Ot: Facial Hair

[Arielle22]

DD14 has had her lip waxed since she was 11. Depending on timing she sometimes uses Nair.

I wax my lips (and chin) along with my eyebrows. I go to a salon. It is painful for a few seconds, red for a few hours and then hair free for weeks. It is a good trade off to me.

I would not bleach because it isnt the color that annoys me and DD but the hair itself.

 

[Green Tea]

As soon as my DD asks me about how to get rid of hers, I will take her for laser hair removal. I won't waste my time suggesting temporary solutions. Sure, as she gets older she will need touch ups. But it really is not an expensive thing. I'm just not going to let her worry about something so easily corrected.

 

[Green Tea]

I disagree with that... I started out with a couple little hairs on my chin. So, I figured what's the big deal - just razor them, right?

WRONG! More than a couple hairs in that area now, and it spread to the other side of my chin!

Shaving does not cause more hair to grow. It isn't possible. It does not cause faster regrowth, or hair to thicken, or get darker, or any of the other rumors.

As the the electrolysis vs laser question. Electrolysis damages each hair follicle individually and causes the hair in that one follicle to not come back. Each follicle has to be attacked, so you need multiple treatments to get them all. Once the growth is stopped by the damage, it is permanent and will not come back.

Lasers cover a larger area at a time, about the size of a dime with each pulse. It damages the follicle of dark hair when it is hit during its active growth phase. If the hair has been plucked out or waxed away, then it can not be attacked until it regrows and is hit during the right phase. Hair has a set cycle, and it grows according to that. Lasers take a series of treatments t get each follicle in the active state. One month you get some and some are dormant. Next month the dormant ones are actively growing and they get hit. During times of hormonal changes hair will likely come back to some extent and you need a touch up. No big deal

I found electroysis very painful. Laser not at all.

 

[SOnotLayuh]

I use Sally Jensen's facial hair creme remover. It isn't painful at all (I'm a wuss), just leave it on for 7 minutes and wipe off. Lasts for about 2 months.

If she has quite a bit of facial hair growing in, and it starts to grow other places such as around her belly button, you may want to get her checked out for PCOS. Many women have it in the world, and often go unchecked. It's better to get it caught early.

She could just have an unwanted facial hair thing... but better safe than sorry.

 

[Briarmom]

I wax my lips (and chin) along with my eyebrows. I go to a salon. It is painful for a few seconds, red for a few hours and then hair free for weeks. It is a good trade off to me.

But you have to grow out your beard to wax it, right? I keep trying to comprehend how women wax their faces...I can't go out with hair all over my face.

Shaving does not cause more hair to grow. It isn't possible. It does not cause faster regrowth, or hair to thicken, or get darker, or any of the other rumors.

This bears repeating. I can't believe anyone would think that shaving would SPREAD hair growth! If that were true, wouldn't the hair from our legs have spread up to our butt cheeks? Or, for me, at least over the knee?

I have light skin and dark hair, so laser has been available for me. I am now going to my 3rd place. In Phoenix, it worked so well, but it all came back. Here they don't seem to have the quality lasers they did there. Some falls out *some* of the time. But you can't wax/bleach/tweeze when you're getting laser treatments. You have to shave.

OP, good luck to you and your dd.

 

[m&m's mom]

I have battled facial hair since early high school.
I have had neutrolysis, electrolysis, Nair, bleaching and finally threading.
Threading is mildly painful and about $30 for eyebrows, upper lip and chin. My only issue is I have to have it done every 3 weeks.
I have also been taking Spoirnolactone daily for years and it has not helped either. I went through a battery of tests and there was no hormonal abnormalities.
I did spend some time looking at the How-to Threading videos to see if there was any way I could do it myself.

 

[CathrynRose]

(e.g. shave it - which I KNOW is a wrong solution)

Advice please!

TIA,

Sandy

Do not bleach it - she'll have a blond mustache. How thick is it?

I have a fuzzy one and I shave it. It's not thick enough that I have stubble, or anything like that - in fact I do it "when I remember" - I just have a peach fuzz that I shave off.

I really like this thing too - but it hurts a smidge. Get's easier over time:

http://www.facialwork.com/

(and those hair ties work great too!)

 

[CathrynRose]

Get yourselves a good quality disposable razor and shave when you shower. It's a falacy that shaving the upper lip thickens the hair or is bad in any way. It's just not true.

Bingo!

I know quite a few brave women who shave their upper lip and none of them, NONE have facial hair that grows that fast. We all go 3-5 days between shaves. Facial hair on men and women grow at very different speeds.

Hair doesn't darken or thicken from shaving either. Old wives tales are great moneymakers for the cosmetics industry.

