Susan's Place Transgender Resources

This seems pretty weird.  I just started electrolysis, but so far I'm experiencing little to no pain at all from it.  It's especially weird since I have almost no pain tolerance, usually.  Not that I'm complaining, but I was really expecting a lot worse.

And even more weird...the right side of my face feels this tiny little amount of pain, and the left side is like 20 times as painful, but even that doesn't feel as bad as plucking the same areas has in the past.  Has anyone else experienced that?

I do laser myself but this last time I felt every single zap.  And my face felt like it was on fire for most of the day, but today it wasn't to bad.  Shaving was tender but tolerable.

When they get to the most sensitive parts you will feel it, but hang in there.  tHE END IS WORTH IT.

Janet

Quote from: MGKelly on July 16, 2008, 09:22:53 PM
This seems pretty weird.  I just started electrolysis, but so far I'm experiencing little to no pain at all from it. 

Ha! just wait until they treat your upper lip!  ;D >:D  I had to get prescription pain killers to help me endure the pain from the lip area.  Now when I look back, I really don't know how I was able to put up with two hours (sometimes even three) under the needle.  Ouch! *sighs*

tink :icon_chick:

I do laser & electrolysis, and yes the upper lip and chin areas HURT LIKE HELL :o

I get lidocane w/ epienpherine injections from the nurse before electrolysis, so the pain is the injection part of course which is only a few seconds...BUT, laser they can't use any of that and I do laser every six weeks and that is a painful 10 min. let me tell ya.

When laser get's to my upper lip I'm a complete wimp and crying :'(

Oh well, grrl's gotta do what grrl's gotta do right?

I second the prescription pain meds.  They only turn the pain volume down to a just-barely-tolerable level.  But it helps.

Tink's also spot on about the upper lip.  My routine was endure five hairs, then sit on the edge of the treatment table for a minute or two, then five more and sit up for a bit, then five more...

<joke>
The Standards of Care should be rewritten.  After completing 30 hours of full-on electro, you get your hormone letter. 175 hours and you get the SRS letters.
</joke>

=K

thankfully my hair is thin for facial hair and not much development had happened with it, so I would have less to do.  As much as I fear the pain I cannot wait.

Quote from: Tink on July 16, 2008, 10:02:13 PM

Quote from: MGKelly on July 16, 2008, 09:22:53 PM
This seems pretty weird.  I just started electrolysis, but so far I'm experiencing little to no pain at all from it. 

Ha! just wait until they treat your upper lip!  ;D >:D  I had to get prescription pain killers to help me endure the pain from the lip area.  Now when I look back, I really don't know how I was able to put up with two hours (sometimes even three) under the needle.  Ouch! *sighs*

tink :icon_chick:

I go for four hour electrolysis sessions on a regular basis. The upper lip and the chin areas were every bit as painful as expected. The problem is that once the hair is gone, you're not finished, due to the dormant and transitional hair. The first clearing of the upper lip was only the beginning. Even after the area was cleared, more hair could be felt below the surface.

I use no pain killers of any kind, no creams, no pills. I saw a special on TV, I think that it was a National Geographic Special on the rites of passage that some tribal boys go through to become men. There is an Amazon tribe that requires the boys to collect bullet ants, which are kept in a container with honey and alcohol to anesthetize the ants. The boy undergoing the rite of passage wears gloves, more like flat mittens, woven out of cane. The ants, recovering from the alcohol, are carefully placed into the gloves. For a period of about 10 minutes, the boy must wear the gloves, while dozens of these angry and hung over ants viciously bite and sting his hands. Bullet ants are among the most dangerous in the WORLD, as their bite contains a very potent neurotoxin that sometimes KILLS the boy. After 10 minutes, the boy can remove the gloves, and will remain shaking in absolute agony for two days, recovering in a week. He must do this 20 times in order to complete his rite of passage in becoming a man.

