Chin hair-Pluck, wax or depilatory?
 

As I've grown older, I have developed chin hairs that look like whiskers as most women do. Since I've turned 50 and am entering menopause, the problem has gotten A LOT worse. I try to keep up by plucking. But if I get a glimpse in my sun visor mirror in my car when the sunlight is just right....YIKES!!

I have considered waxing. I am not very good about staying on a schedule with things like that, though. I've also given depilatories some thought.

My question is this....with waxing or depilatories....when the hairs grow back, do they look like beard stubble?? Or is it soft and fine? I've seen a few women over the years who look like they literally shave and have a beard-like stubble and I do NOT want to look like that. I'd prefer not to keep plucking because it seems like it's a losing battle. I also don't want to remove it all because some hair on the face is natural, just not the stiff bristly ones.

Any input appreciated! Thanks!

Sorry, I don't have an answer for you. I'm mainly posting so I can see what others say because I have 3 pesky hairs (one on left cheek, one under chin, and one on the middle of neck) that always come back after I pluck them.

AHh you have manly beardy hairs too! SO ANNOYING! Do you ever get a surprise new one that has been allowed to just grow without being noticed? Yeah hate that. LOL

LOL. Mine keep multiplying! Started with two, and now...yeah. I pluck obsessively, but waxing works really well when I can actually get to the salon. But, I have not noticed that waxing ever makes them finer, but it does not make them worse. As for a depilatory, I am not comfortable with chemicals on my face like that.

I use a metal coil. It works great for chin hairs. I bought it at amazon. It's the R.E.M spring facial hair remover. It's a very simple product, but took a little while to get the hang of the right angle to get it to work. There were helpful videos on youtube.

If you don't want to remove all of the hairs, plucking (by tweezers or threading) is pretty much your only option, I would think.

I have a few chin and moustache hairs, but most of my unwanted facial hair grows between my eyebrows. My actual eyebrow hairs are much darker, so it doesn't create a unibrow effect so much as a little white furry caterpillar sitting between brownish blonde eyebrows (which I do pluck to shape).

It's not noticeable from a distance, but up close it looks ridiculous.
I am not good at eyebrow shaping, but I used a tip I found in a woman's magazine. I got my eyebrows waxed from a salon and then plucked myself every few days to maintain the shape. That was over 10 years ago (for my wedding) and I've been plucking at least twice a week ever since. When the middle-age whiskers started turning up, I just started plucking them too.

I find that it's a lot easier and less painful to pluck a couple every 2-3 days than to pluck 30 or 40 once a month.

I personally find waxing and depilatories both hurt a lot more than plucking, because the irritation from plucking lasts a couple minutes at most, but waxing and depilatories leave my skin red, sore and itchy for days. With depilatories it's almost like a burn (and sometimes leaves hairs behind - but it's always the wrong ones. The fair, fine hairs are removed, but the thick, coarse ones remain - and that's just on my legs).

I've never used a depilatory on my face, because using it on my legs was such a disaster. It felt worse than razor burn. Not to mention the lovely fuchsia color (about a day) that faded to rosy pink for the next couple of days.

Thanks for the replies ladies! Appreciate hearing how others are handling it.

I actually like electric tweezers for the chin hairs, it doesn't work so well for me for the lip though, I fear snagging my lips.

I'm not sure about the stubble issue because generally I just do a sweep in the AM or PM before I go to bed, to catch any new hairs. The "Twe-eeze" that I bought are almost better at grabbing hairs than I am. My fingers get tired when using real tweezers. My face is NEVER as smooth as it was the one time I paid to have it professionally waxed. But even they had issues, my hair is uber coarse and annoying.

Honestly if I lived closer to city (ei didn't have to pay for a plane ticket. ) I would pony up the money for electrolysis. A year of regular treatments and then ocasional touchups vs, the almost daily maintenance I have to do to stay looking "feminine" would be totally worth it to me.

For chin hairs I pluck them, I only have 2-3. For the lips I wax. My eyebrows I get them threaded. I don't use chemicals because my skin is too sensitive for it.

I pluck

I've gotten in a vicious cycle. I can't stand them long enough to let them grow to a point that they can be waxed, so I got a little buzzer (the kind you see on tv that looks kind of like a pen) and I buzz over any problem areas every couple days. I tried nair years ago, never again!

so i had some dark fuzz on my upper lip and had some "overgrown" side burns when i was younger. i bit the bullet and got lazer hair removal. best decision ever. i was less self conscious of wearing my hair back, and i felt better overall.
it's been just over ten years, and i would say 90% of the hair is gone. i go back once or twice a year for "maintenance". keeps it in check.
i was 19 when i got this done, so no major hormone changes...not sure if that decreases the efficacy of laser.

I don't have the coarse hair but rather fine 1/4" to 1/2" fuzz all over the place, especially along the side of my cheeks to the hairline. I'm blond (graying) so it's not "manly" but it bugs me. I have a few mustache area hairs that are darker in color that I pluck no problem, but when I inquired about laser for the fuzz, they said it doesn't work on blond and especially the fine downy hair. Grrr.

Mine aren't as bad as they were 48 pounds ago. A side benefit of losing weight?!?!?!

I just remove it all with my Braun Silk epil epilator. I even use it on my face (chin, sides of face, upper lip BUT NOT eyebrows). I have the older model that's light blue (I only saw newer models on Amazon). It stings a bit while the hair is being removed but then nothing at all, and you're left with silky smooth skin.

carebearx3, I've noticed I've never had excess facial and body hair issues until after my weight got over the 200s. I haven't officially been diagnosed with PCOS but I have a feeling that might be a factor here because my periods haven't been normal either until I recently started losing weight and my period started full-force (sorry, TMI).

I strolled in here, looking for a thread on this subject.

I've been getting my eyebrows waxed about 4 times a year for awhile and I don't have a problem with it.

But now, I'm getting this "mustache" AACCKKK! And sideburns! What the heck?:dizzy:

Starting to look like Sasquatch!

So after reading the thread, and doing some internet research, and checking out the self waxing stuff at Wal-Mart.

I'm going to go consult with my beautician, that does my brows, and hair and see what see has to say. She's been in the business a long time, and if she feels it's ok, she'll tell me. If she thinks it's not good fit for me, she'll tell me.

My preference, just mine, would be to wax it every 6-8 weeks and carry on.

It really bugs me because my Mother, has facial hair that would scare most men, and she's like, "well, I'm old, who cares?" Mother! You're scary! Inch long hairs, lots of them, Willy Nilly! Her facial hair is right up there with the guys on Duck Dynasty!

I understand, you're 76 and not out all hot to trot chasing a man, but jeeze! Quit scaring the great grandkids!