I’ve been on hrt for a couple of months and one of the hardest things I’ve had to deal with is my light skin + dark body hair. While I’m not out to the world yet it’d be nice to have a smooth chest without short, visible hairs after shaving, which leads to my question. Have any of you dealt with this and found someway to at least hide body hair stubble?
Laser is one way, and it sounds like your hair is the right colour for it.
Fair, honestly. Shame it’s so expensive. 😞
It really shouldn’t be. Not sure how it is where you are but where I live (Argentina) there’s a lot of salons that use Chinese clones of Soprano machines (like “[something random] Ice”) and those are really cheap, like 10 USD for a full body session. Don’t look at Candela places for the body lmao
Those prices are crazy low! My lowest laser places go at least a couple of hundred US for full-body. Happy you can get such low prices, though. 🙏
I personally use an at-home Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) hair removal device. Wirks great for dark hair on light skin. But it is a costly device. A regular compact epilator is also a good chraper option. I use it on my facial hair
Just mentioning it as an option since I haven’t seen ppl talk about it, but nair is also an option and leaves you without any stubble, if you can deal with the smell and how harsh it can be on your skin. IF you want to do nair patch test a part of your leg/arm first to see if you get any sort of negative reaction.
Avoid using nair if you have any cuts/abrasions for any reason.
It’s also a bit more expensive than your other options. My hair is light enough that I can often get away with shaving so that’s what I do if no one else is going to see it, but I wish you luck on finding a solution that works for you!
My body hair was quite dark but after about 8 months I noticed how leg to chest was significantly lighter and less dark. Only my facial hair stayed corse and dark without laser. Shaving my legs early on was painful now it’s mainly just a chore. Of course everyone has a different experience but I would say give it time. Unless you have the cash to full body laser then I’d say do that.
Lazer!
My skin tone and hair color are similar to your description: it was significantly visible enough on my legs after shaving to make the act seems pointless. Epilating does work very well and makes me feel much more comfortable in my skin. Either as a result of the epilator, hrt, or both, its no longer so bad on my chest. There are still some hairs around my areolae and belly button but I could get away with just shaving my chest if I wanted. As a bonus the epilator will be better for the planet and save you money but the real true draw for me is the abject bliss of the pain. :)
Laser hair removal is great for that combination. I got started on it after a couple months of hrt, and it’s done a lot for body hair over a short time
Epilator works well, but it’s kind of painful
I’ve had an epilator for a while, but with how epilating only cut the hair on my legs rather than plucking it I’m a little concerned about what it’ll do to my chest. Any specific prep I should do?
It can take some practice. It works best if the hair is already short, like 2-3 days after shaving
I’ll give it a shot. It’ll hurt for sure but I suppose that comes with the territory. 😅
I always do it right after bathing and drying my clawfoot tub. The hair should be no longer than 5mm or it will break off instead of pulling out from the follicle! The removed hair will also look different if it was broken instead of pulled out. Its like you can see the base part at the end. Good luck! :)
Doing it after a bath is genius and I have no idea how I didn’t make that connection. Thank you!
When i epilate my legs i make sure to use body scrub too, that makes it less painful and helps with ingrown hairs (it also makes my legs feel soft and smooth :3)
Good luck! Beauty is pain ❤️
Pain is just dysphoria leaving the body!
Wait, is your epilator not pulling the hairs out?
I can only say that despite exfoliating and shaving a day or two earlier and also washing right before epilating it doesn’t work on my upper thighs specifically. I’ve had good results on my lower legs and my arms, but my guess is that the hair is so thick it doesn’t pull it out all the way. I’m using a decent Braun epilator too so tgat shouldn’t be the issue.
Epilating can work both dry and wet, and wet could be easier. Maybe try wet (i.e. during shower) if you’ve tried dry
I’ve tried both and the only difference it made is how much it hurt as it pulled out some of the hair. It didn’t seem to make a difference in result, ubfortunately. 😞
Then I don’t know sorry 😭. I have some dark spots myself after epilating, but that’s just the next hairs growing out, and/or ingrown.
I hope you find something that works for you ❤️
The downside to that combination is that your hair is more visible. The upside is that it responds really well to laser. It’s not cheap, but you know that if and when you do get it, it’s going to give you good results compared to many other folk
