The Guide to Getting It On (107 page)

Hair on the Shaft of the Penis:
It is not unusual for males to have hair that goes from half of the way to all of the way up the penis. Each of these situations can be taken care of with electrolysis.

Will It Grow in More Thickly?

Shaving hair does not cause it to grow in more thickly. What causes hair to grow more thickly is an increase in certain hormones related to puberty, pregnancy, menopause and certain metabolic disorders such as PCOS. Some medications such as certain inhalers, corticosteroids, some antidepressants, and some hormonal methods of birth control can cause an increase in hair growth, as can and an increase in blood circulation.

Other Ways to Get Your Hair Off

Depilatory:
This is a form of chemical warfare that dissolves the hair at the surface of the skin. You’ve probably heard of Nair. Depilatories don’t do any better job than shaving, but some people like them. Others find they irritate the skin. Be sure to follow the instructions. Make sure they are safe to be used on the genitals.

Vaniqa:
This is a prescription cream that started life as an anti-cancer drug. The reason it sometimes works on reducing hair growth is because tumor cells and hair follicles have a lot in common. Vaniqa also helps cure African Sleeping Sickness. So people coming out of near-death comas from sleeping sickness who were treated with Vaniqa might find their unwanted body hair gone as well. Vaniqa only removes body hair on 58% of the women who use it, and only temporarily. What’s really bizarre is that in clinical tests for Vaniqa, more than a third of the women using a placebo cream also had “improved” or “markedly improved” results with their unwanted body hair. Vaniqa hasn’t been tested on men, but its safety and effectiveness hasn’t been tested when it is applied to the human snatch. Plus, you need to get a prescription and it is expensive.

Tweezing:
Contrary to what you might think, tweezing can do nasty damage to the hair follicle. This can be a cosmetic bummer if you radically tweeze your eyebrows and find you are stuck with that look for life. The most common body parts that get tweezed are eyebrows and nipples. Warm the area with a wash cloth beforehand to trick the follicles into relaxing their grip. To prevent over-plucking of eyebrows,
www.hairfacts.com
recommends that you draw the line you would like with a concealer first, then pluck the little villains that reside on the other side.

Waxing and Sugaring:
If you are waxing for the first time, be sure to have it done professionally or by a friend who is highly experienced. Infections and broken hairs can result if you are not careful. If you are a woman, the pubic area seems to be more tender when you are having a period, so wait until later for waxing. If you are a man, be aware there are scrotum-horror stories about the wax pulling off more than pubic hair. If you are going to wax a scrotum, be sure to get special wax that is meant for that, and only work in small areas at a time. For either sex, there is no evidence that waxing decreases hair growth, unless it creates scar tissue over the follicles. While some people can go for a month or two between waxings, others have visible hair growth after only a week. Wait at least two hours after showering before waxing, and try not get sweaty for 24-hours after waxing. Facial hair needs to be at least one-eighth of an inch before waxing, while pubic hair needs to be at least one-quarter of an inch. The pain of waxing is often worse the first few times; the pain receptors in the skin don’t seem to revolt nearly as much by the third or fourth time if you wax on a consistent basis.

Rotary Epilators:
These are electronic torture devices that have rows of tweezers that yank hairs out by the root. Some people swear by them, others at them. The Braun model comes highly recommended, as does the Cleancut Personal Shaver (formerly called the Seiko Cleancut). People who use the Cleancut recommend getting the companion trimmer. You need to pull the skin tight when using an epilator on your genitals, and the hair has to be long enough for the mechanical tweezers to yank them, but not too long. The most pain occurs the first time you use a rotary epilator. Some of the epilators have a special attachment for the first time which reduces the number of hairs pulled out during each pass.

Threading:
This is plucking with a thread. It’s a traditional form of removing hair from the faces of Indian and Muslim women.

Bleaching:
This isn’t a way of removing hair, but trying to make it look less obvious. Unfortunately, bleaching can make hair look thicker because the bleach gets absorbed inside the shaft and puffs it up. Plus, it can make the hair stick out more from the skin.

Head Trips?
If you are a fan of the naked noggin, you’ll find all kinds of head-shaving tips at
www.baldrus.com
.

Permanent Hair Removal—Electrolysis

With electrolysis, a technician sticks a thin electrified needle into the hair follicle. He or she then zaps it electrically. Think of it as being like sending your hair follicles to the electric chair.

There are three different kinds of electrolysis: galvanic, thermolysis or Flash, and blended. The blend method is a combination of thermolysis and galvanic. It is said to be the best method for removing pubic hair. Other variables include the experience level of the technician, the age of the equipment, the quality of the lighting, the intensity and duration of the electrical impulse and the type of needle used.

As for pubic-hair removal, an average male might have 25,000 or more hair follicles running from his navel to behind his scrotum. A woman will hopefully have fewer hair follicles, and no scrotum. One of the things that makes it difficult to estimate how many hours of electrolysis you will need in order to achieve your goal is the density of hair follicles. Jacob might have only 20 active hair follicles in an area that’s the size of a quarter, while his girlfriend might have 200.

