Gender Minorities Aotearoa is planning to purchase laser hair removal or IPL equipment, and provide free facial hair removal for takataapui, transgender, and intersex people at The Gender Centre, and beyond.
[image: a woman receiving a laser facial hair removal treatment. text: Do you want free laser? We might be able to help!]
Facial hair removal is one of the most urgent, safety enhancing, mental health improving, and empowering medical treatments for many trans women, intersex and non-binary people.
However, laser hair removal is not publicly funded for trans people, and it can be very expensive to self fund, sometime costing $150 per session and taking 6 or 10 sessions to complete.
At long last, a solution is on the horizon.
We don’t have all the details yet, but we are researching everything we need to know. We are planning to relocate The Gender Centre to a new venue in Wellington soon, with it’s own clinic room, where we can provide services such as counseling sessions, laser hair removal, and with a little luck, a doctor who can prescribe HRT and make referrals to the High Cost Treatment Pool waiting list for Genital Reconstruction Surgery.
Update: IPL treatment for facial hair is now available at our drop in centre in Wellington – see this page for details.
What about those not living in Wellington?
We would love to set up The Gender Centre in every area, complete with clinics, community drop in, legal advice, events, and all the rest, alongside our awesome fund raising op shops. We consider Wellington to be our pilot, and it’s looking like a successful model which we hope will be coming your way soon. We look pretty flash and we get a lot done, but we are grass roots and run on a tiny budget, so these things take time. It took 4 years to get a physical space in Wellington, but we hope to get to you sooner than that!
We also want to be in touch with local trans community groups and individuals in different regions. We have worked alongside many of you, and we want to work together.
How can I help make this happen!?
One thing that helps us heaps is if you can send us an email or comment on this post on our social media, letting us know what you think! If there is a laser machine you have used, if you work at a clinic that is about to get new machines and sell the old ones, or if you know some information, please drop a link and help us decide. Your expertise is very appreciated.
What about trans men and non-binary transmasculine people?
We are setting up a national binder programme, to raise funds and provide binders across the country. This is in the early stages but will be launching later in 2019. We will update once plans solidify.
