After 15 months and 8 laser sessions, things look a bit different from expected, I was told that that was the amount needed for removing the bulk of my hair, but I still have enough moustache survivors to require me daily shaving and beard concealer. The last session despite upping the power, it felt useless (hair did not even fall), and we had scheduled to review it to decide if we should keep with laser or move to electro.

So far I've been a crybaby for facial, even with numbing cream. They used a really powerful one once, but the one I can buy does not remotely reach the effectiveness of that one.


So, how do you see it in comparison?

I did hundreds of hours of electrolysis and just sucked it up. I had to do it no matter what. The upper lip and the area right under the nose and near the lips sucked but I'm still here. Eventually I found I had developed a tolerance for the treatments and I managed to get through it all.

It truly was a death by a thousand stings for me but it was all worth it for me!

I did 100s of hours too,I have a low pain threshold someone I know slept through electrolysis.We're all different

It really depends on who you go to, there are a lot of lousy electrologists out there. It also really depends on the person getting electrolysis and how sensitive you are to pain.

So far I've only had around 76 hours of electrolysis but personally, I don't think it hurts that much and have had really fast progress. A lot of people complain about the upper lip but I have no problems with my upper lip, I actually enjoy getting my upper lip done. Generally, my neck and jawline hurt the worst. YMMV

Amy

There are different types of electrolysis available too. The one I use is called multi-probe galvanic or some such. They have 16 or so needles on each machine and use two at once meaning they can zap up to 32 follicles at once! My electrolysist has been doing it for over20 years now and has a very steady hand, very frequently I never feel the needle going in... it's while it's inserted that can be the unpleasant part. I find it varies though, some hurt more than others but even so it's not horribly painful by my tolerance levels. I'm a big wimp so that's saying something! 

Some hairs will hurt, others not so much.

But the ones that hurt...omg it is exquisite! Fortunately, each hair is gone in a second or so, so even if one does hurt...it's over quickly.

For me, waxing on the belly was FAR worse as far as pain goes.

I used to get the dentist to give me a shot in the gum to dull the pain from moustache/lip area electrolysis.

Depends on the day, but it ranges for easily tolerable to excruciating. Here are factors that effect me the most:

• Amount and restfulness of sleep prior to appointments.
• Use of stimulants (caffeine!) prior to appointment
• Amount and type of analgesia used prior to starting.
• Area to be worked on and type of hair (regrowth is a lot easier to tolerate and faster to clear than 'old growth' stubble)
• Pre-treatment cream applied (I've had more success with a cheap menthol/camphor solution than the more expensive EMLA, your results may vary.)
• External stimuli (music, conversation, TV - distraction)
• Type of treatment modality and strength (thermolysis, blend, galvanic, etc.)

On any given day I might nap occasionally or be in full tears depending on whats being done.

I just started electrolysis - I have quite a few blond hairs that the laser wont touch. From what I have read, the pain experienced with electrolysis depends a lot on where it is, who your electrolysist is and which method they use. I'm doing galvanic. It is slow (20 seconds or so per hair), but the pain level is minimal. To be honest, I find it less painful than laser, albeit for a much longer period of time at once.
Mary

I find electrolysis excruciating in a few small areas (the perineum and under the nose). Most areas are fairly tolerable. An appropriate scrip topical analgesic definitely helps with more sensitive areas. General facial electrolysis I take a few ibuprofen and call it good.

Quote from: jamielikesyou on October 16, 2013, 04:11:30 AM
Depends on the day, but it ranges for easily tolerable to excruciating. Here are factors that effect me the most:

• Amount and restfulness of sleep prior to appointments.
• Use of stimulants (caffeine!) prior to appointment
• Amount and type of analgesia used prior to starting.
• Area to be worked on and type of hair (regrowth is a lot easier to tolerate and faster to clear than 'old growth' stubble)
• Pre-treatment cream applied (I've had more success with a cheap menthol/camphor solution than the more expensive EMLA, your results may vary.)
• External stimuli (music, conversation, TV - distraction)
• Type of treatment modality and strength (thermolysis, blend, galvanic, etc.)

On any given day I might nap occasionally or be in full tears depending on whats being done.

That's interesting. I went today for my first session, only 15 mins long but my goodness was it painful. I didn't have as much sleep the night before and am wondering if that could of affected things. I was crying by the end of the session, something i had not expected to happen, my upper lip was so painful!

Quote from: Bardoux on October 16, 2013, 11:25:23 AM
That's interesting. I went today for my first session, only 15 mins long but my goodness was it painful. I didn't have as much sleep the night before and am wondering if that could of affected things. I was crying by the end of the session, something i had not expected to happen, my upper lip was so painful!

Upper lip is probably the most painful area imo. It has a well-fed nervous system and swells like anything when I'm getting mine done. You did well; hopefully once you finish it the worst is over. Not that it gets great, but it should (hopefully) be more tolerable.

No reason you couldn't laser areas that are too difficult to handle with electrolysis. It doesn't have to be an either/or proposition.

No electrolysis for me still. They would not recommended and wanted to wait till those last hairs weakened a bit more. Something about being to hard to remove right now. Part of the little hair that still come from the sides have turned into peachy fuzz...

For the most part the pain is not a big deal. Now on the upper lip its sensitive so I simply turn down the power. Since I own my own machine time is not so much a factor.... Turning down the power and inscreasing the zapping time is akin to a quick zap with higher power. You still kill the hairs.

