- You are very lucky to have an understanding boyfriend. That's very important. You are also lucky that your hair is blond. Dark hair is much more noticeable.

- Yes, your hair is a result of PCOS. What birth control are you on? Is it Yasmine or Yaz that helps control the hair growth for some? Have you talked to your endocrinologist about possibly taking anything stronger like Spiro to prevent future growth? If you feel like the hair is getting worse, it's partly due to your age, partly to PCOS, and also partly to plucking instead of shaving or clipping.

- Shaving is actually a much better solution than plucking because it doesn't make the hair any stronger or more coarse like plucking and waxing can. I know it sounds awful, but it really is the best solution. And once you do it, you won't feel that weird about it. The thought of doing it is usually the worst part.

- If it only takes you an hour to pluck, you don't have as much hair as some. And if you are ready to consider a permanent solution, i.e. electrolysis, it wouldn't be that difficult and wouldn't take that much time for this amount of hair. You should really consider it if this is important to you and can improve your life significantly. Where are you located? There is lots of information on this forum on how to find a good electrologist.

- Is the hair on your other areas also blond?

Hiii,
So many issues!

This reply is to lil red and Echo Park, mostly. It's a bit long, but bear with me.

I am 24 and have been dealing with the issues you describe since puberty. Face, neck, back, belly, chest, breast and leg hair all upsetting me. I was diagnosed with PCOS when I was 18.

I just want to say a few things, based on the insight I've gotten over the past few years.

From the ages 13 to 19, I was quite freaked out by the hair, and, partly as a result, developed bulimia. The bulimia did not affect my life too much - it was mild. Then, when I was diagnosed with PCOS and told, quite abruptly,to change my diet and start being super, uber healthy, my bulimia gradually got worse - much worse. For this reason, I want to sound a warning: telling people to "just get healthy" is over simplistic. As advice, it is impossible to follow; adjusting to the prescribed PCOS diet takes years for many people. It's important that those of us with PCOS (and related hormonal problems) aspire to the right lifestyle, but please remember to be gentle on yourself in making those changes. If you are persistent, you will make valuable changes over the years, but if you expect to do it straight away, you may end up thinking about it all the time, getting anxious about it, paranoid about it, and feeling a deep guilt that you seem to be failing so frequently. This, as many of us here know I'm sure, is the slippery slope to eating disorder land...*

If you develop/have bulimia, I can't recommend this book enough: "Overcoming Binge Eating", by Christopher Fairburn. (I have no affiliation with the people behind this book; I hope I'm allowed recommend it here.) My bulimia is much improved since I read it.

In the past, my hirsuitism made me feel, as you feel, utterly disgusting. I used to look in the mirror sometimes and get these fits of panicky tears, and be unable to get dressed... Since then, I've slowly realised what a crazy world we live in, and how the pressure on women (in particular) to look perfect is driving so many of us mad (literally!) When you are constantly thinking how revolting you look, that IS a type of madness...

Now I am in a better place, emotionally. I have recovered from a severe depression. I am making very slow, satisfying progress in resisting the pressure to look good all the time. I like to look as attractive as I can, and I do remove much of my hair, but I'm aware of these contradictions in how I behave, and I reflect on them, and I try to be courageous, modifying my behaviour, in gradual, helpful ways. I'm gentle on myself. At the moment,I'm experimenting with letting my under-arm hair grow - I don't know yet if I will have the bravery to go through with it, but I'm proud of myself for trying something so unfashionable! I understand the desire not to attract the negative comments of others (boy, do I), and the desire to attract the boys/men(/women) you want (boy, do I), but developing the strength of character to do something uncool is very rewarding. It's the only possible path out of madness...

I have a long way to go, and you have an even longer way to go, but I hope you remember what I've said. I'm an ordinary girl, who likes to be popular and sexy and all the rest of it, but I've been through insanity and come out the other side. Unwanted hair is a mental issue, rather than a physical one, and recognising that has helped me become HAPPY again. I wish you (and all of us!) the very best of luck.*

nonnynonny, are you on any medication for PCOS like spiro? Have you considered hair removal with either laser or electrolysis? You can also find support and lots of information at soulcysters.com forum for women with PCOS.

