Friday, January 25, 2019

Electrolysis Blues


Last night I had my sixth electrolysis session. For those who are counting this was my fifth facial electrolysis session. The sixth was somewhere else, an area best left unmentioned. And I gotta say I'm kinda sick of it. When I was getting ready to head out the electrolysis office I almost cancelled. But cancelling at the last moment is not only rude, it would also cost me the full session amount. So I went. Laying down with the bright light in the my face, I braced for the now usual pain, figuring that I could just bite the bullet and get through it.

Recently I had found a new electrolysis place. This first one I tried was run out of a trans-woman's apartment and I didn't real like it. It just didn't feel professional. I didn't feel entirely comfortable being poked and prodded in someone's living room. I wanted a place that felt like a business. And I found a better spot in Brooklyn. It's in an office and feels much more official and professional. Plus the first time I went the owner kept asking me about my menstrual cycle until I finally had to tell her that I was trans. So I passed! That makes me like the place even more.

But this time I when I went to the new place, I had a new practitioner. She had never done my face before and I think she had the machine turned up to high. It hurt like hell. I had put on some lidocaine cream before the appointment but it just didn't help. The electrolysis person made me ice up my face but it still hurt. After my half hour session I was so over it.

Honestly, electrolysis is not fun. It's just not. And at this point I'm sick of the constant appointments, the not shaving before hand, the special skin care routine I have to do for days after, the limitations on shaving and makeup after, the pain, all of it. And unlike laser I don't feel like I'm even seeing results.

I have to do my pre-GRS electrolysis. But I think it's time for a break on my face. I can go back to it any time. But I have my whole life to do this. Right now I'm finding electrolysis to be far worse than just shaving every day or every other day. I'll jump back in at some point. But to sum it all up, electrolysis is un-fun.

6 comments:

  1. I do not know if you can make this work, and I recognize my privilege and being able to afford it, but have you considered going to your dentist and having your mouth numbed professionally prior to your electrolysis session? For my upper lip I went to my dentist before each session where I was charged $86 to have my entire upper lip numbed before going to my electrolysis session where I was charged $60 for the hour-long session. I felt absolutely no pain, in fact, I fell asleep while my electrologist worked on my upper lip. My upper lip is now clear. My dentist and electrologist are now working on my lower mouth area on both sides, again pain-free. As I said, my economic privilege is allows me the ability to afford this. I hope it works for other women going through what we're going through with electrolysis.

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    1. Actually I have some cream for my pre-GRS electrolysis, but honestly I'd rather focus on that then on my face for now.

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  2. Thanks for the recommendation, Marcia. Other people have told me similar. Quite frankly that's more spoons that I really have right now because it essentially doubles both the cost and the number of appointments I have to make and keep track of. Stupid, transition! Why must it be so tricky!

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    1. If you can swing it with the dentist for novocaine shots beforehand, you can do longer and fewer electolysis sessions since novocaine lasts a ton longer and is lots more effective than topical lidocaine.

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  3. My plan is to do laser first on both my face and surgery site, then follow up with electrolysis for the stragglers. Laser is a good shot-gun method of removal but it misses things (which is why things seem to "grow back").
    I haven't tried electrolysis yet, but it seems like it would be more painful than laser and take longer as they treat every individual hair.

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