Note: I totally didn't realize the question was about electrolysis bleh... anyway... here's my laser experience:

The first session was excruciating. My hair was a bit too long (it used to grow very quickly throughout the day - no longer) and it was very thick. I quickly learned how to anticipate the zap (turn the beep that happens right before it stings you OFF please... and the squeezy things from the big lazer just tell you it's coming). Anticipation made it much worse on day 1. I tensed up and powered through... which also made it worse (giving in to the process, staying relaxed, lessens the pain). The redness and swelling lasted the better part of 2 weeks (and only started lessening after 1 week).

Session 2 was much, much easier. Practically no pain and I'm going to have her power it up a tad on Friday when I go back. I still broke out, but it only lasted about a week.

I'm wired backwards, I think.
The most painful parts for me are the lower neck and chin (the bone, dear god). Upper lip is nothing... though progress there has also been nothing (maybe a little - but unnoticable).

It's amazing just how much we can look forward to going back to this painful play-time. It's about the most exciting and enjoyable thing I do right now.

Had a two hour session of electrolysis last week. At the start of the treatment she applied a numbing cream to my upper lip and then spent an hour and a half on the rest of my face. The last half an hour was upper lip. She did dial it down a little as a precaution but that area was so numb from the cream I pretty much felt nothing at all which was a relief (there were a few OMG toe curlers though). That area was really swollen for an hour afterwards (I looked like a chimp!) and puffy for a day but overall I feel I escaped fairly unscathed. If it's like that for the rest of the treatments it will be bearable.

Quote from: kabit on October 29, 2013, 11:17:11 AM

Session 2 was much, much easier. Practically no pain and I'm going to have her power it up a tad on Friday when I go back. I still broke out, but it only lasted about a week.

Same for me. After the the first session looking like Freedy Kruger (burns and everything). Nowadays it is still painful as heck, but it takes less than six minutes to finish.


Well, most of the hair finally fell of, so I'm slightly cleaner in terms of beard shadow. Still can see some black dots here and there, but it is enough for a quick application of concealer stick.

I'm up to 25 hours of electrolysis so far, and my worst areas are:
Right under the nose - the pain goes through a large part of the lip, the gums and the nose. We only do one hair/week there now
Near the lip edges - not too painful, but the heat spreads quite a distance
Jawline - the worst itch imaginable, sometimes my hands will start twitching because they desperately want to scratch the itch

Chin and cheeks are quite comfortable, and the neck is fairly bearable.

I think I lost count at 50 hours. I'm so used to it now, the pain is more of a discomfort. But, I am nearing the end of the road.    Laser was 1000 times worse for me. Electolysis has never made me flinch, wince, or tear up, I just lie there and take it pretty much.

I had mostly blonde or grey facial hairs, and ultra sensitive skin, so laser was not an option for me. I worked with the top electrologist in Oregon, who uses a top of the line Apilus Platinum machine, which does some very fast computer controlled blend treatments, less than a second per hair. She is skilled enough to remove 700 to 1000 hairs per hour. It can be quite painful on the upper lip, around the mouth, and in the genital area, but the following help considerably:

1) Half an hour before treatment, I religiously remember to take 50 mg of short-acting over the counter antihistamines (called Benadryl, or diphenhydramine, in the US). It makes me a little sleepy, but makes a huge difference in how much inflammation I get and how long the inflammation lasts. It also reduces the pain during treatment.

2) Although I did perhaps 20 hours without any analgesics at all, it made me cry (and felt like stings) in the sensitive parts. Even then it was bearable, and what I found is a good electrologist will get a cadence going, and you just accept that it is going to hurt but don't tense up over it; your body will release endorphins, so as long as she starts in the corner of your upper lip and works towards the more sensitive center, your body will start to numb itself. (Same thing happens during tatooing, btw). Electrologists who jump around instead of working systematically can increase your pain level; your body doesn't like surprises, but can control pain that is localized and consistent.

3) Most of the time I use a numbing cream, and have used all of the following:
- EMLA works, but it needs to be occluded (covered with plastic wrap); since I go straight from work to my treatments and back again, it wasn't practical for me.
- I ordered veterinary numbing cream (containing lignocaine plus hydrocortisone cream and a topical antibiotic) from New Zealand; it worked wonderfully without occlusion and I used it for almost a year. (local brands were more expensive). The hydrocortisone was a definite contributor to its success, since it reduced the inflammatory response. One brand name was Ilium Neocort. Safe for animals that enter the food supply. Moo! Baa!
- Toothache gel or ointment. Discovered this in the medicine cabinet at work when I forgot my EMLA or vet cream. Works pretty well actually, though you want the adult strength not the 'safe for babies' toothing gel, though it helps some. Watch out for the kind which contains iodine; it can turn you slightly orange.

Caffeine makes the pain worse. I save caffeine for afterwards, so I can wake up from the benadryl sleepiness.

Not sleeping the night before, or being hungover, makes the pain worse.

Being dehydrated (not drinking enough water! not eating enough fruits and veggies) makes the pain MUCH worse. The electricity does its job because of the moisture in your skin. If you are dried out, it can damage your skin and zap your nerves.

Drink a lot before you go (and urinate before the start of your session so you don't have to break during).

Avoid aspirin for 24 hours before your session; it will increase swelling and if you have ingrown hairs removed during the session, will increase bleeding as well.

Never got much help from naproxen or acetamenophen. Ibuprofen can help with the inflammation afterwards, for some people, but I don't tolerate it well.

Aloe vera gel (100% organic, preferrably) is wonderful for after-care.

If you are prone to skin infections following treatment, an iodine wash twice a day (or the pre-surgery scrub product Hibilclens) will work wonders for a few days after.

Attitude: celebrate every hair that is gone forever, with each little sting. Like childbirth or the cost of a new mercedes, if you have joy in the pain, it doesn't hurt nearly as much.

I look forward to my session every week, and get anxious if it is delayed. That should tell you a lot.