I'll start this by saying that I have only had one laser session and have decided to only use electrolysis for my face.

I'm about 10 hours into my electrolysis now and my electrologist has managed to do a first pass on everything except for my cheeks and a bit under my chin. I reckon it's going to be 15-20 hours for full clearance.

How long did it take you all to have your whole face cleared for the first time.

I've budgeted for about 50 hours of electrolysis and from what I understand each regrowth should be much lighter and more sparse which will make the second and third pass quicker.

I guess I'm just struggling with motivation at the moment, it's such a long and painful process! Hair removal is easily the worst part of transition!

Emily x


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The number of hour can vary greatly. I had light facial hair and may have had close to 200 hours. My first clearing took a long time as the regrowth at first was nearly as heavy as the first round. I would plan on additional cost/time and if you are clear earlier, I am sure you will have more useful things to do with the money. I started with two hour visits a week and only near the end was I able to reduce the number of visits a week.

The process is long and painful but there is nothing like looking in the mirror and thinking I don't have to shave.

Wow, that is amazing!  I thought I was the lucky one. Many girls have undergone 100-200 hours of electrolysis to fully clear their face.

I have done about 40 hours so far, over the last 21 months, and I am a few hours away from being done. My approach has been somewhat different.  I do about an hour every two weeks.  That allows my electrologist to zap the regrowth every time I see her.  My face only has a few sparse, thin whiskers left now, and we are getting the last of my throat area done.  She has a lot of transgender clients, and she told me she really likes the approach we have taken, if for no other reason than she has a sense of progress.  I never really thought about how it must be from the electrologist's point of view.  She says when we are done, we are pretty much done for good, no re-clearing, except for any random hairs that might pop up.

~Terri

I always wondered but the genitalia area myself esp since i hear dr ting ask the trans to get electrolysis once before he does their gas ...I also heard getting laser with electro makes electro go faster and not as many hours

I'm not doing X hours per week. I'm under sessions of 8 hours a day for X days until cleared, following the O2 clinic intensive program (in Belgium). First time it was 19 hours, when 32 were expected (4 full days). On May 26th and 27th I'm going for the second session. Usually 24 hours (3 days) are done in the second one but since it took already less than that for my first, I don't know what I should be expecting but the electrologist agreed to book 2 days only, because it's probably going to be less than 16 hours.

I have thought about booking an 8 hour session with my electrologist just to get some clearance work done. How have you found the pain? Did you use numbing cream or anything?


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2 hour session takes about 3-4 days to get back to normal-ish.

How fast do you recover from big sessions?

Currently aiming for 2h a week but tempted to do mega sessions but don't think I'd heal fast enough.

The time required to clear the face with electrolysis very much depends on the amount of client hair, the modality used and the skill of the electrologist.

In galvanic mode the lye generated by the direct current acts alone to destroy the hair. The theoretical speed of pure galvanic electrolysis with a single-needle machine is slow compared to blend and thermal. I'd say it is between 60 and 100 hairs per hour per needle. With multi-needle machines the process can be this amount multiplied by the number of needles. Scarring is pretty much unheard of.

In blend mode a high-frequency signal heats the lye to significantly accelerate the process. The limit using traditional settings for blend is about one hair per ten seconds, or 360 per hour. In practice it's probably around 300 per hour, although if the practitioner is skilled and the client has a high pain tolerance the process can also be somewhat faster. With a skillful electrologist scarring is extremely unlikely.

In traditional, flash and picoflash thermolysis the heat from the high-frequency signal acts alone to heat cauterize the follicle. The speed of the process with picoflash units is limited mainly by practitioner skill. (To minimize the amount of current required it is of utmost importance to accurately place the tip of the needle right where the hair papilla is located,  and possibly also give another zap to the follicular bulge, which also houses stem cells.) Using this modality some electrologists can remove over a thousand hairs per hour. While it can also cause damage in unskilled hands, with a skilled practitioner the client's skin condition even right after a session can be just about perfect.

Quote from: byanyothername on May 14, 2016, 05:41:01 PM
I have thought about booking an 8 hour session with my electrologist just to get some clearance work done. How have you found the pain? Did you use numbing cream or anything?

The O2 clinic offers IV anaesthesia which the patient can control by using a button. It contains morphine among other things, so you'd think it can be pretty effective, however the electrologist told me that some people used so much that the session had to finish earlier than the 8 hours, as she refuses to give too much anaesthesia in a single session. So while mine was a pretty smooth experience pain-wise (which helped in speeding it up, therefore paying for less hours, yay!), others can't tell the same.

Very soon, I think it's next week, I'll undergo some "normal" electrolysis sessions for my eyebrows in London and I'll get a sample of what other non-IV ways of reducing pain exist out there.

Quote from: Fresas con Nata on May 15, 2016, 03:16:53 AM
The O2 clinic offers IV anaesthesia which the patient can control by using a button. It contains morphine among other things, so you'd think it can be pretty effective, however the electrologist told me that some people used so much that the session had to finish earlier than the 8 hours, as she refuses to give too much anaesthesia in a single session. So while mine was a pretty smooth experience pain-wise (which helped in speeding it up, therefore paying for less hours, yay!), others can't tell the same.