We do not wear gloves with biting ants. We use electrolysis for our rite of passage from male to female. This is what I think about as electrolysis is used to remove my facial hair. When the hair is removed from the lip areas, it feels as  if the tweezers are clamping down as hard as possible and a piece of my lip is being bitten off by an ant, or torn off by the tweezers. The rest of my face hurts or burns in other ways, but as Tink points out, the upper lip is really something very special.  I'm ALMOST half ways through my electrolysis, including the eyebrows. One day, I will look back at all of this, post op, post electrolysis, and it will all be a memory of my rite of passage. Until then, I'll continue to endure it, as everyone else has done before me.

All I can say is that you are very brave, April.  I shiver when I think about it!


tink :icon_chick:

Oh crap..... and the majority of the facial hair that I'm worried about is on my upper lip and chin..... I do have stuff going up the side of my face too, but oye, that's where the major work is....:icon_nervious:

QuoteAll I can say is that you are very brave, April.  I shiver when I think about it!

I don't even know what it is like, but I'll agree with Tink!

I agree. The upper lip  hair is very painful to have removed with electrolysis. It makes me cry.

so for me there was practically no pain, i mean it hurt a little, but not anything worth mentioning

 I am in my seventh month of electro.  I started with the upper lip and still need to get it cleared every session. I use topicane on the upper lip and nothing on my chin and cheeks. It still hurts like hell but I would think plucking the hair would be 20 times worse. I want to start doing pain meds just to help me sit still. I get all ancy pancy after the first hour.

Some more hours in...so far, not too much of a difference.
On the right side of my face, still basically nothing.  Every so often one stings pretty bad, but that's about it.  On the left side though, it's like every single one stings worse than the worst on the right side.

I have no doubt the upper lip and chin will be just terrible.  I've still just been taking ibuprofen about an hour before, but I do have some kind of creme I guess if an area is really really bad.  Apparently I just have to wrap my face in saran wrap to make it absorb...that's going to look pretty :P

Talk with your physician about getting a topical anesthetic.  I also pop a boatload of over-the-counter pain meds.  i never thought about asking for pain pills.  ??? 

For me, the most painful spot is just below the jaw line.  I found that one was even more painful than the upper lip - especially for laser.

They are two different pains.  Electro is needle pain.  Laser is a burn.  Personally, I think laser hurts more.

Chaunte

My electrologist recommends Panadeine Forte, which is prescription medicine and I haven't had time to see a doctor just for that so I just take a double dose of Panafen Plus (Same as regular Panadeine but cheaper) which has the same active ingredients. Doubling it brings the amount of Codeine and Ibuprofen up to about the same amount you'd get from the recommended dose of Panadeine Forte and I can say it's definitely taken the edge off. I'm starting with the chin and neck, can't wait to get to the easy bits   :-\

ok, girls.....just to comfort all you pre-ops.....before surgery you may get to experience some real pain!  though it isn't always called for it's been said that one should do electrolisis on the particular areas of the body that are moving from outtie to innie.  my surgeon said it might be helpful but left it up to me.  the group i was talking with at the time all said "do it!" because of some perfectly horrible stories going around about hair growth resuming in places better left hairless....so i did it.

now....that's fun!

My tech is trying something new.  She has you hold a cold pack on one side and after a few minutes she works that side.  Then you do it again to the next side.  And it does not hurt near as bad.  It seems to distribute the heat.  ;D 8)

Quote from: Janet Lynn on October 27, 2008, 07:14:37 PM
My tech is trying something new.  She has you hold a cold pack on one side and after a few minutes she works that side.  Then you do it again to the next side.  And it does not hurt near as bad.  It seems to distribute the heat.  ;D 8)

interesting, i need to mention this to my electrolosist

Im both looking forward to and dreading eletrolysis. I get to be even more comforted by the fact that im immune to 90% of narcotics including morphiene and dheumeral. Found this out the hard way when went to hospital for a 55mph head on with 3 broken limbs. The way my pain tolerance works is im pretty good at taking quick sudden sharp pain for a short period of time but lasting pain wears me down quick and several hours of this is gonna have me in tears.

Hmmmmm, lasering, I've done two sessions of that so far. The only places where there was some facial hair was the upper lip and under chin area. After two sessions, it is only noticeable on the upper lip. If I shave really close, it is only barely noticeable there. My under chin area has only a few thin blackish hairs.

