Well I cried    . It hurt so much. Although it's true that the first time was the worst because of the quantity and size of the facial hairs. Now I'm reading that electrolysis is going to be worse! Great...

What I find challenging now is not shaving for weeks after treatment to let the hair naturally fall out and also not to strengthen the other hairs between treatments. Whats a girl to do with patches of beard on the face? Not forgetting that putting cream on my face after makes my face break out in acne. I am obviously not comfortable with this patchiness so it feels like putting a hold on living my life the way I want to. I get a little depressed about this at times.

Quote from: PaigeMtl on September 30, 2012, 10:07:05 AM
Well I cried    . It hurt so much. Although it's true that the first time was the worst because of the quantity and size of the facial hairs. Now I'm reading that electrolysis is going to be worse! Great...

What I find challenging now is not shaving for weeks after treatment to let the hair naturally fall out and also not to strengthen the other hairs between treatments. Whats a girl to do with patches of beard on the face? Not forgetting that putting cream on my face after makes my face break out in acne. I am obviously not comfortable with this patchiness so it feels like putting a hold on living my life the way I want to. I get a little depressed about this at times.

Yes we know...BUT CHEERUP PaigeMtl! Soon it will be over, and Electrolysis isn't as bad as you might think! The thinner the hairs get with successive LHR treatments the "pain" decreases! If you don't have any "light/white/grey/clear colored hairs, you might bypass Electrolysis!
Just try to get 6-8 LHR treatments if that is the case, don't stop after 4-5, it takes more.....I know.

Another question: how long did you wait before shaving after every session? I shaved 5 days after a session and I think I should've waited a bit more, but I just can't see my face with facial hair anymore. How about two weeks? Is that good enough?

I know my tech told me that I could shave as soon as I liked after.  I have gotten to that same point where I just hate seeing hair on my face.  The first time I waited about four days after since my face was still sore, the second I waited two days and after the third session my face wasn't hurting bad at all and did a trim the next day.  Also the act of shaving can help bring out the dead hairs instead of just waiting to let them fall out.

WTF I never used any painkillers or creams or plastic wraps( lol wut?) and whatnot I mean it only really hurts on the upper lip and a little on the jawline suck it up people and take the heat!

My laser tech told me that you need to wait a week before shaving otherwise there will be stubble caught under the skin. It won't hurt, but it will look like there is hair there. I follow this rule for my chest, but not my face. I shave the next day for my face only because I can cover up the little hairs with makeup.

Quote from: Seyranna on October 03, 2012, 07:47:24 PM
WTF I never used any painkillers or creams or plastic wraps( lol wut?) and whatnot I mean it only really hurts on the upper lip and a little on the jawline suck it up people and take the heat!

Well, not all of us can dominate the Matrix as well as you, Trinity!

Quote from: Seyranna on October 03, 2012, 07:47:24 PM
WTF I never used any painkillers or creams or plastic wraps( lol wut?) and whatnot I mean it only really hurts on the upper lip and a little on the jawline suck it up people and take the heat!

...and there's even a name for people such as your brave self...Masochist

Just to say that last week I had my second session. Numbing cream and the boss doing it to avoid another screw up on my upper lip as the last time. Almost no pain and extra quick (Either an amazing kill rate on the first session or I did not have a lot to begin with). Although they will do an extra session for the upper lip, since they wanted to minimise the damage to that part. They said it probably was folliculitis and healing properly, but the red pigmentation was unexpected (it was healing properly, but when they saw it they delayed the session to get an oppinion from an expert). If it does not disappear, the may apply another treatment to remove ths four burn like spots. For now, Max Factor .50 foundation when I need to cover them, and a lot of sunscreen.

The last thing is that we switched the aftercare cream, from their laser face repair to a Aloe Vera one with some sort of Acid. "Glicolyc", or something like that.


Shaved a week later for an interview.

