ARLENE'S GIRL TALK FEATURE

The latest issue of Girl Talk Online Magazine has a feature on "Ar"lene this month. Here is the entire article (pictures coming soon).

Arlene D. Lafferty,
" A T-girl' s Best Friend"

By Sharon May, President, Institute For Transgender Education, Inc.

Arlene is a top grade certified Electrologist and Cosmetologist with a growing practice in San Diego. I met her through local social circles and was impressed enough with her to make myself return to the electrology table to have the rest of my whiskers removed (almost completed). As I endured pain in this step towards increased feminity, I struck up a friendship with her as well as becoming an admirer of her work with transgender females and especially for her compassion of people in all walks of life.
The balance of this article is from an interview conducted with her on a lazy August Saturday afternoon and is a wealth of knowledge about someone truly making history.

My opening question to her was " What its like to grow up being someone who had become aware of her gender differences?" Her responses set the tone for the interview.
She was a latch key kid growing up in Chicago and later went to Grant High School in the San Fernando Valley - a suburb of Los Angeles. She said she knew by age eight that she was female but never really had trouble fitting into society at that time. Her sense of
" Knowing thyself" was to become a cornerstone of her identity and her calling in life.
That trait of being centered throughout her pioneering and sometimes whacky life gave her savvy and compassion to be there for other girls dealing with gender identity issues.

You see Arlene transitioned in 1975 long before it was deemed acceptable to do so.
After her surgery, she went into this phase of her life we call Post-Op and began to live life as the female she had become. Along the way she formed some of the first support groups for girls in transition, helped train others to lead those sessions and was interviewed by Newsweek Magazine of her experiences in becoming a woman. She lived that way for two decades mostly in Southern California. Recently she moved to the San Diego area and re-established her practice from Riverside County.

Now most girls I know who have completely transitioned fade into the crowd and do not let others know about their past lives. What truly amazed me is when I asked why she choose to " come out again" she said, " I thought she could be a big help to other T' s who are dealing with gender issues." That attitude is what separates Arlene from many others in her profession. She has been there, done that, learned from it and is back again helping others deal with transition needs such as hair removal and permanent make-up.

Her practice is state-of-the-art with offices located in the lively zone of Fashion Valley just north of the Hillcrest area of San Diego. When you enter her work site there is a sense of high tech professionalism in the equipment and facilities housing them. Each room is very clean, well cared for and offers the client privacy and safety.


I asked her to explain her technology to someone like me whose idea of hair removal is by Nairing it off and she responded with what I wanted to hear. " It is the only hair removal process that is guaranteed permanent by the FDA. Others like Laser or Light Shear do remove hair but it can return within one to three years." She herself went through the original Electrolysis method which is passé and painful. I am currently using the process called The Blend, which uses a combination of technologies. In September she will have a new state-of-the-art machine called Apilus Senior II. It has computer capability that matches the right current to your type of skin while being much less invasive and is a fraction of the discomfort of previous technologies.

When asked what sets her apart from others in the profession, she stated, " I was the first post-op T-girl to get a license to do so in the U.S." She is still only one of a handful we know of working in the Electrology field. She demonstrates her distinctive competencies by educating girls like me on the demanding needs of males who are going through this process. " Men have soft skin when on hormones plus have thick coarse hair. It requires skill and understanding to do the work correctly without damaging the skin" " Amen" I said. If you have ever had electrology work performed on your body, you know the need for safety and results. I always feel I am in good hands with her.


But it is her demonstration of compassion for the needs of others who are challenged that continued to impress me. Asked what she would do after becoming widely famous in a few years she responded, " I would open a full service T-Center for all those people who are dealing with gender issues." When asked about her greatest accomplishments, she stated, " helping kids with disabilities when I drove them in her school bus days."

And my fun fantasy question of who would you take on an all expense paid night on the town in a limo, she identified those close friends like Billie Jean and Linda, family members and kids from " Make-a-Wish" programs. She works from the heart and the head. She is a refreshing role model in this day of greed and high tech chicanery.

So whether or not you are in the market for someone with Arlene' s skills, this is a person worth getting to know for lots of reasons. She is making a positive difference and can be a resource to us T-Girls in many ways. She has been great with me and I can be a little pushy and cranky when having a hot needle put in my chin. You can reach her at: www.arelectrologist.com or e-mail: arlene@arelectrologist.com. Tell her you saw this article in GTO and you will get a free hug.