TG Life

Laser hair removal

Yesterday I went in for my first ever laser hair removal session. Over the last couple years I’ve been slowly educating myself on the pros and cons of doing it, and (with wife’s approval) decided to take the plunge. Over the last couple weeks I’ve read a lot of reviews about different places here in town where I could get it done, and narrowed it down to two choices. One place was very well known, and quite expensive, and the other was a private practitioner who works out of a small “spa”. I checked out the expensive place last week but didn’t really feel entirely comfortable with the place. So last night I went to the second place, the private practitioner.This lady is an RN, and just has two laser machines. She was very nice right from the start. Her treatment room was clean, and the place seemed pretty professional. It was after-hours, so I was the only one there. I think she sees a lot of clients in the evenings and on weekends (which is really the only time I could do it anyway.) Even though I was a bit nervous she made me feel comfortable right away, and I ended up even telling her that I was transgendered and that my real reason for wanting to have hair removed is so that it would be easier to feminize my appearance. Actually, that moment was a little strange for me because I’ve only told two or three people about that. She asked if I was taking hormones (or going to), and I said I have no plans to do it now.

We agreed I’d have my face, neck, chest, arms, and legs all treated. The total treatment should run me something like $6,000 or so (depending on how I respond and how much reduction I want). After I went into the bathroom and shaved, we started with just the neck and face.

Laser hair removal hurts!

She was using a LightSheer Diode laser, and I think when I looked it was set to 25. I know the settings are more complex than just that number, but she did seem to adjust it up a and down a bit during the session. The sensation is sort of like a really small rubber band snapping the skin very hard, but in areas where the hair is more dense and thick I’d say it felt more like little needles pricking your skin really fast. The area of the upper lip and right under the nose are the absolute worst, followed by the lower chin area. The rest of the face is quite manageable from a pain level. She gave me cold packs to cool the areas before and after the treatment.

I ended up leaving the place about an hour after I came in, my neck and face both feeling very hot and red - like they had been sunburned. I stopped and got myself a frozen yogurt on the way home and put some more ice packs on when I got home.

The day after

Today the redness seems to have gone down a bit, and now my neck looks more like I just got razor burn. I hope the swelling goes down by tomorrow so that I don’t have to explain to coworkers that I have “razor burn”.

© 2008 the girl inside.