Round Two of Electro and HRT Update

[Wynternight]

Second session of electro tonight. This will be a full 45 minutes. Wish me luck.

In better news my new PCP took a tonne of blood today to measure and test hormone levels and other stuffs and is asking for a letter from my therapist. Methinks she plans on starting me on HRT very soon. **happy dance**

[Emjay]

  good luck! 

I've found that two Aleve or something similar before I head to an electro session really helps with the pain.  Just saying...

And that's hopefully great news for you regarding HRT!  Congrats!

[LaurenL]

Good luck! I can't say it gets easier but you will figure out what works for you. I am into it just over 70 hours now. I usually do 2 - 2.5 hour sessions, longer than that the pain becomes intolerable for me no matter what I do. I am doing three separate sessions this week!

Aleve + Benadryl about 20 minutes before my sessions start seem to help me quite a bit.

FWIW I now sometimes fall asleep for a while during electrolysis!

[LizMarie]

By my count I am 44 hours in but I am using a salon dedicated to trans facial hair removal. They do facial hair removal for others but this is their primary business. They are medically licensed and use injections of pain killers directly in the face. The injections are what hurt, maybe a dozen times total over the course of an entire session. I've been having two technicians work on my face at a time since my hair density has been pretty thick when we started. I've completed 5 such full facial clearing sessions and the changes are beginning to become obvious. I also only go every 6-8 weeks for sessions.

The advantage of using this method is that I only have to grow out facial hair a few days every two months and the pain killers make the electrolysis irrelevant. I've actually fallen asleep in that chair.

Finding such a salon can be challenging but if you are someone who lives near a large city, you might be lucky and find such a business nearby.

[Evelyn K]

Are you gals doing laser first? If not, why not?

[Wynternight]

  good luck! 

I've found that two Aleve or something similar before I head to an electro session really helps with the pain.  Just saying...

And that's hopefully great news for you regarding HRT!  Congrats!

I just bought a tube of Alocane so I'm going to apply that 20-30 minutes before a session and see how that helps. I'll pick up some Alleve as well.

[Wynternight]

Are you gals doing laser first? If not, why not?

I went to a consult for laser and my hair is too light. I'm a light-skinned redhead with golden highlights so the laser won't do a whole lot for me. Not worth the expense and that was from the very nice tech.

[Wynternight]

By my count I am 44 hours in but I am using a salon dedicated to trans facial hair removal. They do facial hair removal for others but this is their primary business. They are medically licensed and use injections of pain killers directly in the face. The injections are what hurt, maybe a dozen times total over the course of an entire session. I've been having two technicians work on my face at a time since my hair density has been pretty thick when we started. I've completed 5 such full facial clearing sessions and the changes are beginning to become obvious. I also only go every 6-8 weeks for sessions.

The advantage of using this method is that I only have to grow out facial hair a few days every two months and the pain killers make the electrolysis irrelevant. I've actually fallen asleep in that chair.

Finding such a salon can be challenging but if you are someone who lives near a large city, you might be lucky and find such a business nearby.

Sadly there's nothing similar any place near me so I'm going in for 45 minute sessions once a week. The tech says my hair is half as dense as most other clients so she expects me to get good results fairly quickly.

[LaurenL]

Are you gals doing laser first? If not, why not?

I started with electrolysis back on October 1, 2013. Then not satisfied with the rate of clearing I started laser hair removal on my face on February 17, 2014.

Laser itself is not enough for me because at my age about 1/3-1/2 of my facial hair is white or gray and laser has no effect on those so electrolysis continues.

So I am now doing both laser and electrolysis at the same time. The laser was great in clearing all the dark hairs quickly. They shed out 10-14 days after the laser treatment then I start to see slow regrowth after about 5-6 weeks after the session. There is less and less regrowth each time and after five sessions there is little dark hairs left. The electrologist is now just zapping the white hairs and we expect full clearings in a few weeks, yay!

[Wynternight]

Session two was a full session (45 minutes) and definitely more intense than the first. She started on my cheek and ended around the corner of my mouth and upper lip. Definitely some painful moments this time.

[LaurenL]

Session two was a full session (45 minutes) and definitely more intense than the first. She started on my cheek and ended around the corner of my mouth and upper lip. Definitely some painful moments this time.

Yeah, ouch!

My electrologist explained and it turned out to be true for me that the most painful is at the centerline of the face, from below the nose and upper lip, lower lip, chin, and right on down through the adams apple. Plus anywhere the skin is thin like over the jawbone. Plus right near the ears for me.

My HRT doc prescribed EMLA for me and I use it when we are planning on zapping those areas. It works, but the numbing effect does not last long at all, maybe 15-20 minutes at the most.

[Wynternight]

Yeah, ouch!

My electrologist explained and it turned out to be true for me that the most painful is at the center of the face, from below the nose and upper lip, lower lip, chin, and right on down through the adams apple. Plus anywhere the skin is thin like over the jawbone. Plus right near the ears for me.

My HRT doc prescribed EMLA for me and I use it when we are planning on zapping those areas. It works, but the numbing effect does not last long at all, maybe 15-20 minutes at the most.

Sooo much to look forward too...

Le'sigh. I wish I could do the damn laser.

[Emjay]

FWIW I now sometimes fall asleep for a while during electrolysis!

Haha, I've done that too!  I was the last appointment of the day the first time that happened and my electrologist lost track of time.  I ended up with a really long session that day. 

[LaurenL]

Haha, I've done that too!  I was the last appointment of the day the first time that happened and my electrologist lost track of time.  I ended up with a really long session that day. 

I take a standard dosage of Aleve and Benadryl about 20 minutes before a session and if I am a little tired to begin with I will doze off about 45 minutes to an hour into my two hour sessions. The Benadryl makes me sleepy and helps me relax.

I do have really wacky dreams during those naps!

[Wynternight]

I take a standard dosage of Aleve and Benadryl about 20 minutes before a session and if I am a little tired to begin with I will doze off about 45 minutes to an hour into my two hour sessions. The Benadryl makes me sleepy and helps me relax.

I do have really wacky dreams during those naps!

My electrologist does max 45 minute sessions. I wish she would go longer.

[Danielle79]

I'm just at 2.5 hours of electrolysis at this point. I started with three half hour sessions, and then this week I tried a full hour. Oddly, that last session hurt the least of all of them, but I was doing a lot of complaining about life during that session, so I guess that distracted me.

I take ibuprofen before each session, but I'm not sure it does much for me.

I have fair skin with dark blonde hair, so laser is not an option for me. I did try it several years ago. If I remember correctly, one technician said, "usually clients are screaming when I set it this high." I felt a few rubber band-like snaps on my face, and that's about it. Needless to say, I had no reduction in my beard.

[Danielle79]

My electrologist explained and it turned out to be true for me that the most painful is at the center of the face, from below the nose and upper lip, lower lip, chin, and right on down through the adams apple. Plus anywhere the skin is thin like over the jawbone. Plus right near the ears for me.

Ugh. I definitely agree about where the skin is thin. So far, my electrologist has mostly done my cheeks (with a field trip to my "unibrow" at my wife's request), and by far the most painful part so far has been the upper check near the cheek bone, where my skin is really thin. I'm not looking forward to the center of my face. My beard is apparently thicker than typical around my chin, lucky me.