site's back, time to party niko-dance

  • BountifulEggnog [she/her]
    ·
    6 months ago

    god I feel so much better after shaving. I need to get my hands on an ipl, this feeling needs to be permanent. I'm sure I've asked about it before, so I'll try to be brief.

    I'm pre hrt, it would still be effective for me, right? I know face is off limits (and I think back too?), but is there any where else that I need to avoid? How much will it hurt? And where/who is a good place to look for reviews?

    • Thallo [she/her]
      ·
      6 months ago

      Yes, it will be effective. HRT doesn't really matter in this case.

      Yes, your face is off limits.

      It's really only going to work for you if you have light skin and dark hair.

      As far as pain, sure it hurts a little, but I don't even consider it a factor. Very easy to ignore for me.

      Don't use it on your genitals or asshole. Don't use it on moles.

      The Braun IPL has been very effective for me. I'd say 50% of my leg hair is gone, and the hair that remains is thin and brittle.

      • BountifulEggnog [she/her]
        ·
        6 months ago

        Okay, I wondered if it would be because I've heard people talk about how their body hair was greatly reduced from hrt (and there seems to be very few cis guys using ipls thonk)

        Okay good, I was worried it would hurt a lot and I wouldn't want to use it.

        sigh fine. Because of scaring, like the face?

        Thanks for the recommendation, I will look into it.

        Somewhat darkly amusingly, the first result for "Braun IPL" (reading the comments it looks unrelated)

        Feel like I ruined my skin & life with Braun IPL... PLEASE HELP!!!

        • AcidSmiley [she/her]
          ·
          6 months ago

          HRT does make hair softer and slows down growth, so it makes it much easier to stay on top of things with shaving / epilating / waxing - in most places i've gone from "omg i need full body laser ASAP" to "i seriously don't know if i'd bother with that even if my health insurance covered it". But it doesn't remove hair, so it won't be wasted if you start IPL on areas like your legs.

          The thing with IPL is, it doesn't really work on hair with deep roots. It can do a lot on these annoying, hard to reach shins or other places where the hairs do not sit too deeply, but facial and back hair do not fall into that category. You need a real laser or electrolysis for these areas.

          • BountifulEggnog [she/her]
            ·
            6 months ago

            Ooh, I forgot about the slowing down. That sounds so nice, I'm very much in the full laser asap camp right now so that amount of reduction/whatever would be amazing. Good to know it wouldn't be a waste to start it, that was one of my concerns about it, especially going somewhere and getting it done professionally.

            • AcidSmiley [she/her]
              ·
              6 months ago

              It took me under a year of HRT to get to that point and 10 sessions of laser to go from "my 5 o clock shadow is trying to murder me again" to "yeah, idk if i want to get the remaining grey hairs on my chin cleaned up with electrolysis when you don't see them anyway and i can just shave them off". ofc it's hard to generalize bc facial and body hair vary sooo much from person to person, but it can get a lot easier with really not that much time.

        • Thallo [she/her]
          ·
          6 months ago

          I heard that it doesn't work on the face because the pores are too deep and the hair is thicker. Actually, the manual says that cis women can use it on their face, and it only tells men not to use it. Interpret that info how you will.

          You can't use it around the genitals because the skin is both darker and more sensitive.

          And lol about that review. My skin has been totally fine.

    • Eco [she/her, he/him]
      ·
      6 months ago

      i imagine a good place for reviews would be trans subreddits - hair removal is a pretty frequent topic there.

      it's worth noting that ipl isn't permanent though - you'd be committing to lengthy sessions for a very extended period of time. idk what your social/financial situation is but laser would probably be infinitely more worth it if it's affordable and you feel comfortable with it.

      • BountifulEggnog [she/her]
        ·
        6 months ago

        That's a good idea, especially since hrt won't effect it (like I feared it would).

        I need to look into that before I buy anything, especially pricing. Unfortunately neither are the best. The idea of a few hundred for everywhere* and at home is really appealing, as I'm sure you know.

        What does lengthy sessions and extended period of time mean here (roughly)?