TS Reality Episode 1 - Why Electrolysis Sucks

[LeaP]

In the spirit of providing an antiphon to the theoretical cheerleading angels' chorus, and written with the would-be transsexual in mind, I offer Episode 1 – Why Electrolysis Sucks.

Everyone knows that women don't have facial hair. Well, not the ones we want to look like, anyway. Besides that, women have nicer skin, by and large. And so, in the pursuit of femininity, closest approximation, or what have you? ... we pursue remedies.

One of the biggest is electrolysis. Which makes things better. Except that it first makes things a LOT worse for a LONG time. How so, you ask? What a great question!

Let's start with the easy one. Electro is expensive. How expensive? Well, did you ever think that it would be nice to have a nice massage once in a while? Perhaps go skiing for the day? Maybe you have a favorite restaurant. Or there's a bottle of wine you really like to have but just don't think you can spend that kind of money on. Electro's like that, except it costs more. Every week. Oh, and keeps you from buying that bottle of wine, going skiing, or whatever.

Feel conflicted about having facial hair to begin with? Prepare to be conflicted a lot more! Because you are going to be shaving a lot less for a long time! That's not going to be the rugged man 3-day beard shadow thing some people like to sport, either. No. It's going to be a patchwork mass after a few months. Where some parts of your face will be a scraggly mess and other parts will have patchy bald spots. It will look – and you will feel – like crap.

Nice skin is the goal. Splotchy, welt-pocked, ingrown hair-infested skin paves the road on the way to nice skin. You can toss in the big hot red patches for an hour or so after an appointment. Just for fun.

You will fool yourself into thinking that you will be the exception. Yes, your electrolysis will only take 60 hours. All these people telling you 200, 300, and more just didn't know how to pick an electrologist. As the Man in Black said to Inigo Montoya, "get used to disappointment."

Did I mention that electrolysis hurts? Well then: "Electrolysis hurts." Every week. For a LONG time. For sheer perversity, it is also true that the longer you are on hormones and the longer the electrolysis goes on, the more sensitive your skin will get!

Still think you'd transition in a heartbeat?

[PretzelGirl]

I am actually surprised at the ones that have electrolysis that don't transition. I thought I was one, but I was obviously mistaken. :D More power to them! But it is a tough thing to do and does show some resolve in order to see through the entire life of the treatments.

[Starling]

I tried electrolysis, but I'm switching to oxyacetylene torching instead. It hurts like holy hell, but it's all over in seconds. Be sure to keep your eyes closed.

:) Lallie

[Sara Jessica]

I am actually surprised at the ones that have electrolysis that don't transition.

Hey, I resemble that remark!!! ;)

I have confided in some that if I do choose to transition in the future, then all the better that I'd have gotten this done.

What I have trouble getting my head around is taking that step to go full time and not having your facial hair in check. That has to be counterintuitive to be presenting as a female and having to go scruffy for a couple/few days in advance of an electro appointment.


Feel conflicted about having facial hair to begin with? Prepare to be conflicted a lot more! Because you are going to be shaving a lot less for a long time! That's not going to be the rugged man 3-day beard shadow thing some people like to sport, either. No. It's going to be a patchwork mass after a few months. Where some parts of your face will be a scraggly mess and other parts will have patchy bald spots. It will look – and you will feel – like crap.

I hate shaving my face more than I hate being scruffy. Seems like a contradiction but I hate the feeling of the razor cutting off the tree trunks at ground level.

My "patchwork mess" is more of a controlled burn in that my tech is making it possible for me to be presentable as we gradually clear the trees. Cheeks are 99% clear and baby smooth. I have noticeably less fur in the goatee area although her careful (& symmetrical) clearing has left a distinct smooth area cutting across the upper part of my chin. Looks kind of cool now but we're getting to a point where it will be more and more difficult to make this look natural in those interim periods when I choose not to shave.


Nice skin is the goal. Splotchy, welt-pocked, ingrown hair-infested skin paves the road on the way to nice skin. You can toss in the big hot red patches for an hour or so after an appointment. Just for fun.

YMMV, as with most anything. Never an ingrown hair, I guess I'm not prone to those. And between what my tech applies after each session and my own soothing and meticulous skincare routine, I'm pretty comfortable and clear rather quickly.