I think I have a high pain tolerance because the only time I felt any amount of what you might call discomfort was when she did the upper lip. Hell, she even commented about my apparent tolerance for the lasering. I haven't taken anything at all for pain before or after the lasering.

I'm doing laser soon and I wouldn't dream of trying to numb myself! I think of it as a pleasurable experience and want to feel it! :p I guess I'm a lil odd about pain though since I thoroughly enjoyed getting tattooed and all of my facial piercings. It was euphoric! :angel:

Quote from: Dark Angel on November 21, 2008, 01:19:22 PMIt was euphoric! :angel:

Oh, I think I'm gonna like you!  ;D

~Simone.

Quote from: lady amarant on November 21, 2008, 01:25:53 PM

Quote from: Dark Angel on November 21, 2008, 01:19:22 PMIt was euphoric! :angel:

Oh, I think I'm gonna like you!  ;D

~Simone.

Me too!!!  ;D

Quote from: Karen on December 15, 1999, 12:24:25 PM

The Standards of Care should be rewritten.  After completing 30 hours of full-on electro, you get your hormone letter. 175 hours and you get the SRS letters.

I've often felt that electrolysis is so painful, anyone who would volunterly endure this must have GID. I agree with Karen, the standards of care could be rewritten on electrolysis alone.

Quote from: Tina B. on November 21, 2008, 11:58:55 PM

Quote from: Karen on December 15, 1999, 12:24:25 PM

The Standards of Care should be rewritten.  After completing 30 hours of full-on electro, you get your hormone letter. 175 hours and you get the SRS letters.

I've often felt that electrolysis is so painful, anyone who would volunterly endure this must have GID. I agree with Karen, the standards of care could be rewritten on electrolysis alone.

We should start a movement! Where do I sign up? ;)

~Simone.

Quote from: Tink on July 16, 2008, 10:02:13 PM

Quote from: MGKelly on July 16, 2008, 09:22:53 PM
This seems pretty weird.  I just started electrolysis, but so far I'm experiencing little to no pain at all from it.

Ha! just wait until they treat your upper lip!  ;D > :D  I had to get prescription pain killers to help me endure the pain from the lip area.  Now when I look back, I really don't know how I was able to put up with two hours (sometimes even three) under the needle.  Ouch! *sighs*

tink :icon_chick:

I had some regrowth done on my upper lip on Thursday.  There weren't many but boy did it hurt!  :P   I took 2 Ultram tablets and 2 Celebrex an hour before along with lidocaine cream.  Everything besides the lip was easy.  ;)

Percocet

Umm, a little off topic (I apologize), but generally what could I expect to pay for the pleasure of this torture? I would imagine I would be looking at electro, since I hear that laser won't work on light skin. I have mostly gray hair these days with some remaining red areas. I would really like to get rid of this stuff once and for all - I HATE shaving. I have a very high tolerance to pain, so from the sound of it, I may not be too bad off.

Also, any suggestions for small scars on the face?

Back to your regularly scheduled topic.

:) Deanna

Quote from: Deanna_Renee on August 02, 2009, 11:47:59 PM
Umm, a little off topic (I apologize), but generally what could I expect to pay for the pleasure of this torture? I would imagine I would be looking at electro, since I hear that laser won't work on light skin. I have mostly gray hair these days with some remaining red areas. I would really like to get rid of this stuff once and for all - I HATE shaving. I have a very high tolerance to pain, so from the sound of it, I may not be too bad off.

Also, any suggestions for small scars on the face?

Back to your regularly scheduled topic.

:) Deanna

You misheard, laser works best on light skin. It's light hair. The more pigmentation in your skin, the more it interferes with the root. Blond, 'clear', white, and grey hair cannot be removed by laser. Electrolysis is colorblind.