When trying to conceptualize hair follicles, think of a cave with a sleeping bear inside. That’s because a large number of hair follicles on our bodies are resting at any time. One of the keys to successful electrolysis is being able to start with a full initial clearance. Then follow up with several electrolysis sessions over a course of twelve to eighteen months to zap those new hairs that have come out of hibernation since your last appointment.

A knowledgeable electrolysis expert found through the Genital Hair Removal forum at
www.hairtell.com
offers the following perspective:

“In the pubic area, there are well over 20,000 hairs packed into that small area, so one would need to remove at least 2,000 hairs just to effect a 10% removal. Proper treatment requires longer and more frequent appointments in the beginning, and tapers off to minutes every 3 to 6 months at the end. If the aggressive schedule is not followed, one could go once a month for an hour for the rest of one’s life and only get a minor reduction.”

This means that you and an experienced electrolysist need to make a treatment plan and follow it. You’ll want to be sure to get total clearance during the initial phase, which will require more and longer sessions at the start. Don’t just go in for an hour or two and think it’s going to work.

As for the time involved in doing an entire crotch, figure on at least ten or twelve hours to tame the wild beaver. As for the pain, it can vary from almost none to excruciating, depending on the person who is doing the electrolysis, the person who is having the electrolysis done, and the particular part of your body that’s being zapped. For instance, logic might tell you it’s far more painful to have your scrotum done than the hair at the base of your penis, but the opposite is usually true. You will definitely want to talk to the technician about pain-relief options.

With all of the special handling that goes on during hair removal of the male genitals, it’s not unusual for guys to occasionally get an erection. Most attendants know about this, and the erection actually helps the process because it stretches the skin more tightly. Even if you don’t have an erection, you will find the electrologist will probably ask you to stretch the skin with your fingers to help the process go faster. The problem for guys who want electrolysis on their penis or scrotum is that most electrolysists are women, and not many will work on a guy’s crotch.

For a competent electrolysist who will do crotch hair—especially on a male—visit the forums at
www.hairtell.com
. You might also search online for suggestions that have been posted on the subject M2F transsexuals. They need a lot of electrolysis before they can have bottom surgery, and they usually know who will do it and who is good.

Between Waxing and Electrolysis—Laser Hair Removal

Laser hair removal works best if you have very light skin with dark hair growing out of it. That’s because lasers work by targeting the melanin in the hair follicle. This is the compound that gives the hair its color. The laser emits a very narrow bandwidth of light that can be absorbed by the melanin in the follicle. The heat that gathers in the melanin then radiates to the rest of the follicle and theoretically fries it. If your skin is olive or dark, or the hair is blond or gray, or the laser isn’t well-matched for your skin type or isn’t working correctly, the destructive energy can be absorbed by your skin instead of the hair follicle and nasty things can happen. (Forget using lasers for removing nipple hair. You’ll end up with a nipple fry, as the dark skin will absorb all of the energy.)

This is why with laser, you should always have a test patch done first and not schedule any appointments for at least a week or more to make sure your skin doesn’t become pigmented. You’ll then want to make sure that the same attendant does all of your treatments using the same machine.

Also, be aware that no fertility studies have been done to demonstrate the safety of using lasers on a guy’s scrotum, and the lack of smooth skin on the scrotum can make for poor follicle frying. No studies have been done on the impact of laser hair removal on the sensitivity of the clitoris.

There is great information about laser-hair removal on the forums at
www.hairtell.com
.

Permanent Hair Removal Precaution

This chapter has barely scraped the surface of permanent hair removal. If you are considering it, you would do well to spend hours on the websites
www.hairtell.com
and
www.hairfacts.com
. Read and print out their consultation form. Take it with you if you are visiting a laser hair-removal center. And please read their suggestions on how to select an electrologist and what to ask.

Permanent hair removal can be safe, effective, and satisfying, or it can permanently damage your skin. It can also be painful, and it is almost always time-consuming and very costly. Make the experience work for you by knowing as much as you can before you take off your shirt or drop your pants and plunk down your hard-earned money or spend your valuable time.

Hormonal Problems that Cause Plentiful Hair Growth

Some hormonal conditions can cause women to have hair so thick on their faces that they need to shave twice a day. Some of these women live in dire fear that they will get into an accident and have to be hospitalized and won’t be able to shave their faces. At the same time, there are men who find hairy women to be a sexual turn on, and even porn magazines that feature women with hirsutism, which is defined as hairy and then some.

According to Sarah Rosenthal, author of
Women and Unwanted Hair
, the causes of excessive hair growth in women can include too much androgen secretion (polycystic ovarian syndrome), overactive adrenal glands (such as with Cushing’s disease), hair follicles that are too sensitive to androgens, certain drugs (including some oral contraceptives, steroids, and dilantin), insulin resistance, hyperthyroidism, endocrine disorders, genetics, obesity and stress.

If you are bothered by the amount of hair you have, or if you suddenly start growing gobs of new hair, try to find an endocrinologist who specializes in hirsutism. Just because the physician is an endocrinologist doesn’t mean that he or she is either sympathetic or knowledgeable about hormone imbalances and excessive hair growth.

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