Did I mention that electrolysis hurts? Well then: "Electrolysis hurts." Every week. For a LONG time.

Yes, she's drawn a tear a time or two but overall, I send my mind to a place where the pain is actually intense pleasure in having these furs zapped into oblivion.


Still think you'd transition in a heartbeat?

Yes.

[celeste26]

There is no need for any patchwork look, that is a sign of a poor quality tech, think of "thinning the trees" not all of them in the same place like clear cuts (if you know what that means.) Clear cutting means the skin in that area is healing all at once, unnecessarily hard to do. But the rest of the advice is accurate and applies to electrolysis.

[PretzelGirl]

Hey, I resemble that remark!!! ;)

:) I was waiting for you or Eryn on that comment.



I have confided in some that if I do choose to transition in the future, then all the better that I'd have gotten this done.

I think my mind was in the same area except less conscious. By the time I started electro, I think I was opening my door without quite admitting it. And I think yours and what my mindset was are part of the difference. I believe Eryn has no thoughts of transition (she can correct me if I misunderstand), so her's is quite a show of perseverance in getting what she wanted.


What I have trouble getting my head around is taking that step to go full time and not having your facial hair in check. That has to be counterintuitive to be presenting as a female and having to go scruffy for a couple/few days in advance of an electro appointment.

I have said these words (or there about) more than once here. I genuinely feel for those that will be going to work or out with growth so that they are ready for their appointments. One of the many sacrifices I guess, but another undue burden. I have 100 hrs under my belt plus a year and a half of monthly laser beforehand. Even if I press now, I will probably still need treatments when I am full time. But it is going to be a good position, just not complete.

[KellyJameson]

It is like living through the longest winter imaginable as you pitch your naked body into a snow drift to find cooling relief, thinking about that nice Mercedes you could have bought with the money.

Remember to check elbows and behind knees because the damn hairs hide everywhere.

[dreamer_2.0]

Well geeze, when you paint a pretty picture of it like that it doesn't sound all too bad! That said, sure hope the next few laser sessions are a little more effective on my chin.

[LeaP]

There is no need for any patchwork look, that is a sign of a poor quality tech, think of "thinning the trees" not all of them in the same place like clear cuts (if you know what that means.) Clear cutting means the skin in that area is healing all at once, unnecessarily hard to do. But the rest of the advice is accurate and applies to electrolysis.

That's an approach, not a quality difference. I discussed the relative merits of both at some length with my tech. The short version is that thinning results in a lower kill rate percentage. It's less efficient, if having some appearance advantages. Completely clearing an area IS more traumatic in new areas. On the other hand, lower power settings can be used, and shallower probe insertion with newly emerging hairs in previously cleared areas. It's very fast and quite comfortable.

The approach I'm taking is actually a hybrid. Cheeks and neck are being treated with progressively advancing clear cuts. My upper lip and chin area has been thinned several times for three reasons. The first is to shorten the time spent on the upper lip, which is the most uncomfortable area. The second is to eliminate any dark hairs as they appear, as they stand out more. The third is to reduce the starkness of the clearing lines as they advance, as they are both obvious and somewhat embarrassing. I'm currently clearing both sides of my face in a single session from the temple to the lower neckline, from ears to the mouth corners, and tapering down to a point on the center of my lower neckline.

Though my skin is very reactive compared to most of my tech's clients, any redness in the older cleared areas is pretty much gone by the end of the session. The red is gone in a few hours in new areas, with some typical minor swelling in new areas on the jawline.

She's quite competent, and the electrologist who owns the office chairs the state board.

I'm really pretty happy with the situation.

Except that electrolysis sucks, of course ...

[Aprilrain]

Eventually you get to a place where you can go months without shaving and then one day, while looking in the mirror, the light catches the white and clear? Hairs just right and you go, ****! It's time to see the Electrologist again. That's where I'm at.........finally.

Don't kid yourself that it ever really ends though:devil:

Oh, and I probably have 300 hours under my belt and my facial hair was not impressive!

[Megan Thomas]

Did I mention that electrolysis hurts? Well then: "Electrolysis hurts."

Spare a thought for those who undergo genital electrolysis before surgery. Now that is painful!