Bingo again!!

There are entire websites devoted to urban legends so I'm not gonna touch the shaving makes _____ happen issue... But unless you have a Burt Reynolds thing going on, it works! I wax my eyebrows but just shave the mustache once or twice a month. Never been teased, kicked out of bed or developed a five o'clock shadow. It's free, painless and effective!

Bingo even again!!!

Shaving does not cause more hair to grow. It isn't possible. It does not cause faster regrowth, or hair to thicken, or get darker, or any of the other rumors.

.

And the last Bingo of the thread....Bingo!

 

[Kika]

Do you have a Sally's Beauty Supply near you? I use Surgi-cream and swear by it. I've been using it for years. You just leave it on for 8 minutes and wipe it off with a warm wash cloth. She could also wax if she wants. I would go with one of those two options (depilatory or wax).

This thread is timely for me, because I have a somewhat related crisis going on. My 8 year old shaved her legs and arms in the shower about a week ago. I had no idea she was going to do this. She came to me and fessed up about it as soon as she got out of the shower. I wish she would have said something to me about it beforehand! What, if anything, would you do about her arms at this point?

 

[LeslieG]

I use Sally Jensen's facial hair creme remover. It isn't painful at all (I'm a wuss), just leave it on for 7 minutes and wipe off. Lasts for about 2 months.

If she has quite a bit of facial hair growing in, and it starts to grow other places such as around her belly button, you may want to get her checked out for PCOS. Many women have it in the world, and often go unchecked. It's better to get it caught early.

She could just have an unwanted facial hair thing... but better safe than sorry.

Wow, lasts for two months? I sometimes go two weeks, but really I should do it every week for upper lip. I haven't used that brand. I don't know if that could be the difference or it's just the difference in our hair growth.

 

[CathrynRose]

What, if anything, would you do about her arms at this point?

Nothing. Unless she has thick, coarse, "grown man like" hair - she'll grow back fine.

I shave my arms, too. They're fine. (keeping in mind, I'm not hairy - just fuzzy)

 

[EllenFrasier]

I have used wax, I think it's by Sally Hansen. I bought it at Target. It's easy to use and the little jar lasts a long time. The hair removal itself lasts about two weeks - I just take a peak in the mirror each morning and if there is a stray hair, I pluck it out with the little tweezers that come with the waxing kit.

I have found that after using it for some time, the hair is coming in less and less. So much so that I can now just pluck out the few that do come in. I leave the little light fuzzies there - I mean, everybody has some hair on their face! It would look strange to have a bald upper lip and peach fuzz everyplace else.

 

[tzolkin]

This thread is timely for me, because I have a somewhat related crisis going on. My 8 year old shaved her legs and arms in the shower about a week ago. I had no idea she was going to do this. She came to me and fessed up about it as soon as she got out of the shower. I wish she would have said something to me about it beforehand! What, if anything, would you do about her arms at this point?

My DD shaved her arms last summer. When I was putting sunblock on her I noticed that they felt prickly and then looked and saw them. She said some one at school had commented about them (which brought back my awful body image issues from my childhood ). I explained to her that she should have discussed it with me if it bothered her and we could look for alternatives to shaving. They were prickly and a bit weird as it was growing back in, but they now look and feel perfectly normal. She is no longer bothered by it and has not asked to pursue any further hair removal.

On a related note, my mother and I have been getting laser hair removal of the upper lip and chin since July. It has made some difference, but there is still hair.

 

[Nissi]

This bears repeating. I can't believe anyone would think that shaving would SPREAD hair growth! If that were true, wouldn't the hair from our legs have spread up to our butt cheeks? Or, for me, at least over the knee?

This cracks me up!!

 

[joliesmom]

If shaving made your hair grow back thicker and you grew more hair can you imagine all of the shaved bald guys we'd be seeing!!! That's a fallicy just like if you pull a grey hair out 2 will grow in.

 

[r&kmommy]

If shaving made your hair grow back thicker and you grew more hair can you imagine all of the shaved bald guys we'd be seeing!!! That's a fallicy just like if you pull a grey hair out 2 will grow in.

ACTUALLY... if you pull out a grey hair 7 more will grow back!!

 

[Anjelica]

DD did electrolysis and later (21 years old) laser. I recommend laser. More money but longer lasting results.

100% AGREED!!! I do laser now - my hormones got all out of wack after both children and my hair turned darker (plus I moved to the midwest and no longer was near a beach).

 

[DisneyKT]

To OP, I do both electrolysis and laser. If your DD has a low threshold of pain I would stick with waxing or a nair type product. Good Luck. It can be hard for a young girl. I am sure she will be ok.