Most places wouldn't be able to do that as you'd need a qualified doctor on staff to be able to do an IV with morphine. I like the sound of it though, but you're likely need a day or two of recovery afterwards - no driving especially.

Does anyone know if you can do this anywhere in Thailand? Checking into a hospital for a day or two would be rather nice.

Edit: This is O2 and it describes the PCA for anesthetic

http://www.o2clinic.be/treatments/permanent-hair-removal/electrolysis-hair-removal/

Quote from: byanyothername on May 14, 2016, 01:16:49 PM
I'll start this by saying that I have only had one laser session and have decided to only use electrolysis for my face.

Why only electrolysis, does the laser not work on your hair type?

It seems to work well on me for now.

I don't trust laser as a solution permanent hair removal, also my face tans really easily and I have a lot of blonde hairs. With the time you have to wait between laser sessions too, I just decided to skip it entirely.


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Quote from: byanyothername on May 15, 2016, 08:54:06 AM
I don't trust laser as a solution permanent hair removal, also my face tans really easily and I have a lot of blonde hairs. With the time you have to wait between laser sessions too, I just decided to skip it entirely.


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I had 6 Laser sessions awhile back before I decided to start Electro. The Darks are back and I also think it may be a waste as I tan easily also.

I only do 30 mins - 1 hr every 2 weeks of Electro, because it is so painful. Lying down for an hour is hell. I did receive my new Numbing cream I plan on using next session (30 mins) and if it works, I will start doing 1 hr sessions again.

It's easy to underestimate the time it will take, and to overestimate the pain you will be able to tolerate.  Be conservative on both.  And, for goodness sake, find a skilled electrologist with a good track record working on transgender clients. 

200 hours over 18 months with <5% left to kill.

I love my electrologist she really seems to know what she's doing and works with a lot of trans people. She has just received NHS funding actually. She is called Sarah, works under the name Beauty Lodge and is located in Bedford.

I think I'll be upping my budgeted time to 100 hours. I can just about manage a 2 1/2 hour session but Sarah is getting a new machine this month which blows cold air at you and is also generally less painful, so I'm quite excited about that!


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I am about 100 hours in on face electrolysis. I have a thick beard. I will need at least 100 hours more  for the face. They use a topical numbing agent. I have about 4.5 hours on my genitals in 3 sessions. I need about 3 more hours in 3 sessions over the next 2 months (Friday I am scheduled). They use a local which hurts pretty bad while administering.

Quote from: zirconia on May 14, 2016, 10:33:18 PM
In blend mode a high-frequency signal heats the lye to significantly accelerate the process. The limit using traditional settings for blend is about one hair per ten seconds, or 360 per hour. In practice it's probably around 300 per hour, although if the practitioner is skilled and the client has a high pain tolerance the process can also be somewhat faster. With a skillful electrologist scarring is extremely unlikely.

My electrologist removes around 1000 hairs per hour. For lowering the pain she uses injectable anesthetic (Lidocaine). No scar neither bruise. Huge swelling (oedema) the day after but it fully resorbs after a week or so.

Based on your profile pic, I have about the same hair color as you, so most likely I also had similar facial hair. I had like 16 laser sessions (during first two years of transition) and all dark brown, medium brown and bronze hairs are gone. I am left with some blonde hairs, which are almost all thin and puffy hairs, like many cisfemales have. And I dont mind plucking them twice a month. I payed around $600 for first 7 sessions, and the rest was free. If I were to choose to have electrolysis, I would probably need at least 100 hours, and $10,000 for same result... 

You need at least 9 to 10 laser sessions to have it start to show permanent results. The laser I have done is medical grade and operated by a nurse. It is permanent and I can see the difference already after about 7 treatments. Like any kind of facial hair treatment it seems like you are going over old ground when in fact you are picking up dormant growth not regrowth of the same follicle. An understanding of how hair grows may go a long way to helping setting realistic expectations The dark hair I have now is finer sparser and nonexistent in many area's. After only 5 or so hours of Electrolysis and the laser I shave every second day and have definite patches that are completely clear and have been for 3-4 months.

The operator should be skilled and the hair affected the most is the dark stuff. What can happen is that the tip of the laser does not quite cover a hair follicle and it may get partially zapped and will recover but it will usually get zapped at the next session. I was quoted 150 hrs to clear my face without using Laser and the laser takes care of about 50%. I am blessed with a light amount of facial hair and I have never been able to grow a beard...I used to have a moustache but had a habit of pulling out the hairs with my teeth so as a result the top lip is quite sparse and mainly Dark hair which are quite light. I never really did want the moustache but it stopped me cross-dressing  when in full denial.It never lasted long because once it came in I would have half the hairs pulled out within a week.

Liz K

Laser vs Electrolysis was a very difficult decision for me. I have made the more expensive decision to go with electrolysis for several reasons, but to be honest the main decision is one of impatience. 9 sessions of laser, each 8 weeks apart makes for about 75 weeks before the cleanup work of electrolysis can even begin.

My first laser session left me with hundreds of white hairs around my moustache and beard area which concerned me as the electrolysis would also go on for a long time. Also there is no guarantee that black hairs won't grow back in a year or two, needing more electrolysis. I figured a load of pain and expense at this point is better than years of hair removal.

I do keep wondering, after an hour on the chair, whether I've made the right decision or not!


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