Facial hair ruining my life.

[AmIHumanOrAmIAYeti]

I’m 47. Have been shaving my face daily since I was 21. Don’t have PCOS but doctors identified I had elevated androgen levels 15-ish years ago but offered no help.

I have coarse dark hair in a male pattern on my face. No other peri-menopause symptoms but now getting noticeable regrowth within 12 hours of shaving. It’s making my life a misery.

I’ve tried home IPL. I had a reaction to waxing many years ago which took weeks to settle leaving me with angry welts all over my lower face.

I’m getting pretty desperate now. Has anyone found anything that will help? Can’t help but feel this will only get worse as I head towards menopause. I really need a solution now. :(

My daughter and myself had loads due to PCOS.. We had laser treatment.
Best money we spent.

I had laser on my legs in my 20s which was great. Had to ag e 2 days regrowth though for each session and not sure I want to be out in public with a noticeable beard!

Bless your heart. That sounds really upsetting for you to deal with.

What About laser hair removal? Would you be able to fund it ? Not sure what the NHS offers if I'm honest

Can you not just have a couple of days at home before hand? Or only go where you need to?.wear something to distract away from your face .
Surely it's worth to be free of it?.
Wear a mask? Say you think you have covid if anyone asks.
Honestly it's worth it .

Can you wear a mask if you're feeling self conscious in between sessions? I do still see people out and about in surgical masks.

Electrolysis.

Wasted so so much money on laser for my face. Worked like a dream for my legs and underarms but totally pointless on my face, those hormones just keep making it grow.

Electrolysis really shifted it but hurts

Yes definitely laser. Are you sure you need two days regrowth? I had it done on a lot of my body a few years ago and I had to shave either the night before or the morning of the session.

I’m on video calls or in person meetings for work for up to 12 hours on weekdays. It’s not ideal.

It’s what I needed on my legs in the noughties. It may well have changed.

Just lie?

Your camera is playing up so you'll have to stay on audio only this time.

You had a tooth extracted and your face is swollen and you don't want to be seen on camera for the next few days.

Do you have any control over your f2f meetings? If yes, schedule them to suit you. If not I'd probably book annual leave.

Honestly it's short term pain for long term gain.

Just been reading about electrolysis. No shaving for 3 days before treatment and no make up or cream for 2-3 days afterwards is advised. I am prone to keloid scarring, which is a risk. I can’t take a week off every month to have treatment. And I can’t be off screen for that length of time either. I’m a counsellor and clients need to be able to see my face!

If you are prone to keloids then you are really stuck. Do you have brown skin as well as that limits you on laser?

Your best bet would be to go to a proper medical led laser clinic where they have a range of machines and get specialist advice.

I’m very pale with dark hair. I have other keloid scarring on my face though. I’ve found a local clinic with 10 years of 5* reviews that I will contact.

I had laser treatment on mine for PCOS and it worked wonders. You shave it with a little electric fuzz remover before the session so you don’t get stubble and the regrowth is less and less each time. Get it done professionally though, IPL isn’t the same strength. I went to Therapie clinics for mine, they’re all over the country, they were really good.

You are unlucky to get keloids then. Although you are the ideal skin type for laser.

Laser did 'work' on my face (also pale skin, dark hair) but new hairs kept turning up in new places, and some of the old hairs decided to turn white instead of coming out.

Definitely don't trust your precious face to a beautician with a machine round the back.

Hey,

I don't suffer like you, but I do have noticeable facial hair.

I did get laser hair removal which worked on my legs and underarms, but not my face for some reason.

I don't think shaving is the way to go.

Have you tried threading? You can practyto master this yourself.

Or, if the hair is coarse, could you possibly commit 10mins every day to plucking, with a magnifying mirror and your phone torch on your face? Just 10mins, but every single day. Surely that would eventually get your face to a point where you're "ahead" of hair growth?

@AmIHumanOrAmIAYeti do you think bleaching could help between laser treatments?

Vaniqua cream has made a huge difference for me. My doctor prescribed it. You apply it twice a day. It took a few weeks to start working but it has massively slowed the growth of hair on my chin area so that I don't have to shave every day any more.

It’s very coarse and covers a large area. It got infected when I tried waxing. I think anything that leaves the follicle open risks the same happening. :(

Could you put the camera quite far away so your face isn’t close up?

it may be worth the difficult one week per month to get the treatment going and hopefully in the long run get the benefits.

Have you tried anti androgen medications, the birth control pill or lifestyle measures?

Laser them away forever!

I promise you that 2 day growth won’t be visible on camera. You’ll feel self conscious and uncomfortable but the resolution just isn’t that great. We’re used to seeing people on big screens in high definition but zoom/ teams resolution is nowhere like that.

I tried Vaniqua - I have been shaving my face since I was a teenager too, though it takes about 24 hours to be noticeable. I was dubious that it would be much use so I did a test, just used it on one side of my face for about a month.
I'd say it slowed hair growth by 50% on the side I treated. I gave up on it because I still had to go on shaving frequently so it seemed a waste of time but you might find it helpful with such fast growth.

I’ve been on the mini-pill for a decade. Can’t take the combined pill.