Hairy situation

LegacyUser

Ok well I'm not even sure if this is the right place for this post. My problem is quite embarrassing. I'm a female in my mid twenties & I'm having a few facial hair issues. I have dark brown hair & lately Ive been getting a little bit of growth on my chin(its only about 6 or 7 dark brown hairs) Im extremely self concious about the situation & no matter how often I pluck or remove the hair it always seems to be there.

Now I know everyone is going to come on & say "get electrolosis or laser treatment" but I'm way too embarrassed to tell anyone,let alone total strangers plus I bought an electrolisis kit & it didn't help what so ever. I'm so depressed about the situation but too embarrassed to seek help. Anybody got any suggestions??

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A very, very good friend of mine had this "problem" about a year ago. To be honest, I'd never even noticed she had any kind of hair there at all, but when she pointed it out to me it became obvious. You sound exactly like she did back then.

Now, she only told me after she had started the electrolysis treatment, after she'd had her first one, and had told nobody else.

She's a very self conscious person, so it was a HUGE step for her to

a. go get treatment, for the reason you stated too, fear of strangers
b. tell me. She thought I'd laugh at her or something.

Anyway, I said to her that the people who work in the electrolysis place may be total strangers, but this is their job. They see this all the time. They are used to it. If they thought anything bad about it, then they probably wouldn't have decided to become an electrolysis person.

The thing about these home DIY kits is that they usually aren't as good as the professional ones, you may have used it wrong, it may have been not working properly. You'll never know, because I bet you wouldn't ever think about bringing it back to the shop where you bought it to complain, am I right?

Now, my friend continued to go once a week, or twice a week, I can't remember exactly, but she never told anyone where she was going, she just said she was off into town for a look around, or whatever.

So, you can do it privately, with people who wouldn't even bat an eyelid. They've probably seen much more extreme cases of this anyway, in fact I know they will have.

That's the best advice I can give, obviously I've never been the receiver of this treatment, so I can't tell you about that, but it seems to not have been cause for concern for my friend.

Don't, for the love of god, shave it, but you probably already know that.

Maybe bleaching it might be the way to go, but I can't imagine long term it could be good for the skin either.

Anyway, there you go, I hope that helps.

Nevyn

It happens esp if you have been on hormoanal contraception.
I have a few there myself and I just pluck them when they grow.
Women have facil hair, real women that is not the waxed, plucked, airbushed and photoshopped fake women that are shoved in our faces as the ideal of beauty.

l3LoWnA

Loads of my friends (all mid twenties) use hair removal cream/bleach/waxing on their upper lips (dimples is a sensitive brand my best friend swears by!!!) TWO of my mates have a few chin hairs - exactly as you describe, thickish longer ones, they just whip them off with the hair removal cream as they appear!

It's no big deal - just get rid if it's bothering you!

Redscrapbook

I've hairs in my chin too...I just pluck them carefully...if they'll grow back...pluck them again and again...the hair will get weaker and eventually don't grow back again. But I've other hairs to pluck...its very normal. I'd advise have your 'problem' hairs seen to by a professional...DIY electrolisis is a NO NO.

moco

Go to the docs, it could be a hormone imbalance causing it, but otherwise don't be afraid to go to a salon! They deal with it every day, it's no big deal and not unusual at all. Most girls have the same problem to some degree.

Redscrapbook

Redscrapbook wrote: »

I've hairs in my chin too...I just pluck them carefully...if they'll grow back...pluck them again and again...the hair will get weaker and eventually don't grow back again. But I've other hairs to pluck...its very normal. I'd advise have your 'problem' hairs seen to by a professional...DIY electrolisis is a NO NO.

I think if you tweeze hairs it stimulates the blood vessels and encourages them to grow stronger.

Every woman at some point in her life is going to have this problem OP, so no need to be embarrassed about it. It is very normal.

One of my friends took me to task about my the hair on my forearms recently. I have alot but it is blonde whereas hers is jet black.
She made me totally paranoid and I started to obsess about it. So out came the veet, and that is when I determined that bald arms look freaky.
Spent weeks coveting the hairy arms of strangers! until it grew back.

