Hi all,

So today I learned first hand the pain of beauty. 

While waiting to start HRT, I'm taking those initial steps into transition. And today I had my first Laser hair appointment. Did pretty much everything north of the equator exept face. Chest, stomach, upper arms, lower neck, and underarms. Everything was good until they started on the underarms.

One word: OUCH!

I made it through relatively unscathed. My underarms are quite sore though. I blame a lot of thick dark black hairs. Hopefully the next session will be better.

Next week, South of the equator. Legs and Feet.

Overall, not a bad experience. Doctor was very good. And I'm pretty happy with the pricing. Got $50 off a package due to it being my birthday month. So for upper body it was $2100 for 5 treatments. Lower will be another $1500. Not sure what face will be. But I do get 10% off the $1500 for lower due to loyalty reward points. ^_^ Same for Face.

Now if only the Ibuprofen will kick in I'll be set.

~Kamyu

Oh god lol I am so sorry; laser is EXCRUCIATING!!!!! I'm lucky in that the only part of my body that needed it was my upper lip, and thanks to black hair/programmers complexion-tan it was very effective, but dear GOD it was painful! Kudos to you!!!!! I still don't know how I made it

Yyyyyyyep!

Laser hurts. Electrolysis hurts even a little more.

Both are bearable.

I did laser to the face approximately a month ago did not hurt I didn't think but no pain no gain hope it gets better for you pain is beauty

I wish I could do laser!  an hour of electrolysis on the upper lip is borderline torture...  Thats what they should do instead of waterboarding.... electrolysis their face!  BRUTAL!

I think that if anyone is looking for proof that being transgender is a real thing, they need look no further than what we do for the sake of hair removal. No one in their right mind would subject themselves to this kind of pain unless they were very strongly motivated to do so.

I'd like to get electrolysis done but am not quite sure when I will but hopefully it doesn't hurt too much, it sounds quite painful haha.

Quote from: Miyuki on July 16, 2014, 08:13:51 PM
I think that if anyone is looking for proof that being transgender is a real thing, they need look no further than what we do for the sake of hair removal. No one in their right mind would subject themselves to this kind of pain unless they were very strongly motivated to do so.

Right?  And I'm so excited for my next appt, I called and begged for one this week...  Masochistic?

Quote from: Valleyrie on July 16, 2014, 08:16:03 PM
I'd like to get electrolysis done but am not quite sure when I will but hopefully it doesn't hurt too much, it sounds quite painful haha.

I'd rather take a horse hoof to the face... but tragically, that doesn't get rid of hair.

How would you like to be inflicting this pain on yourself? Yup, at the moment I'm doing my own laser (I have professional grade machines) and in some areas like where my facial scars are -Yeooooowwch!! Luckily I never had any hair under my arms to worry about and my leg hair is very fine only 1 step above being velus, forearm hair is the same so a once per week shave and my legs stay smooth. I don't have any hair anywhere else to worry about with the exception of leftover grays on my face my lasers have a hard time dealing with that I'll prolly end up having electro done on to remove them.

Quote from: Miyuki on July 16, 2014, 08:13:51 PM
I think that if anyone is looking for proof that being transgender is a real thing, they need look no further than what we do for the sake of hair removal. No one in their right mind would subject themselves to this kind of pain unless they were very strongly motivated to do so.

This is sooooo true!

Best wishes!

Allie

Oh yes, laser depilation HURTS. So far I'm only on face and neck sessions. Next January I'll probably start with underbelly and later on with underarms. And if like in spring 2016 (that will be 2 years on HRT) there will still be some body hair remaining on my chest and belly then I'll go for the even more painful electrolysis. Hopefully there won't be too much left to take care of.

And when I used a depilator (40 tweezers) on my legs and arms for the first few times... It felt like my skin was on fire. Fortunately the pain got gradually weaker and weaker. Now I just feel something tiny when a body hair is tweezed off.

Don't know about laser, but I use an epilator and ever since first starting so many years ago, underarms were and still are the least painful spots to do. The worst for me for many years was the arms and even still I run that tweezer torture machine wanting to scream. I started several weeks ago doing my torso area, all those fine hairs along there, first time I had to stop every few seconds and gather some more strength to deal with the stinging hell, but once I got passed that, now its just a matter of keeping up with it every few days, still stings but no where near as much as the first time. But that laser stuff sounds scary the way everyone puts it. But I'd do it if I could, especially my legs. Over a decade and a half pulling leg hairs and still its a never ending thing, beats shaving though.

