Electrolysis versus Laser - Another Pain Report

[Dana_W]

So this weekend I had my first electrolysis session on my face, with five laser sessions already under my belt. And now I feel qualified to weigh in on the great "which hurts more" controversy.

The answer is... (insert drumroll)... ... ... BOTH!

(insert beginning of applause cut short by shocked gasps and murmerring)

No, no... this isn't some kind of cop out. In fact, the experience correlated very closely to that of another M2F friend I recently dined with. So I'm definitely not the first to try to have it both ways here (and I'm pretty sure I'm not the second either, but that is yet to be determined).

If you have a fair complexion and dark hair - as I do - laser... and we're not talking IPL here... is like being smashed in the face repeatedly by a fistfull of sharp metal pins... hard. It's agony. However it's very quick agony. The whole experience is over in about 15 minutes. At least until the next session, which is still weeks away. Plus, you're covering your whole face in one session. Visions of nasty whiskers dropping off your face all over gives you something positive to focus on while anticipating the next sadistic jolt from the laser gun.

Electrolysis, on the other hand, is like one little pin being ever so slowly stabbed into your face and jostled around a bit randomly. In a single stroke it doesn't hold a candle to the blazing pain of a blast from the laser gun.  However there are subtle things at play which make it worse. For one, you're doing a single follicle at a time. This lends it a seemingly endless quality from which despair can creep into the psyche. Secondly, electrolysis goes on a lot longer, and the pain is not consistent. Sometimes it hurts a LOT. Sometimes it's like nothing. You just can't possibly know until the pain hits. Also... laser moves on from the area you tortured with the previous blast to a new area. Electrolysis lingers in that same spot over... and over... and over... and over... it's like Chinese water torture with needles.

Overall, I'm very happy I have a good complexion for the laser to be effective on my darker hairs. Almost all of them are all gone. And that nasty little electro needle need never probe for them. On the other hand the agony of my last laser session was far beyond how I felt coming out of my electrolysis. But I have a LOT more electrolysis left to go.

Just thought I'd share.

[Hannah]

I have a bit of *blonde* left so it's all electro from here on out. I like to get stoned out of my mind and do four hour sessions, then go hang out in the chinese buffet up the road while I sober up. It's hard to get the doc to write for 8 vicodins at a time, so I'm going to experiment with Percocet next time and see how it goes 

It's awesome that yer getting there, I'm so happy for you! Have your pores started smoothing out where the electro is done yet? I'm going to celebrate finishing electro with a deep chemical peel, lol. Begone boyskin!

[Dana_W]

"Have your pores started smoothing out where the electro is done yet?"

Nope. First electro session just done, and we focused on a couple of especially thick areas. I have some areas smooth and clear from the prior laser though. And that feels terrific! I surely will celebrate when that feeling spreads to the rest of the face. 

[Nicky]

I had a lot of laser sessions - 10 I think. I had rather good results but diminishing returns on my upper and lower lip. It just did not seem to budge the hair. So I now have electro to clean it up.

I find my electro sessions really pleasant - yeah, some of it hurts but it all seems totally berable to me, I look forward to them. Also I find the environment much more soothing and intimate than what I had for my 'industrial' laser sessions.

I don't feel the electro needle going in - and half the time I don't feel much at all. Some parts do hurt quite a bit though so it is no cake walk. I still have a number to go, seem to have a lot of stuborn hair but it is clearing slowly.