I’ve heard of things like Nair that make it fall out… if that was a one-and-done solution I’d be all for it, but I’m hoping for something that slows or stops it from growing.
I go clean shaven, but I get the ‘5 o-clock’ shadow the second I put the razor down, and look homeless if I skip a day or two.
Tried growing a beard - looked alright, but the amount of product and effort I shoved into that thing was ridiculous. And it was maddeningly itchy the entire time (lasted about a year putting up with it).
I’ve spent the last couple years with the conclusion that hair is just annoying, and I want it gone with as little effort and expense as possible.
Kinda partial to keeping the eyebrows and lashes cuz they keep shit out of my eyes, but honestly if losing them is the cost of getting rid of the rest of it, I’d call that a fair trade.
Some initial searching shows there is a market for hair growth suppressants, but chewbaccoids like myself might not be among the target audience lol.
Anyone got a recommendation or cautionary tale?
I’m a lady but waxing has certainly changed my experience with shaving lower body. Apparently every time you pull out the hairs, a few give up (as evidenced by all the skinny eyebrows of anyone who survived the 1990s). Over time there are fewer, and the growback is not nearly as itchy as shaving. I have no idea if it’s offered for beards but if so it might get you to the point you could shave comfortably, it did that for me at the other end of my body, it still grows as fast but is not so thick, individual hairs are finer and there are fewer of them.
Waxing beards can hurt a lot. Beard hair & roots are very dense and thick in comparison to body hair (which is already not a great feeling based on my experiences with adhesives).
The places I waxed had very coarse and curly deep rooted hair in sensitive areas and yes it sure hurts, but shaving always caused ingrown hairs and razor burn, it doesn’t really anymore. So like an acute pain instead of a chronic pain I guess.
Lasering probably does the same more efficiently but maybe too efficiently if you want to keep your options open. And it hurts too.
I’ve moved from waxing to epilating. I have to do it a bit more frequently but very little mess.
I’ve been epilating my legs and upper lip about a year now. I only have to do it once every other week for my legs and lip once every 3 wks or so. My hair growth is sparse now and the follicles that do grow back aren’t as coarse. It takes time but it eventually will be worth it.
I’ve spent the last couple years with the conclusion that hair is just annoying, and I want it gone with as little effort and expense as possible.
How permanent are you wanting?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrology
Electrology is the practice of electrical hair removal to permanently remove human hair from the body.
Most practitioners will advise that complete removal of male pattern facial hair takes between 1 and 4 years, with an average treatment length of 2 years in case of one session per week, one hour per session.
I have extensive third degree burns from badly cooking drugs and the hair never grows on it.
I got a terrible sunburn on my legs hiking the Grand Canyon a few years ago. The hair on my legs where the burns were still hasn’t grown back.
Dermatologists love this trick
I wish there was a way to do it at home, in my case for body hair. Shaving is a no go with dark hair because it’s immediately noticeable and I also typically start to get all pimply because the hair bores into my skin and the inflammation leaves dark spots for many months. That means, the longer I do it, the more I look like some diseased freak. Can’t even do partial shaving on lesser spots either because it leaves a hard cut border to the rest, which looks ridiculous. lol
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It’s going to be a effort or significant cost or both to get rid of it
Laser hair removal. You can get it done professionally or buy a at home device. If buy an at home make sure it’s safe to use on your face and near your eyes. I have an at home and it works and it takes years to get rid of all the hair in an area. I got rid of the hair on my feet still working on my lower legs.
I also use a brand of hair inhibitor called Completely Bare. It a lotion. I use on my upper face like between my eyebrows. You pluck the hair out and rub in the lotion. Not as good as laser but I’m not going to buy a laser removal device just to use in that area.
Laser hair removal works best on dark hair and light skin, but the tech has gotten better over the years so if you are not that see if there stuff out there that may work for you. If you buy a laser hair machine find out how much replacement cartridge are. It’s better to pay more for a machine if the cartilage are cheaper. Also read the warnings so you don’t burn yourself.
Until you can afford it deal with the more permanent solutions, I used to know someone who both waxed and epilated their beard.
They used stripless wax like GiGi Strip Free, a microwaveable wax that smells like pine resin you can get at Sally beauty supply. They also purchased an epilator from Amazon, which is a device that plucks hair in bulk and looks like an electric shaver.
Both methods are touchy but can give you a smooth face with a longer regrow time.
With waxing you have to be careful not to rip off your skin which is always a risk when waxing the face. Epilating just takes technique and pain tolerance.
Both are reportedly painful at first but you get used to it after a while.
Half centaur cyclist type here. Permanent? No. But some Wahl clippers with the smallest guard can make fast work of a whole body and razor routine once every ~2 weeks. I absolutely hate shaving my face because it causes major chaffing from the salts that dry into a helmet strap on the bike. I use the smallest guard on the Wahl’s for facial hair and no blade for a constant short stubble. It works for me. Use women’s or the Schick 5 blade razors that have the extra landing pad area around the blade and you’ll knick yourself way less often. That’s the best I’ve cone up with in the last two decades of removing the built in long johns.
This is my husband’s face hair strategy as well. Clippers most of the time, shaving the edges occasionally. I don’t like beards but got beat over the head with images of hot guys with stubble for long enough it just looks good to me now.
Your comment about the long johns made me laugh remembering my friend - he had very pale skin, very dark hair and such hairy legs, one time he shaved a racing stripe down the sides of his legs :)
I was judging you for your itchy beard comment, but I see you gave it a year. That is plenty of time to get used to it if you’re gonna, and I’m sorry for judging you prematurely. I haven’t shaved or trimmed my face in four years and I love my beard. I get a lot of comments/compliments on it. Probably my best feature. I’m sorry beard life isn’t for you.
Yeah it got to about a full foot long - I was on track to look like Gandalf, but it was just as itchy at 12 months as it was at two weeks, and I spent WAY too much money on conditioners, beard oil, mustache wax, etc.
My hair grows thick and fast, but the hair itself is brittle - I’d press on my beard and I could hear faint little clicks from hairs breaking, so there was always a layer underneath that was perma-new-beard length.
Looked good though - I did get lots of compliments lol!
You should just razor the neck area and keep it trimmed short if it’s thick. Don’t use any products. The products can make itching worse.
But if you really want to thin it out and slow the growth, I used to be like you, and chemo has done wonders for that. Slows all the hair actually. (/S)
But seriously it’s curious not having a fast growing beard. Haven’t known what that’s like since I first grew one at 12.
I can’t have mine too long, 5-7 mm tops. It just gets so stiff and hard and starts poking me and it also grows too wildly for my OCD brain.
I tried that several times and couldn’t get past three months. It drove me so batty that during lockdown I got up from work and took a shower just to make that feeling to away.
Chemo does it!
When I shave I always do a wash after and redo it going against the grain, including using shaving cream again. Before doing that I also used to have the instant five oclock look.
Would you try a “half way” solution?
Would you try rocking a “stubbly look” and trimming with an electric beard trimmer on one of the lowest settings rather than going fully clean shaven?
Could give you the best of both “not homeless” (as long as you keep it neat) and not having an expensive and itchy beard.
chewbaccoids
I’m fed-up with shaving, & wish I could get & use a laser permanent-ish epilation thingy for my beard, but … my hair’s mostly white, now, & it requires color for working ( the laser-light has to be absorbed, right? )
I don’t know that Black people could use that, though, now that I think of it ( the unfairness of it just struck me, it isn’t pertinent to your situation, I don’t believe )
hmm…
Just hope you don’t end up with an enlarged prostate. Finasteride causes excessive hair growth.
Have activists ever thrown paint at you?
