If you are a woman with too much hair in the wrong places, you know how damaging it is to your self-esteem. If you have excess hair growth on your abdomen or your chest, those areas can easily be concealed. If you have a beard and a mustache, the desire to never go out into public, frequently enters your mind. You know life would be better if you could look like a ‘normal’ woman without people noticing and sometimes even commenting about your excess facial hair.
Women who have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) tend to have dark, course facial hair. I call it ‘hormone hair’ and my electrologist calls it ‘goat hair.’ I laughed at the comparison but it is spot-on. Goat hair is very course and wiry, if you didn’t know. The growth of this hormone hair, like weeds, can get out of control. Once it is out of control it can take a while to get it back to normal.
The first line of defense against the excess hair growth is to correct the hormone imbalance. Without first correcting that imbalance any hair removal treatment you use will not be nearly as effective. Women with PCOS are advised by their doctor to lose weight (if you are overweight) and limit carbohydrate intake, along with getting plenty of exercise. It’s also becoming common practice for the doctor to prescribe a diabetic medication, such as Metformin, along with the lifestyle changes, since insulin resistance is thought to be at the heart of PCOS.
I have been dealing with my own goat hairs for twenty-five years. In that time, I have used three treatments: electrolysis, tweezing and Moom. I have wanted to try laser hair removal but it is very expensive.
Electrolysis
With my first visit to a gynecologist, I learned about electrolysis. I could have hugged the doctor for telling me there was a way to get rid of the facial hair. I had a lot to learn. The best way to describe electrolysis is to give you the Merriam-Webster definition:
2: the destruction of hair roots by an electrologist using direct current
I cried all the way home from my first electrolysis session. I was nineteen, soon to be married, feared infertility and electrolysis hurt….a LOT!
Even with using ice packs to numb the area, it was still painful. The most painful area for me was above my upper lip. My eyes would water profusely from the pain. Years later I was told to ask my doctor for a topical anesthetic to help with the pain.
It does help a great deal as long as the timing is right. I would apply it (I only used it for upper lip treatments) on the way to a treatment so that but the time I was under the needle, it would be at peak performance.
After the first year of frequent treatments, I enjoyed several years of rarely needing a treatment, that is, as long as I stayed on birth control pills. That is the key to permanent hair removal through electrolysis: get those hormones balanced!
Electrolysis is a good choice if:
- Your hormones are already balanced or if the imbalance is being corrected
- If you don’t mind a little or a lot of pain, depending on your tolerance
- Can afford at least $30.00 or more an hour
- f you’re not a candidate for laser hair removal
- If you can refrain from plucking them between visits
Between visits, new growth can be trimmed (with scissors) close to the skin without hindering treatments.
Tweezing
Tweezing is good for eyebrows but not for hormone hairs. Tweezing can bend the roots making destruction of a hair root more difficult for an electrologist. If you have a few predictable chin hairs tweezing is great but when you have many, many hairs, it is time consuming and frustrating.
Some women have resorted to shaving their faces but that’s not something I would ever do or recommend. It’s easy to spot a woman who shaves their facial hair; the result never looks good in my opinion.
During my electrolysis years, I never, ever tweeze anything but my eyebrows. Now it’s the most valuable part of my routine. I use a magnified, lighted mirror and a pair of pointed tweezers. The tips are very pointed, almost sharp. They really grip the hair without slipping.
Tweezing is a good choice if:
- You only have a few, slow growing hairs on your chin
- You have no other options because of cost or location
- You have plenty of time
MOOM
If you’ve never heard of MOOM or never used it, you are missing out. I have been using it for two years. I first read about it on Dr. Lark’s website. I’ve only waxed once, many years ago– it was not fun. I thought MOOM would be the same since the application is somewhat similar: smear the sticky stuff on with a flat stick, apply the cloth strip, rip and scream.
Strangely, it’s not the same as wax. The initial rip does have a sensation but it’s not really painful.
Since I have mean roots that don’t come out easily, the MOOM doesn’t get all of the thicker hair; I still need to tweeze. The area where the strip was ripped off becomes pleasantly numb long enough to get in some near painless tweezing. That works out really well for the upper lip area.
This is a long process, for me anyway. I tweeze the goat hairs leaving the fine hair alone until they get too thick, then I MOOM and tweeze. It takes me about two hours, sometimes more. As the strips come off, I put them in a bowl of warm water to start the cleaning process. I use strips that are 1 ¼ inches wide by 4 inches long.
The MOOM reminds me of honey. The ingredients are: Organic Cane Sugar, Organic Chamomile, Water, Organic Lemon Juice and Organic Tea Tree oil. I place the jar in the microwave for ten seconds to warm it, making it easier to apply
MOOM is a good choice if:
- You have a lot of hair on your face to remove
- You don’t mind a lot of tweezing
If you don’t have goat hairs you might not have to tweeze after using MOOM.
After twenty-five years with PCOS I still haven’t achieved the ‘permanent hair removal promise. With thousands of hair follicles per square inch, I’m not sure it’s ever possible. PCOS is thought to improve as one ages. My menstrual cycles over the years have went from non-existent to more regular. Now I’m waiting for the goat hairs to miraculously disappear. Yes, I know that’s not likely, but I can dream, can’t I?
moom.com
Drlark.com
Soulcysters.com
