The area around the lip is extremely sensitive. No matter what you do, it's going to hurt. And, when the electrologist wipes the Emla cream off to work, that area loses the numbing in about two minutes.
When my electrocutioner wants to work there, she tells me to include the small area around the lip where she wants to work, and then a larger area nearby. The idea is to include a small sensitive area and a larger less sensitive area. At the beginning of the session, she wipes off the sensitive area and then works quickly on it. After a couple of minutes, or when I start to wince too much, she then moves on to less sensitive areas for the rest of the hour.
I can't imagine doing a two-hour session. And, when she gets to my upper lip, I'm doing to need dental shots to get it seriously numb.
I find that listening to music in headphones helps me a lot. I can zone out a bit and not pay too much attention to the stings. I still feel them, but I am not paying attention to them.