For scars you might try laser face resurfacing. Sona medspa offers it as a service - basically it gently cooks your skin down to the dermis and the new skin growth is happy, healthy, and much less blemished. Supposed to be really good for removing deep acne pitting and other things, along with sun damage I think. Haven't had one done myself. They apparently run about $825 for an individual treatment and sell packages of 3, depends on what package deal you get though.

I tried calling 5 local electrolysis places a few weeks ago and no one answered their phone or rolled to voice mail. A bit astonished no one wants my money. It's a lot cheaper than laser, that's for sure, but a lot slower. I've had my face lasered 14 times and that's maybe at most 10 hours, if not closer to 7 hours under the laser. For my face at least.

It has been very successful, though I discovered I have a lot of blond hairs I never realized. I need my goatee done and will probably go ahead and do my sideburns and jaw line since there's been damn nearly a 99% reduction. Only like two or three dark hairs were too fine to be lasered... or just got missed every single time.  :laugh:

Ooops Autumn, actually it wasn't mishearing just mistyping.  ??? I should have said I've heard it doesn't work with light skin AND light hair (gray and some red - more like strawberry blonde).

That laser face resurfacing sounds like something I could use, I have not only the scars, but also the deep acne scars and pitting etc. But $825 - OUCH!! That is just about $800 out of my budget (currently unemployed). I'm not sure I'm real comfortable with your description; "basically it gently cooks your skin down to the dermis". Sounds just a step below, we gently immerse your face into a vat of 350 degree oil and wait for the flesh to just melt away, then glue a fresh new face on you.  :) What kind of recovery period are we talking about?

Deanna

Well your face doesn't fall off. You have redness, peeling, some crispness in the places where you have sun damage (it gets brought to the surface in all its glory to be removed by a future treatment, or removed all together, depending on how bad it is), and so forth. Probably 2-4 weeks.

Any kind of procedure like that has variable results. I've not developed any freckles or moles on my face from laser hair removal, but I've gotten them elsewhere on my body.

I had some red hairs in my beard, they seem to be gone from lasering, but at your age with your hair being mostly grey, you're probably better off just going with the electrolysis.

try find soprano laser and ask if they can do your grey hairs!

Soprano? Is that a company or a brand laser?

It's a laser machine they made in Israel I think which works on all skin colors and all hair colors (but I am not sure about grey and white, grey more probable to work than white!)

Try to find a center which is using Soprano, preferabley Soprano XL and ask them! there is a good change it could work.

Thanks Myself, I'll check into it.

---

Post Merge: August 03, 2009, 04:52:22 AM

---

Hmm, a quick google search and it appears there are about a half dozen places within 10 miles of me that use the Soprano XL. I will let y'all know what they say about my skin/hair color.

Deanna

Back to the pain part:

I've been doing both laser (for dark hairs) and electorlysis (for white hairs) for months now.  (Will it ever end?!? :icon_blah:)  On the day of the session, cut way back on caffeine and drink lots of water.  You want your skin to be as well-hydrated as you can get it.

This works for me but your results may vary.

- Kate

Resurrected thread :)

A year later my right side is still numb to the pain for the most part, my chin, upper & lower lip, and high on my cheeks are all ridiculous.  I have done 85 hours so far, with not a whole lot to show for it day to day.  There are still hairs in every cycle of hair growth coming through, and I still can't regularly shave without ingrown hairs all over (dealing with a moderate outbreak right now).  I know I have at least another 85 hours in store for me to get to a manageable level, being completely cleared is further away still.  Not fun.  Laser doesn't work on red hair either.

Soprano is a diode laser, the main difference for it and other diodes seems to be the larger treatment area and the delivery, I would be skeptical of any tech that would be willing to work on you without a refund policy of some kind.  There are products that claim to get melanin into the follicle (search meladine, I think that's one) but I haven't met anyone who has personally risked the cost of the stuff + the cost of laser on hair that most techs won't even attempt :(

Good luck!

I think I will stick to electrolysis, i have blonde hair and it just wouldn't work -shivers at the though- it may be dirty blonde,b ut its still blonde

BUT blonds have more fun  :D

Quote from: CharleneT on August 04, 2009, 01:47:43 PM
BUT blonds have more fun  :D

haha, i dont know about that, but life isnt too bad

I had many people insist there would be pain... I'm now 11 hours in and I've not felt anything at all.  Upper lip is mostly clear so I'm expecting if I were going to experience pain it would have happened by now.