Quote from: HeatherR on July 16, 2014, 08:17:09 PM
Right?  And I'm so excited for my next appt, I called and begged for one this week...  Masochistic?

It's good to know that I'm not the only one like this!

Quote from: Megan Joanne on July 17, 2014, 11:45:12 AM
Don't know about laser, but I use an epilator and ever since first starting so many years ago, underarms were and still are the least painful spots to do. The worst for me for many years was the arms and even still I run that tweezer torture machine wanting to scream. I started several weeks ago doing my torso area, all those fine hairs along there, first time I had to stop every few seconds and gather some more strength to deal with the stinging hell, but once I got passed that, now its just a matter of keeping up with it every few days, still stings but no where near as much as the first time. But that laser stuff sounds scary the way everyone puts it. But I'd do it if I could, especially my legs. Over a decade and a half pulling leg hairs and still its a never ending thing, beats shaving though.

I use an epilator too.  I feel soooo lucky that I am hairless enough that I can get by with an epilator everywhere except my face and SRS prep area.  Bikini area is the worst, but still less painful than laser or electrolysis.

Kim 

Quote from: Miyuki on July 16, 2014, 08:13:51 PM
I think that if anyone is looking for proof that being transgender is a real thing, they need look no further than what we do for the sake of hair removal. No one in their right mind would subject themselves to this kind of pain unless they were very strongly motivated to do so.

How terrible and terribly true.  It's quite one of the most miserable ways to spend loads of money!!!  I thought I had a lot of dark hair until laser got rid of all of it, leaving me with masses of blond and white ones.  Now I have the pleasure of two weekly electrolysis sessions, with so many more to come that it almost makes me cry. 

Is there anything quite as nasty as getting your top lip done?  I don't think so!

Quote from: Allyda on July 17, 2014, 11:28:07 AM
How would you like to be inflicting this pain on yourself? Yup, at the moment I'm doing my own laser (I have professional grade machines)

Allie, how did you learn to do this? It may be insanity but I think I might like to follow in your footsteps.

Quote from: Dee Walker on July 17, 2014, 12:59:17 PM

Allie, how did you learn to do this? It may be insanity but I think I might like to follow in your footsteps.

You Tube, instruction DVD's that came with my lasers, research, and a lot of trial and error being very cautious to error on the too light of a setting, side. After around a year and a half I've pretty much mastered it. Choose your laser carefully

I've heard people talk about how much it hurts. I have one thing to say; be thankful you don't have scar tissue on your face that needs laser! Yea, other areas hurt but none like scar tissue does.

Allie

I'm actually dreading electrolysis a bit. :p

So far, my underarms are feeling much better. I figure the extreme pain was from dense concentration and slightly too long hair. Left side was definitely worse than the right side. So much so I could hear the hairs being lasered. Sounded like electricity zapping.

Next week is the lower half. Mostly legs. Don't anticipate any significant pain there.

Not sure how well laser will work on the beard area. I jokingly call it The Amazing Technicolor Dream Beard. Has every color in it. Black, red, brown, white, copper, etc. I figure I'll do laser on it and get the stragglers with electrolysis. Will probably start on the beard area closer to fall. Too much sun right now and my job has me outside quite a bit. Do wonder how beard area will feel getting laser. Next time I'm in, might get a test spot done to see how well it works with laser.

The quote about what we go through for hair removal rings so true. We do sometimes literally torture ourselves in what we go through.

~Kamyu

Electro itself isn't so bad... but it's one hair at a time.. and there are TONS of those little suckers... It starts out a little pinch, but then it gets progressively worse each hair... The girl that does mine told me that once I start holding my breath for each zap, she knows it's time to stop.  I do numbing injections, but those actually hurt worse than the electro itself lol!  It doesn't take very long though, and makes the whole hour so much more pleasant... until it starts wearing off, then HOLY BAJEEZUS THAT HURT!

I'll say it again; gray facial hairs are natures cruelest joke she plays on us.

Allie