How would you rate electrolysis pain?

[Revenna]

A good thing I've found for electrolysis aftercare, which incidentally also works well for waxing, is Solarcaine cool aloe - aloe vera gel with a little lidocaine. I keep it on hand for sunburns, and since it's kind of cheap I just use it for anything that needs cooling/soothing.

[Jenny07]

Had my first session on my face and found it not too bad at all, nearly fell asleep.
Bit swollen and tender now, much worse than laser but that will settle down.
She seemed to have fun getting them as there are quite a few white ones to choose from.

Booked another session shortly so not bothered at all with it, so far.
Lets wait for the lip.

Jen

[Bardoux]

Had my first session on my face and found it not too bad at all, nearly fell asleep.
Bit swollen and tender now, much worse than laser but that will settle down.
She seemed to have fun getting them as there are quite a few white ones to choose from.

Booked another session shortly so not bothered at all with it, so far.
Lets wait for the lip.

Jen

Oh my goodness the lip! Got my next session tomorrow.

Is it just me or does it take an awful long time for the scabs to heal over and fall off? It's been close to three weeks since the first session and whilst the scabs have fallen off a few days ago, there is some slight discolouration on a few areas.

[jamielikesyou]

There shouldn't be any scabbing. I can't see that as being good, that probably means there is damage to the surround skin (essentially a burn.) Your electrologist should probably be lowering their thermolysis power or switch to blend if the area is too difficult to clear by thermo alone.

[MadelineB]

Laser and electrolysis are different. Things that look like scabs are due to burns if laser. Burns during electrolysis are very rare unless the electrologist is untrained or using unsafe equipment.

What IS typical in electrolysis is to get escharoles - tiny coverings a little larger than the follicle, usually round, caused by fluid leakage when the follicle wall gets disrupted, usually because of a bent or irregular follicle. I get those regularly because I had a lot of bent follicles to start with due to my curly facial hair and african heritage.
I also get one or more true scabs, which are larger and darker than the escharoles, and are caused by bleeding when she digs out ingrown hairs.

By the way you will get more escharoles if you don't let your hairs grow long enough to be gripped without irritating the follicle or skin.

Discoloration for up to six weeks can be normal if you have very sensitive or delicate skin, or certain ethnicities.

[Mindy More]

I must chirp in:
I've had electrolysis, actually thermolysis for about 30 hrs, with a top rated person, on a high end machine, and IT WAS THE WORST EXPERIENCE/PAIN OF MY ENTIRE LIFE.
So without going into a great narrative, here is simple advice, pain thresholds vary from person to person, test it out first and don't give any money for package deals until you know you can handle it. IT TAKES FOREVER even at 300 hairs per hour.  It's like sitting still for an MRI, but with pain involved!!!

I have a very high pain threshold, but my face does not.  The technician said I had probably the worst reaction he's had in 20 years.
Now, I'm onto laser, an although that is just about unbearable for me, it's over much quicker, relatively speaking.

I will go with E3000/full nerve blocks for when I have to go back.  Oh, and I did topical and injectable anesthetics, no dice.

[Bardoux]

I found it's very important to have enough sleep before hand. Someone mentioned it in an earlier post or different thread and i had to agree that at my first session i was a little sleep deprived from having done an earlier shift that day. My next session was still painful but having had better rest, it was bearable. I just ran through my mind how each sensation of pain is another hair removed!

Oh and thanks for explaining MadelineB

[Christine167]

I had my first thermolysis session yesterday. It was like being the dentists chair for an hour. Yes there was pain like a periodic stinging pain every few seconds but not horrible. I just had an hour though and I can see how after hours just lying there being zapped would be a torture.
No cream for me. I had it on hand but my electrolysist recommended against it.

[Sacha]

There are different types of electrolysis available too. The one I use is called multi-probe galvanic or some such. They have 16 or so needles on each machine and use two at once meaning they can zap up to 32 follicles at once! My electrolysist has been doing it for over20 years now and has a very steady hand, very frequently I never feel the needle going in... it's while it's inserted that can be the unpleasant part. I find it varies though, some hurt more than others but even so it's not horribly painful by my tolerance levels. I'm a big wimp so that's saying something! 

MACHINE ?

[FrancisAnn]

I'll post a report later today. Off for my weekly 2 hour appointment this morning. I'm using some expensive numbing cream made in Denmark & applying it 45 minutes before hand. It reads, benz 20%, lido 6% tetr 5%, $40 for a 20 ml tube.

[suzifrommd]

Having just returned from my first electrolysis appointment, I am now qualified to post in this thread.

I'd sum up my experience with electrolysis pain in three sentences:

No. Big. Deal.

Unfortunately, YMMV.

[JLT1]

My lady is running on the highest setting to get a "kill" the first shot.  So far, only one hair has regrown, but the pain is very intense. 

Not fun.  Under the nose by the lip.  Ooooh my GOD!  (ouch) 

Hugs,

Jen

[FrancisAnn]

It hurts. Most say you will get used to it, yea right. My 5th 2-3 hour session is on for Wednesday.

Tyring to get some shots from local dentist for upper & lower lip area. By far the most painful.


However it works afterwards. How nice to have areas of face without any hair, yea.