Facial hair

8mokryna* No form of depilation makes hair grow back stronger, but people sometimes think shaved hair does because it cuts the pair off bluntly at skin level so when the hair regrows it is thick at the tip and quickly very obvious, while hair plucked or depilated grows back as a hair with a fine tip thickening into a coarser shaft, which is less obvious initially

Personally I would think a depilatory cream would be best.

I have never shaved as I only have a few white hairs at the corners of my mouth and the occasional dark one on the chin, so until now I have only plucked. But I do have a slight fuzz, do you shave this off or apply anti hair cream and did it encourage it to grow back stronger?

My facial hair is resilient. Even through chemo some years ago, when I went totally bald on my head and in other places, it broke through. On the plus side, that meant I kept my eyelashes and eyebrows.....

Masks and Lockdown were brilliant but now I just shave on days when I know I'm going to be actually, masklessly face to face with someone. With me it's the under side of my chin. The hair doesn't stubble quickly, and it's far better for me than having plucked diligently in the morning but then to notice by the afternoon's light that I still actually resemble a toilet brush.....

They seem to be more noticeable since I have been wearing a face mask. Maybe it is like a little mini greenhouse encouraging growth? Perish the thought. Perhaps they will start flowering ? ?

Thank you MOnica - no, mostly pluck the wretched hairs but they come back through bristly.

Laser won't help with white hair which it mainly the problem - I tried this several years ago at great expense and no result except that the method really hurt my teeth - metal fillings in back ones.

No electrolysis clinics around this area - there was a women who provided this treatment years ago but she is retired and I didn't need it then!

I have had about 8 laser treatments on upper lip so has cost in total £200. It has been worth every penny. It doesn’t hurt and leaves a small amount of redness for a few hours, using t tree gel helps. Although it cannot remove white hairs but I only have a few.

Same with the nightmare.
Why is it, in older age, men lose it and we gain it where we don't want it?
Yes, I know the 'science' bit, but it's really not fair!!

fatgran57 I assume you must be shaving your face. Anything is better than that, it will leave stubble. Waxing or depilation either dissolve the hair away to just below the skin and it will take a minimum of several days to become visible and will have a fine end or take it out from the roots.

The best solution if you can afford it is electrolysis, or, possibly lasering, of which I have no experience.

I started finding thick dark hairs on my chin when I was about 20 and was using depilation cream twice a week when I was 40, which was when I started electrolysis. It takes time. It can take two or three treatments to finally destroy each hair and there are an awful lot of hairs on the face that can go from fine to thick and coarse over the years.

I had weekly treatment for the first two years and gradually after that it became less necessary. Before COVID I was having ten minutes electrolysis a couple of times a year, but it works.

If you possibly can you should try it, it can be painful during the treatment but the situation you describe sounds like constant misery. PM me if it would be helpful.

When I was 17, I started having legs, bikini line waxed. My mum had electrolysis on her chin at the same clinic. I did try it once on my legs, but thought at this rate, doing about twenty hairs a session, we’d be in the next century before the hair stopped growing, which was the point of electrolysis.

The beauticians suggested waxing. It would need repeating every six weeks or so, but at least you got rid of them all at once.

By the time I was 25, many had stopped growing, and almost all by the time I was 30! I bought an epilator to top up myself. I’m on my second one, which is about twenty years old.

I don’t really get facial hair, but have used the epilator a few times. I’m sure new ones are much better, and would recommend either waxing, or epilator.

Laser treatment, although expensive, is very effective and long lasting. Groupon deals and similar available.

Horrible isn't it! I have got to the stage where I would think twice about going travelling again (if we're ever allowed) because I would be so embarrassed re facial hair - it would be horrible going on a long trip on a plane - Australia to Europe for example, knowing I could not do anything about getting rid of bristles.

I am not vain but I am very self conscious about this sort of thing.

When I used the creams to remove hair, many decades ago, they did make your skin sore and you were warned not to leave it on the skin longer than recommended.

Obviously products are more cleverly reformulated these days, but the principle remains the same.

Thanks Monica that makes sense, although it sounds brutal when you put it like that, it must be cleverly formulated to dissolve the hairs without making your skin sore.

Casdon because essentially it dissolves the hair, as it is a caustic solution, rather than cutting it off sharply at skin level as shaving does.

Lynndy

I’ve already made my daughter promise to keep up wither if I can’t!

I always used to sort out my mum's facial hairs whenever I went to visit her; my sister never seemed to notice the hairs that were there and I promised my mum that I wouldn't let her get a beard, even to the point of sorting them out when she was dying as I knew she would have been very unhappy if I hadn't bothered. A promise is a promise.

Electrolysis. It can be a bit painful but worth it. Without it I would have a beard to rival DH's, I kid you not.

Weirdly you don’t actually get stubble if you use hair remover though Espee. I hate the smell of it, but although I don’t need (yet!) to remove hair on my face, with hair remover it grows back slowly on my legs, it doesn’t cause stubble. I wonder why, does anybody know?

Singing, shaving by wet razor or electric razor, derma-planing, nasal hair remover, and chemical cream facial hair remover all cut the hair which means they continue to grow and you rapidly have a rough stubble to contend with.
You need to pull hair out by the root. It will be replaced in time but the new growth will be soft and not stubbly.

Laser and electrolysis will remove any hair forever, IPL works for some people but only on dark hair. These are all extremely expensive.
Tweezing, waxing and epilators are the best DIY methods.

I do have a nose hair trimmer, bought from Boots, that I use regularly too!

I have a double pronged approach. In normal times, I wax strip my top lip. Has to be done on Friday after work to allow the redness/blotches to go down by Monday. For my chin, I pluck the really long hairs but can't wax the rest, because the wax gives me a rash there.

So... (drum roll, this always shocks) I use a lighter on my chin/neck. It singes all the hair off. My DD and mother recommended it to me. It works well, but depending on how bad the hair is, the smell of singed hair isn't great. Just a couple of swipes of the naked flame of the lighter does it. No need to linger. Do it so fast there is no sensation of heat. Any thicker hairs that don't singe away get plucked.

I've recently bought the Braun Facial epilator, I regularly do my 'tash' , it is a bit painful but, obviously the more you use it the less hair there is to remove. It's small enough to do your eyebrows too. If you dab on tea tree after it takes away the redness really quickly.

I used to bleach my lip hair and then had it and chin waxed by a beautician. Trouble is I now can’t afford to have it done regularly and it grows with a vengeance. Used waxing strips myself then my daughter suggested a dermaplaning tool that she uses on hers and eyebrows. In Superdrug they’re just over a pound I think. She said and rightly so men can shave using a razor on their face, so why can’t women. Sometimes a bit stubbly but works a treat x

I didn’t realise electrolysis worked on white hairs! How many sessions needed, anyone know?

Thankfully I had electrolysis done on my facial hair about 25 years ago. I had quite a few quite thick black hairs appear to the side of my mouth and a couple under my chin and loads of very fair ones all along my top lip. The best thing I have ever done was to book a course of treatments. I have never had to get the tweezers out or use any creams etc. Money very well spent. Thoroughly recommend.

(Disclaimer I only use it on my upper lip and up my nose!) tweeze the chinny, chin chin ones! (Sorry couldn’t help the billy goat gruff reference)