For me the only time I got numbed was the first session since I had an excpetionally thick beard.  The tech herself was actually concerend so they did it as a precaution. The last two I had nothing applied, the third session was much more tolerable than even the first when I was numbed.  So I'm guessing the ladies wo had lighter and thinner hair to start with had much less pain.  Now for the fouth session next week I'm actually thinking about asking them to step up the laser setting to try and work out that very stubbon 'muzzel' area.  So once again, the thickness and over all folical density really play a huge role in the pain factor.

Quote from: Rotten Apple on October 05, 2012, 08:45:12 AM
Just to say that last week I had my second session. Numbing cream and the boss doing it to avoid another screw up on my upper lip as the last time. Almost no pain and extra quick (Either an amazing kill rate on the first session or I did not have a lot to begin with). Although they will do an extra session for the upper lip, since they wanted to minimise the damage to that part. They said it probably was folliculitis and healing properly, but the red pigmentation was unexpected (it was healing properly, but when they saw it they delayed the session to get an oppinion from an expert). If it does not disappear, the may apply another treatment to remove ths four burn like spots. For now, Max Factor .50 foundation when I need to cover them, and a lot of sunscreen.

The last thing is that we switched the aftercare cream, from their laser face repair to a Aloe Vera one with some sort of Acid. "Glicolyc", or something like that.


Shaved a week later for an interview.

Sincerely...don't kid yourself about the number of LHR treatments you need. I had 5 LHR's to my face and neck, and my Electrologist is still zapping some dark hairs. If all of your facial/neck hair is dark, LHR should suffice, but consider 6-8 treatments because hair grows in cycles.
I stopped after 5 because approx. 30% of my facial/neck hair was white, so I knew I would need Electrolysis.

Also...those red spots are most likely "burn spots, after my 2nd LHR treatment I noticed my Chin was orangish-red, so the Nurse decreased the power/energy level and it cleared up. Be careful about the Glycolic Acid treatment, sounds like they are performing a "peel" to remove the red spots. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycolic_acid  ,  http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-glycolic-acid.htm#  ) Ask your tech or aesthetician what concentration they are using.

My bad, It was hyaluronic Acid, can't remember a single name. I was told that around 6 sessions would be enough to kill most of it, although of course, they don't know the purpose behind  doing this (the only other person getting full face treatment is a flight attendant). The truth is that I did not even have a real beard to start with, just loose hairs that would not cover a single part of my face. One of the few things I lucked out with, I almost don't even have body hair... Anyways, really dark sparse hair over pale skin, so it seems to work quite well.

I took photos of the burns for four weeks and showed to them before starting the treatment, so they recalibrated the machine before the second attack. There may be a few of them in a previous thread around here. They were seen by a doctor and two dermathologist. Two said "folliculitis" and the other "it will take a long time until they fully heal". Much better results on the second session in terms of recovery, though.

Quote from: Rotten Apple on October 05, 2012, 08:45:12 AM
Just to say that last week I had my second session. Numbing cream and the boss doing it to avoid another screw up on my upper lip as the last time. Almost no pain and extra quick (Either an amazing kill rate on the first session or I did not have a lot to begin with). Although they will do an extra session for the upper lip, since they wanted to minimise the damage to that part. They said it probably was folliculitis and healing properly, but the red pigmentation was unexpected (it was healing properly, but when they saw it they delayed the session to get an oppinion from an expert). If it does not disappear, the may apply another treatment to remove ths four burn like spots. For now, Max Factor .50 foundation when I need to cover them, and a lot of sunscreen.

The last thing is that we switched the aftercare cream, from their laser face repair to a Aloe Vera one with some sort of Acid. "Glicolyc", or something like that.


Shaved a week later for an interview.

Try and get "MagicShave" if you can. They're marketed here in the states to primarily african american men or any guy who grows curly hair on their face and that is prone to ingrown  hairs. It's basically a depilatory cream that's safe enough to use on your face and won't give you burns. I think that would be better than shaving, since shaving can irritate the skin.

Session 2 1/2. Last Time they did not want to touch a few parts, to observe better the results. From what they told me, the first session did not have the best values for me. I am oversensitive to laser and get completely red in a few moments. In the end they found the adjustment that works for me, but... Maybe the three folliculitis style burns from the first session could have been avoided.