StormWarrior

My cousin had a few hairs on her top lip. She got it lasered. It was £200 for 4 sessions, and that got rid of it for good. It was in a quiet, private little salon with only the technician and receptionist there, so don't be embarrassed.

the hero game

i honestly find some facial/arm hair on a girl to be quite attractive and certainly not a turn-off.. i don't know why.. i'm being totally honest about that

RuailleBuaille

Redscrapbook wrote: »

I've hairs in my chin too...I just pluck them carefully...if they'll grow back...pluck them again and again...the hair will get weaker and eventually don't grow back again. But I've other hairs to pluck...its very normal. I'd advise have your 'problem' hairs seen to by a professional...DIY electrolisis is a NO NO.

This is absolutely not true. Plucking hair stimulates blood flow to the follicle which actually encourages hair growth. Trust me, I gave myself a beard because I started plucking just two hairs, but like they say, pluck one and six brothers come to the funeral. The WORST thing you can do is pluck. You should trim or wax it (short-term) or think about LHE treatment. It's expensive but well worth it, especially if the hair is dark, it will be much more successful. The reason there's more hairs appearing is that there are three different stages of hair growth, catagen, anagen and telogen. No hairs will be in the same phase. So when you pluck one and there's one there the next day, it's actually a different hair. Seriously, you would be amazed how many girls have treatment for this, the beautician won't bat an eyelid! Good luck!

RuailleBuaille

StormWarrior wrote: »

My cousin had a few hairs on her top lip. She got it lasered. It was £200 for 4 sessions, and that got rid of it for good. It was in a quiet, private little salon with only the technician and receptionist there, so don't be embarrassed.

Also, it is not guaranteed 'for good' or 'for ever' because women go through hormonal changes i.e pregnancy, menopause and the growth could start all over again. You will also have to be VERY careful in the sun because the pigmentation can be altered and you could end up with brown patches a la Rebecca Loos. Maybe you should make you peace with the hairs and just think short term? Bloody female hormones mean nothing is guaranteed. Sigh Maybe I'll just join the circus...

Hester

ItchyInside wrote: »

This is absolutely not true. Plucking hair stimulates blood flow to the follicle which actually encourages hair growth.

You should trim or wax it (short-term)

I don't understand this... Is waxing not essentially the same as plucking in that it pulls the hair out by the root? How is there any difference?

OP - you shouldn't be too embarrassed about getting treatment for this if it's causing you so much stress. These people are professionals and deal with this sort of thing all the time.

RuailleBuaille

Hester wrote: »

I don't understand this... Is waxing not essentially the same as plucking in that it pulls the hair out by the root? How is there any difference?

OP - you shouldn't be too embarrassed about getting treatment for this if it's causing you so much stress. These people are professionals and deal with this sort of thing all the time.

I've wondered this myself! I actually meant to say cream it. I think the idea with waxing is that the hairs all have to be a certain length before you do it, so that you have more chance of getting some in the same hair phase? You'd have to ask a beautician,I'm just a hairy person

ILTS

hairy girlie wrote: »

Now I know everyone is going to come on & say "get electrolosis or laser treatment" but I'm way too embarrassed to tell anyone,let alone total strangers plus I bought an electrolisis kit & it didn't help what so ever.

Dont feel embarrassed by going in to a salon for treatment. Why do you think the hair removal industry is so huge? Because there are so many women (and men) out there who want to get rid of excess body/facial hair. Look at any price list for any salon, and you'll see listings for lip/chin waxing/lasering right alongside leg/underarm/bikini line etc.

You are not alone, and having 5-6 hairs on your chin is nothing compared to a lot of others.

Go into a salon and just get advice. Laser treatment is the best but most expensive. Electrolysis is good too on individual hairs. Just bite the bullit and walk into any salon and they'd be more than happy to help you.

Danimalito

OP, don't use the home electrolysis kits - they don't really work, you really need the real thing, and someone skilled to do it for you. Using one of those is a bit like cutting your own hair with a pair of nail scissors.

