Quote from: Safiyah on March 07, 2011, 04:20:54 PM
Cindy is that life long sunscreened?
I have heavy beard though my upper lip isn't particularly so I'm hoping for a reprieve, hoping 
Hi Safiyah (cute name BTW)
My understanding was a definite for the short term, as you have been exposed to the energy of the laser to your skin will be more sensitive to exposure to UV from the sun. Two other things she has told me. Firstly, if you get sunburn they may not be able to laser you as you skin type changes and it cannot take the laser energy. Sorry if that sounds confusing but I think it's the the same argument as your skin being sensitive to the sun, if you get sunburn you are too sensitive to the laser, so they won't go ahead with it. Also my laser ladies are all Registered Nurses and they are very keen on skin care in general so moisturiser etc is brought up all the time, and I think there is a little bit of them teaching a newbie girl about skin care. They are very sweet to me. They say I'm the first TG they have worked with and I'm sort of special to them.
As far as pain is concerned it is the hair follicle density, the denser the area the more the pain. In most of us the upper lip has the densest hair so gets quite painful. It's painful but by no means unbearable., I didn't cry, my eyes watered. Imagine having a rubber band flicked into your face every few seconds it's like that.
In my first pass they took three separate sessions to do my face. It was too much for one. It took 3 hours in accumulated time over the three weeks. Then I had to wait 4 weeks for the second session it too 1.5 hours, yes that much reduction. Wait another 4 weeks took 20 mins so I had my chest and tummy started as well. After three sessions of waiting four weeks between sessions, these are there to catch yout natural hair growth cycles. I can go back when ever I wish. I now have a faint upper lip, a small line under my lower lip and a cople of very small cheek patches. I'll go back soon and get then zapped again. I have been totally delighted by the results. I still have to use foundation but I certainly don't need that several layer job that I needed in the past
.
Do shop around, you need people you are comfortable with. It is a very personal experience. My charges were AD$250 per treatment for the first pass, that is $750 for one whole face pass, it went down to $500 for the second. I now pay $200 for a full facial.
Some places were cheaper but I lost confidence in their attitude to me. If I feel uncomfortable I let my female intuition take over, it hasn't let me down so far.
Laser only works on dark hair it will not remove anything from grey downwards. If they say it does they are lying and I would get out of that place ASAP. My ladies did say from the onset that they had no idea how many sessions I would need. The minimum was three, to fit in with the hair cycle growth.
There has been no embarrassment, they have been totally caring, chatty, funny, helpful and supportive. As I go in guy mode, they don't want any make up on you, they address me with my male name in public and with my real name in private.
They have given me great confidence to go forward, so much that I went to an eyebrow studio, again in guy mode, make up again, and got my eyebrows shaped. And again none of the staff batted an eye lid, or raised an eyebrow (sorry
).
Sorry for the long reply.
AD is Australian Dollars which is about equivalent to USA dollars at the moment.
Let me know how you get on.
Love
Cindy