Btw, anorexia/bulimia can also add to the hair growth if you get too skinny as the body starts developing hair to protect you.

Have an your physician check your adrenal gland. Adult onset andrenal hyperplasia can also be a contributing factor.

Janet

Anyone suffering from adrinal exhaustion should remove caffeine from their diet and increase glutamine, and gladular tissue. The glandular tissue can be eaten, or if you are like most of us and don't like the idear of cooking organ meat and eating it, you can get excellent glandular supplements and get your boost that way.

I like the glandulars pills made by Don Lemmon's Know How, and Standard Process, but there are plenty of good companies out there serving this market.

I have had a hell of a time obsessing about PCOS

Currently living in the UK, a second opinion would require changing my practice and that would be difficult

I have been hairy my WHOLE life, even before getting my period.

DRs don't know enough about PCOS at all. A lot of them are not up to date on diagnosing more subtle pcos

I have acne and hirsutism. I do not have irregular periods (means little) OR cysts and I have normal bloodwork (but need more and can't get it).

i must say my dad and bro are VERY hairy- my bro especially

I dont know if i have pcos. I am not overweight, don't know about my insulin status, but am taking yasmin.

I feel really miserable with the acne and hair. the hair got worse with laser and now I have to figure out electro. I actually tried electro first but had trouble with it/hated the scabs/etc

I hate checking on my body to find there is hair I never noticed.

I hate catching people looking at my hair

I hate looking at other girls and seeing just how different i am from them

I hate hair on my chest and living in fear that it will pop up on my back

I hate that this issue dominates my thoughts and isolates me when I would otherwise have a better life

I hate letting this hell dominate my life

I hate planning the next year and where i will move to based on my hair removal needs.

Why can't you get more tests? Don't you have free health care in the UK?

How many laser treatments did you have? Type of laser?

Quality electrolysis care is assured permanent hair removal. Scabs are avoidable or they should be so small that no one notices them and they slough off in about a week.

Your feelings are noted. Now, what you need is a good medical evaluation followed by a plan to bring you relief from the unwanted hair. Whether the hair growth is genetic? or caused by PCOS? would be helpful to know, but it is a fact that the hair you have now can only be eliminated with assurance, by competent electrolysis care. If you can't afford it, then start saving and do temporary measures until you can afford it. I'm referring to your facial hair, but electrolysis is good for body hair as well. Proper and professional laser hair reduction can be a great help on body areas if you are good candidate. I do not like laser hair reduction for female facial hair because I have been hired by too many women to clean up the hair that was induced to grow after laser treatments. It's not pretty in some cases.

I don't tend to dwell on problems, but rather do all I can to solve them and bring about results. I can encourage you not to be hard on yourself and not to worry, but would rather focus on encouraging you to just get a plan and taking small steps forward to solve your hair problem.

So isn't your health care free in the UK? Why can't you get more information? Am I missing something here.

Dee

hi dfahey

thanks so much for the reply!

1) yes its free but your gp is the gate keeper so if they wont request more tests then you cannot get them. I am considering changing but I know that my gp follows the same protocol many do so I don't know if I would be helped in the end. My guess is that if the preliminary tests come out negative they don't probe further. I have normal total T, lh ration, ovaries, and menses. Still, I could have PCOS. However, talking to a friend who is a DR, what I have may just be a hypersensitivity to testosterone.

2) the laser induced hair growth I have on the right side of my face mostly and on the underside of my chin (which had only vellus hair before I stupidly agreed to treat them) WAKES me up at night and i am SO disturbed by having worse hair than i did when I tried electro as a first option for a year. I saw NO progress even when I had hair only on the tip of my chin! I had skim damage that healed after a year of regular retinoid. Had I just stuck with laser on that area I would not be so miserable right now!!!

3) my scabbing was noticeable. is it really NOT for some people? WOW.

4) is it true that if I get proper electro every 10-14 days for 9-18 months the hair will be gone forever or is that a hugely optimistic estimate? really though. I have read that electro can take up to 4 years. thats A LOT of time and money and scabbing.

thanks so much for your time, I can't tell you how good it feels to talk to someone about this!

THis is going to be long and hopefully, not too muddled.

Yes, on point number one. It is true that your hair follicles can be more vulnerable to the small, normal amounts of male testosterone circulating in your blood, but you are still a normal healthy woman.

