See title. I’m on HRT for over 11 months now, thoroughly enjoying it. I’ve a hunch the dose is a bit low, though. I get androgen blockers every 2-3 months, my last one was one month ago.
Normally my arm hairs aren’t very visible, so I didn’t have much dysphoria from that. However, recently my arm hair seems to be growing a lot and thicker, and I’m concerned. Is this normal?
My mum doesn’t really have a lot of arm hair, nor do other gals in my family.
You must log in or register to comment.
Hair is cyclical. I used a cheap IPL gun from Amazon to get rid of most of the thicker hair. I’ve used it all over my body and it has helped a lot, though I got electrolysis on my face.
But even with the “permanent” methods it’s just getting rid of what’s growing at that moment. Cycles of hair growth mean more pops up periodically requiring more treatment.
So, first get your hormone levels checked to avoid growing as much and then try some IPL, laser, or electrolysis if you want more reduction.
Hmm. How are your blood levels?
And what do you take and at which dosages?I dunno if it’s maybe possible for those hairs to have already set in earlier, or if this is a case of your androgen levels being high still.
Ok, so the results are here. Last measure was August (yeah, oops… I got ill around the time I was supposed to have my next test and prolonged it).
Just before starting (March), I had 125 pmol/L for estradiol, and free T was 358.9.
By August, I had 175 pmol/L for estradiol, and free T was 30.5.Pinging @dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zone as well for this!
thanks! Looks like good T suppression - but August was a while ago, and your E was pretty low … what anti-androgen are you taking? It could just be as simple as needing a dose adjustment on your anti-androgen, esp. because those E levels are not likely enough to suppress T on their own.
Lenzetto spray, 3 doses a day, once a day. Never skipped a day.
Blood levels, not sure. Next test will be in two months, though I think I should get it much sooner (last was many months ago).
I take antiboyotics, last jab was one month ago. I get them every two to three months.
I really don’t know much about spray as a route of administration, nor an anti-androgen administered only once every 2 - 3 months (!?), so your HRT regime is very easy to feel skeptical towards because it’s so unusual.
Blood levels would be really helpful for clarifying whether your T is sufficiently suppressed, E sufficiently high - but yeah, androgens can cause thicker darker hairs, and it’s possible that’s the cause.
As for the anti-androgen, there are some injections on a monthly basis, or even every three months. I had something like that
I don’t mean to say it’s not a possibility that this is a reasonable HRT regimen, just that I’m very much unfamiliar with it (sorta meaningless, just trying to declare my ignorance and the resulting bias or uncertainty).
Just for curiosity’s sake - do you know what anti-androgen was injected on a monthly or 3-monthly basis? I would really like to learn more! Was it an oil that was injected, or a pellet that was surgically implanted?
Some doctors in the US are willing to implant an estrogen pellet, and sometimes that can be done roughly on a 3-monthly schedule like that (I’ve heard once every 3 months, once every 6 months, once a year - so I suspect it depends on the pellet that is implanted?).
Once I’m home (in about 2.5 hours) I’m gonna look for the blood levels. I have the results there.
My advice here would be to ask a (female) friend if they think you have a lot of arm hair. In my experience we tend to obsess needlessly over things like this when others barely notice, if at all. I shaved my arm hair at the start of HRT but stopped doing it about a year in or so because it was a hassle. Now I have very average arm hair compared to cis women I’d say.
Yes this is good advice too. It could be that you are simply better at detecting your own body hair. Could also be that the other women in your family shave or do other forms of hair removal
Doubt it, none of them have done so. My mum does have body hair but it’s mainly on the legs. Dad has some on the arms.
My arms actually used to be much less hairy. Pre-E they were, by lack of a better word, gently haired. After E the hairs started to be less noticeable between 6-10 months, but now they seem more noticeable.
I’ve met plenty of cis women with hairy arms. Some wax or shave it off, some don’t. Just personal preference. If you want rid of it and have the cash a decent IPL machine will have decent results. I have this one.
Edit: It works as long as the hair is darker than the skin, if you have dark skin or light blonde hair it won’t do much.
If you’re not a fan of it, you can use Nair to maintain it.
