you have grey, white or light hair it is less or completely ineffective.  Get a consultation to see how you will likely fair with your hair type.
• The good news is that a lot of hair went FAST!
• I personally think that some of it came back but expect to finish out with electrolysis.
• I would say the Laser got about 60-70% of my facial hair

Electrolysis works well but it is definitely not a fast process! I would say the following about electrolysis:

• It took more than a year to get most of my remaining hair.  Figure on much more if you don't get the laser done.
• It hurts...but not nearly as much as laser for me.  At worse, it's like shuffling your feet across the carpet on a dry day and touching something metal!  It is not a REALLY bad zap (you know like those winter day 3-inch arc's)...but you definitely feel it!
• Using self hypnosis, I was able to virtually eliminate the discomfort.  (I could not do that with laser!)
• The worst place for pain is around your lips and especially the upper lip.  If you find you are sensitive, you might ask a doctor to prescribe a topical pain killer.  I have actually heard of girls T*girls who went to a dentist for Novocain shots before going to particularly difficult appointments
• There was little irritation afterwards and that mostly faded in hours.
• A good technician will find the power setting that works for you.  Expect permanent hair removal ONLY if after zapping you with the needle inserted next to the follicle that the hair slides out with the tweezers easily and with no pulling or pain.  If not, the follicle was likely not to have been properly treated and may grow back.

One thing about choosing an electrolysis technician; go to several and check their productivity before settling on one. Choosing the wrong one can make your final cost of removal double or even triple.

What you are after is not hourly rate but instead what I call "Dollars per zap"!  In your test sessions carefully count the total number of successful "zaps".  Divide zaps into what the technician charges you to determine your cost.

Example: My best technician could do about 10 zaps per minute but with setup time, little breaks and an occasional repositioning during the 50 minute appointment the total number of zaps per appointment was about 350. At $75/appointment, that boils down to about $0.21/zap meaning 20 cents a hair or so. You will find as I did some technicians are much more efficient than others.

You can draw an inch square on your jaw line and count the hairs to estimate cost.  Then guess at how many squares there are on your face and neck and you can figure total cost. Oh by the way, multiply the hairs you counted in your square inch by about 1.25 since only about 80% of your hair is active at any one time! Most people have between 300 and 1000 follicles per inch on the face and neck areas. I had about 500 follicles per inch.

It is very difficult to estimate what it will cost you to have your facial hair removed because there are many factors and every one is different. I have seen estimates of between $2,000 and $20,000 for light to heavy beards.

Still, I did construct a model to estimate cost based upon the many factors (average follicles per square inch, total face area, and $/zap etc). I estimated my cost would have been about $6,400 had I not had laser.  My cost to date has been about $4,800 including laser. this has been about 85 appointment hours (they are about 40 minutes of zap time actually!) Sometimes I had appointments which were 2 or 3 hours long to speed things up.

The above reinforces how important it is to get a high quality and efficient technician as your cost can be dramatically affected by your technician.

The jury is still out as to what degree laser results in permanent removal.  I have to go back pretty consistently for minor little cleanups. The question has crossed my mind as to whether or not that is a result of laser treated follicles regenerating themselves.

Despite all the trouble and cost I still highly recommend it for you "seriously TG" Girls!  It is the best thing I have done for my femininity!  I LOVE having my girlish face! 

This page was Co-edited By Samantha Perrin