If you want to go further with testing, are you "permitted" by the government run system to pay out of pocket for the extra testing?

Your electrolysis experience was sub-par and perhaps your visits were not timed correctly to catch only growing hair? Perhaps you never got a first, full clearance? You need to keep punching away after the FFC and stay on top of the hair growth cycles to come. There is no hair that can live when a skilled electrologist treats it with the proper intensity and timing with the proper probe size. If your practitioner did not explain all this to you, your chance for success is greatly diminished. If you were tweezing while having electrolysis, your chances are greatly diminished for success. Did you complain about your skin reaction? Did she understand and try a new strategy? Was she using an epilator where it is hard to control the energy levels with a consistency that one can repeat at every treatment? What was your aftercare like? I repeat this often for good reason: It is possible to "kill" hair below the skin's surface without prolonged healing reactions that embarrass the client in front of her family, friends and co-workers. You may have some temporary reaction that lasts less than a week, but this is usually in the begining when hairs are thicker, in all stages of growth and closer together, but it gets better after one gets over that hurdle. It sounds like you were overtreated repeatedly and this a big red flag that one should be alerted to. Scabbing on the face is not desired, but happens sometimes, but the scabs should be pinpoint and slough of within a week. Never pick off a scab! Never distrub a scab! One should tell the electrologist, so she can try something else to prevent scabbing. Maybe she needs to do something drastic like, dump her epilator and re-train on the better computerized brands availabale today.

We recommend that consumers get lots of consultations and short treatments to check out skin healing before they settle with one person. I even tell my new clients to go check out other electrologists in the area and call me if they want to proceed with me after looking around. I don't care if they go to someone else because I'm not competitive. I offer what I offer and will improve or stay the same depending on the feedback I get. Blaming electrolysis for your bad outcome is like blaming a car for bashing the fender.

Your statement in point four is absolutely true, but you don't need to go every 10-14 days for 9-18 months. It's better than that! You do need to go more frequently for longer appointments for the first three- four months, maybe less, depending on whether you tweeze and how much hair you have, and then appointments space out and get farther apart after months four to six. After my clients get a first,full clearance, then we space things out to every 2-3 weeks for a short time and then every month until the end comes in month 9?,12?,14?,14?,15?,16?,17?,18?. Now that's pretty reasonable and offers so much hope for any person that uses the word "hate" in relation to so much hair. When I say all this, I am talking about my setup. I use PicoFlash thermolysis mixed in with a little blend here and there, on a professional, powerful computerized epilator (the Apilus Platinum (Dectro International). Probe size matches the diameter of the hair, quality magnification and lighting. I offer appointments longer that 15-30 minutes. An electrologist must have the stamina to do longer appointments when one presents with a lot of hair or you, the consumer, will get very frustrated and run out of money. NONE, AND I MEAN NONE!, of my clients has ever taken four years to complete!! If one reports it takes four years, then the electrologist is doing a slower method or is missing the target repeatedly or the client comes in whenever they desire, not according to a schedule that matches hair growth cycles. One is doomed if they don't adhere to an appointment schedule that synchronizes with new hair that comes to the surface.

I am not the only electrologist that offers a good setup with the skill to get the hair off asap with a fast healing scenario. There are lots of us out there doing this every day so people like you can get back their self-esteem and get on with their lives. Until something better than electrolysis, assured permanent hair removal, comes along that is better, it's the only option you have right now. You must find someone that has nailed this and knows how to do this properly. They need good equipment and most of all, skill. Start close to home and work your way outward. Even if you have to travel to another town, it would be better than having a scabby face and perhaps, skin damage somewhere down the road.

Read hairtell as much as you can and you will know exactly what you need to focus on for effective electrolysis care with permanent hair removal assured in 9-18 months. Think beyond what each elecetrologist tells you. We are all different in our approach and you will get permanent hair removal, but you have to compare sensation, speed and healing factors. If you can't find a good practitioner, then I offer my sincere sympathy to you. If you don't have a career yet, then think about helping the profession by becoming a well-trained professional electrologist.

The things that will lift us out of a funk relates to careful planning of how to solve a problem. Keep us posted on how you are going to go about solving your problem and thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.

Dee