Laser is mostly used for large areas e.g. the chest or the like, not stray hairs on your face. For permanent hair removal, electrolysis is your best bet. Try to get recommendations of a good beautician in your area from a friend or something.

Don't worry about the embarassment factor. I'm good mates with the owner of a beauty salon. Trust me, she's seen it all - fellas coming in & getting the male equivalent of a brazilian wax etc.

Danimalito

ItchyInside wrote: »

I've wondered this myself! I actually meant to say cream it. I think the idea with waxing is that the hairs all have to be a certain length before you do it, so that you have more chance of getting some in the same hair phase? You'd have to ask a beautician,I'm just a hairy person

Waxing & plucking amounts to basically the same thing, but if you pluck incorrectly you may feck up the hair follicles. Later on when your hair grows back, it may grow in a different direction and be more noticeable.

That's one of the reasons why when you wax your legs, they rip the strip towards your feet, not your unmentionable - looks better if the hair is aligned to your legs when it grows out again.

I'm not an expert on this, but the anagen/catagen/telogen/exogen phases that hair growth goes through (some other poster mentioned it) is possibly a bit of a red herring [no offence to the poster, I may be wrong] Hair is hair, it doesn't matter really which growth phase it's in for the purpose of hair removal.

sodrisc

At least half the girls I know have had issues with hair - I've been for electrolysis myself and am probably going to go for laser hair removal soon. The entire industry is built on normal people who happen to have excess hair - they're definitely not going to be shocked in any salon/clinic if you walk in with a few hairs on your chin - they do hair removal all day every day and they'll have seen a lot worse than you. You just need to lose your embarassment about it - this is often just a side effect of having a good thick head of hair on your head, which can make less hairy girls jealous. Just book an appointment and you'll realise that the professionals doing the hair removal are not going to reel back in horror when you come in. If you did ever get the nerve to mention it to your friends I'm sure loads of them have their own hair removal issues.

Electric

It could be a hormonal issue. I would try laser as it has a better chance of getting rid of it permanetly or it can light the colour and texture of the hair so it is less noticeable.

I'd speak to your GP about it though there might be something they could do about it.

RuailleBuaille

Danimalito wrote: »

I'm not an expert on this, but the anagen/catagen/telogen/exogen phases that hair growth goes through (some other poster mentioned it) is possibly a bit of a red herring [no offence to the poster, I may be wrong] Hair is hair, it doesn't matter really which growth phase it's in for the purpose of hair removal.

Hi, twas me who mentioned the hair phases. Basically, if you get LHE treatment done, as I did for a year, the hair phases are relevant because the treatment only works on hair in a certain phase (think it's anagen but I'm not sure) so the growth phase does matter. That's why the treatment takes so long, because you have to keep doing it until you've zapped all the anagenic-stage hairs and because they are all in different phases this can take time. Don't know if this applies to electrolysis, but it does for LHE as I learned one year and 1500 euro later!

Also, just wanted to mention that I have blonde hairs which is why it took so long, had to do what's called a blonde hair protocol - ouch! OP you should be done in less than 8 weeks if the hair is dark. I think short term embarrassment is worth your long term confidence.

WindSock

I have the same problem too, OP. Damn my Mediterranean ancestors , although it could also be a side affect from depo provera.
I usually just pluck them as I see them, or wax.
I was told by a beautician that constant waxing is the best preventetive way (other than laser/electro) for hairs as eventually the blood won't go to the follicle and the hair will die.
If it really bothers you though, perhaps you should consider laser treatment? Honestly, that is what it is there for, and the therapists see it all the time, you won't get laughed at.

ahoney

I too have had chin and upper lip hair and the older u get the more it grows. Having waxed upper lip for yrs I discovered threading, ancient middle eastern method of removing hair. Its safe and not any more ouchy than waxing and i love the smoothness after its done, make up glides on. I get upper lip and chin done as well for 40 euro, check the yellow pages for salons that offer this service. Good luck, once you take action u will be surprised at how little it will bother you, and ur confidence will soar.