Still think you'd transition in a heartbeat?

Yes. I thought long and hard about my own transition and surgery, both before and during the journey. Nothing would prevent me transitioning once I'd decided to go ahead.

[Eryn]

:) I was waiting for you or Eryn on that comment.

Here I am! Sorry I was asleep at the switch!


I believe Eryn has no thoughts of transition (she can correct me if I misunderstand), so her's is quite a show of perseverance in getting what she wanted.

I can't predict the future, but at the present the cost/benefit analysis falls pretty firmly on the non-transition side. Electrolysis is, however, a positive thing that I _can_ do for myself that makes my TG life easier and which doesn't affect my drab life. In fact, I have received compliments from drab-world GG friends (who don't know that I am TG) on how youthful my skin looks. It's a win-win!

As far as appearing scruffy, not being full-time actually makes this far easier. My appointments are on Tuesday and I normally go out dressed on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturdays. Remember that I did laser first so I already had diminished dark hair growth to begin with. When I started electrolysis my normal routine was to get a Tuesday treatment and afterward shave the hairs remaining. I'd shave daily until Saturday, then let hair grow out for three days for my appointment. Scruffiness, therefore, was only for a couple of days and those were non-dressing days. As my treatments progressed, I shaved less and less and I don't shave at all now. My electrologist took a week off and, after two weeks I had a few long hairs growing, but not so much that I couldn't go out dressed the day before. GGs have a few stray hairs too.

I think that patchiness is a function of the electrologist. Because I was shaving, the only hairs I had to work on were the actively-growing hairs so she could range all over my face and neck in the course of a treatment. She never did a "clear cut" of a particular area. This also minimizes bad skin effects. Psychologically it isn't as satisfying as it seems that the treatments aren't getting much done until regrowth becomes more sparse but it is the best approach for skin health. Yes, I get angry red patches but they go away fairly quickly now. I get a few ingrowns too, which are pretty much part of the game.

Pain? Well, let's call it "discomfort" as that sounds better. :) Yes, it hurts. I use numbing gel on my lips but not elsewhere. Numbing gel doesn't really make the pain less, but it allows higher settings to be used which are more effective in killing hairs.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is the social aspect of electrolysis. It is difficult to spend two hours a week with someone working closely on your face and not get to know each other. Once I acknowledged that I was TG she pretty much started treating me as one of "her girls" and this has added to the enjoyment of our visits. Her daughter runs her front office and she often comes in and chats while her mother is working. This distracts me from the, ummm, discomfort, while at the same time giving me practice at feminine modes of interaction. The daughter went though her first pregnancy during this time so there was a lot to talk about! The baby arrived and I find it interesting that if I am sitting there waiting for my appointment I am routinely handed the baby so the daughter can work with a makeup client. It is nice to be trusted at that level!

Another social aspect is that I've been introduced to a couple of my electrologist's TS clients and we've become friends.

Expense? Yes, it's expensive. Enough so that worried me. I discussed the cost with my wife and she encouraged me to continue. All I can say is that I have friends who spend the same amount weekly on golf and all they get are sunburns. I've always thought that the ideal situation would be for two TG individuals to get trained, buy a machine, and work on each other. They both get cleared, save at least $20K and gain a marketable skill in the bargain!

[Jonianne]

....I have confided in some that if I do choose to transition in the future, then all the better that I'd have gotten this done....

Ha.....I told you Sue!

Lea, my electrolyst is also using the hybrd approach and it seems to have been working best for me. Also, in areas like the upper lip, I would not let her work in that area, clearcutting, two weeks in a row. I would give that area plenty of time to heal before going back to it. For 2 years, 4 months at one hour a week, consistantly, all I have left is the very upper sideburn area. All the rest is maintenance now with only a few hairs a week, that I can literally pull out with my fingers.

It is an expense and a very painful one that you have to force yourself through, but it is so well worth it!

[Eryn]

...one that you have to force yourself through...

You know, I don't think of it that way. I enjoy my electrolysis sessions the same way that some folks enjoy exercise. I enjoy the results and every week I looked a little bit better. My electrologist is a nice person that I consider to be a good friend and I look forward to chatting with her each week.

Perhaps it's a form of Stockholm Syndrome! :)