You girls should perhaps do a little more research before automatically slagging off what you think are "quack remedies".
Eflora, active ingredient eflornithine, other brand name Vaniqa, is available in the UK by prescription only and only to women. That of course includes transitioning TS's.
I've been using it for several years and yes it does work. It slows hair growth on the face (does not claim to stop it entirely), so you still need to remove the hairs, but less frequently. I know a few people who use it including myself, for all of us, after time hairs become fine and pale - downy hair. Dark hairs are now very rare for me; one may start to appear every few days, which is promptly taken care of. I haven't shaved for about 6 years, and now use tweezers to pluck these occasional dark hairs, as well as the finer, almost invisible downy hair mostly under my chin when it seems to be getting too prolific.
I've found it to be an excellent way of dealing with facial hair, I no longer have the dreaded shadow that is such a give-away and so hard to effectively cover up. I no longer have stubble (which would surely make any "overnight guest" run away screaming in the morning), or shaving rash of course. Make-up is now considerably easier to apply, and no longer entirely essential. In short, it’s enabled me to live a normal female life.
Having said all that, I would prefer to have electrolysis, but as well as the expense, the distance I would have to travel prohibits this. My GP tells me our PCT won't fund electrolysis, which seems pretty daft as it would surely work out cheaper in the long run; if you stop using eflornithine the hair will start to grow back, though perhaps in my case after this long some of the follicles may have been irreparably damaged. So for now I am reasonably happy with having to apply the cream daily, and with a decent pair of tweezers and high magnification mirror plucking is not such a chore as it was in the early days.
You can buy it online but it is terribly expensive and perhaps this is the reason why it is not better known. I would advise anyone who can to have electrolysis instead, unless like me you can get it on prescription. I pay about £100 pounds a year for a pre-payment prescription card, so anything I add to my regular hormones prescription is effectively free.
Incidentally I've tried laser (£1800's worth) and it didn't work; there was a slight reduction but it wasn't permanent. Electrolysis is tried and tested and will always work, but eflornithine is a valid and viable alternative, not a quack remedy!
xx
This post was edited by Lucy Diamond at November 17, 2014 5:48 AM GMT