I'm writing about this because right now it's driving me crazy again-- the worst point in the cycle. I had my 4th treatment last week.

This is how the cycle has gone for me: I go for laser on my face once every 8 weeks. A couple weeks before my appointment date, the stubble starts to reappear. By the time the follicles get zapped, I have a lot to fry my face with. Then it takes between 10 days and 2 weeks for the hairs to work their way out of my skin after they've received their eviction notice.

My hairs are very coarse and stubborn, more like hog bristles than hair. During the 2 weeks after the treatment, shaving is very hard on my face. It's like my skin is literally turning itself inside out as the subcutaneous stuff migrates to the surface. This means that shaving leaves me bleeding from many places on my lip and chin where the hair is densest. I often see little white things hanging out of my skin which I think is the tissue that surrounds each follicle. In this phase, no amount of shaving can make my skin smooth, it remains rough textured right after the shave because of all the stuff shoving up from below. The darkness can't be hidden by makeup, no matter how much I use. This time I'm getting a lot of breakouts too. Normally I never get breakouts.

The process goes easiest if I can stop shaving for a few days. This isn't always feasible since I'm transitioned fulltime now. I have no male or non-female guise to fall back on any more. So it's a stressful time.

After 2 weeks of agony, the hairs finally leave my skin, and (except for small patches missed by the laser) I'm blissfully smooth-faced and beard-free until the cycle comes around again. I'm not sure, but it seems that not shaving for some days--and then shaving--helps to get the hairs out of my skin.

After 9 treatments myself I had come to the conclusion for myself that laser was not permanent for me.30 hours of electro did the trick. I still could use a touch up every 6 months or so but what does come up is very fine. I could let it go but it does seem to get long and looks a little worse than short fuzz.

I found that an electric razor, used lightly, worked best for me to avoid irritation and bleeding. And if worse comes to worse, DermaBlend will cover ANYTHING.

Otherwise, yes... this was pretty much exactly my experience too. The fried hairs consistently began to fall out between days 11-14, and my face was often rough-textured until the last few weeks of a cycle.

The less hairs you have, the less the damage... so each cycle should become less and less of a problem as you go along. My first few sessions left me bleeding, seeping, cut, burnt-looking... but my last sessions left me looking like nothing had even been done.

It gets better. Promise

~Kate~