It's only bad for me below the jawline, and at the jawline, for some reason it hurts a lot there, im usually whimpering by the end of one of those sessions, upper lip is no issue though.  I'm tempted to have my doctor prescribe some facial numbing cream for sessions so my electrolysis can turn the power up and get it done faster.

Rachel, not sure power-up call make it go faster ;)   Hair by hair by hair by hair ... is why so slooooowww...

My upper lip hurts when they work on it, also the jaw line and below.  Most everywhere else is mild.  Definitely feel it like a pin prick, but nothing bad.  I will admit the first time I had them work on my upper lip for 45 min and I took a Percoset ... which helped :) :)

what is percocet exactly, and how does it help electro

Hey Rachel, it is a painkiller.  Over kill for the job though.  In Feb I broke my right wrist (fell on ice) and they gave me a bottle of 'em.  I never used many so I have them left over.  It is a combination of acetaminophen and Oxycodone.  Fairly strong narcotic and Tylenol.   

ewww, no thanks, i was given a narcotic for my migranes once, made me loopy as hell, cant stand the things

Im about 40 hrs in. Tried pain killers for a while but now I just anticipate where the needle is going to go and prepare for it. Some areas are so painfull and I know what Im in for. Strangly I find more discomfort where a needle falls out and rests on my neck area

eh, im just going to get some numbing cream or somethin to dull it to a dull ache instead of "OMG OMG" below my jawline

Quote from: Rachel on August 26, 2009, 04:04:15 PM
ewww, no thanks, i was given a narcotic for my migranes once, made me loopy as hell, cant stand the things

DISCLAIMER:  Your Mileage May Vary

DISCLAIMER:  All medication was obtained via prescription.

For me (and only for me), Vicodin made the sessions bearable, especially when I was doing two 2-hour sessions back-to-back.  I was very cautious using them, though, taking public transit to and from the sessions.

With Vicodin, I didn't get 'loopy'.

I also tried some Oxycotin I was prescribed on a visit to Scottsdale.  I took an equivalent dose.

That stuff defines 'loopy'.

I went back to Vicodin.

Karen

Quote from: KarenI also tried some Oxycotin I was prescribed .......that stuff defines 'loopy'.

Yeah? .... so where can I get some?  ;D

On a more serious note, comments here are starting to scare me....... especially when I think of electrolysis on the scrotal area - just the thought of that is making me quake  :'(

Easy, Steffi.  This thread has been taken over by those who suffer a lot of pain during electrolysis.  Others of us are less sensitive. ::)

So far it seems like I've had a gazillion sessions (probably less than a dozen), mostly on my cheeks and jaw and around my ears, with a little work on my chest.  It's unpleasant but so are a lot of things.  I've never used pain killers or skin-numbing.  Sure, I'm a tough old broad, but the point is that it just depends on how sensitive you are to it and your pain threshold (and probably your electrologyst, too).

BTW, after five months on T-blocker, my scrotum isn't particularly sensitive any more. :)  (You mean I still have one? :o  I thought if I ignored it would have fallen off by now.)

- Kate

Well..... I have an epilator and I USED to be able to do my arms, no problem at all. It just felt like mild pins-and-needles to me and I used to think "Whyever do people bitch and moan about this so much?"  8)

BUT ....... over the last couple of months that has totally changed.
Putting that epilator on my forearms is now SO painful that I cannot bear to do it.

- I feel that does not bode well for poor me in the future  :'(

Quote from: K8 on September 03, 2009, 05:24:29 PM
  I thought if I ignored it would have fallen off by now

Wouldn't that be awesome? The dark line thing is most peculiar too, I keep waiting for it to actually split. That would be a situation for sure. Good luck getting oxy from a doctor for electrolysis, but you can buy it on the street for around $30ish a pill. Doctors are less neurotic about vicodin, and a couple of them is just as good.