Electrolysis

Today I dared a bit more than a corner, this time on the right side. Say about 1/3 of the right side. Curiosly it wasn't that bad, though I can't say for sure why now or what happened. I think the elctrologist even strayued a bit past the anesthetized area.

It's not that it doesn't hurt, but that it doens't hurt so bad I'm afraid to do it ever again. The lower lip is always much worse. But there's less in the way of follicles there and they have responded well to treatment (meaning many of them are dead already).

Assuming I can keep this up every two weeks, I hope to be done by the end of this year (YAY!!)

This weekend I have my first appointment since April 12th. Those long Vegas trip do take a toll.

I dind't schedule one for May 10th because it was too soon after returning home and I was still getting over jet lag.

I did schedule one for last weekend, but the trip I took to Campeche killed it. Good thing I cancelled early, as I hate to leave my electrologist with an empty slot.

I'm very much looking forward to being done by December. We'll see how the scheduling shapes up. It would be great to be able to do without foundation.

Getting back to electrolysis after a long break is a rather traumatic experience.

I was hurt, literally, byt the fact that I got a rather alte start and didn't allow a full 60 minutes for the anesthetic. Beyond that, pain is easily forgotten even if the intensity of it is not (trust me on this one). And of course the session felt eternal, though it was only 80 minutes.

Next one is the first Saturday in June. I can't wait to post about my last ever session, if there ever is one.

I've been keeping up, more or less, to one session every two weeks.

More or less because sometimes I have to cancel due to work. If I know I'll get home around 1 am on Friday (ie Saturday), there's no way I'm waking up in time to make a 9 am appointment...

So I've been having some rather painful sessions, focused entirely on the lip areas. The rest, by now, is mostly hunting down stragglers. Anyway, what I've been doing is having the entire lower lip done every session, along with a portion, about 1/4th of the upper lip (alternating sides between sessions. The lower lip is about 80% done, I hope. The rest is beginning to show progress. Already there are a few gaps where hairs no longer exist, and larger areas where growth is finer and slower.

My fervent hope is I'll be done, or done enough, by April of next year (fingers crossed).

The end is in sight.

Last session we got to the end of the time block I paid for (I pay for 20 hours at a time). I asked for the current rate, and the electrologist told me to get only 10 hours, as that should be enough to finish the upper lip. Session times vary, but at the current pace they're between 30 and 45 minutes. So I have about 15 to 20 sessions left.

It takes tens of hours just to do the lip area - wow!

Quote: aceofspades

It takes tens of hours just to do the lip area - wow!

No, it takes longer than that. I think I've accumulated about 5-6 hours on that area thus far. It takes 10 hours for what's left, alas.

It's been very painful, but the results are starting to show.

Approximately 40% of the upper lip is done. About 20% more is getting there.

Last session I misread the card and arrived 30 minutes before y appointment. This means the anesthetic cream had 90+ minutes instead of the usual 60 to work. You'd think, as I did, that this would help. I really felt no difference. It hurt a lot, especially the hairs close to the lip. T, the electrologist, swears she's not inserting the needle in the lip mucosa itself. I believe her. But it feels as though that's what happens.

I have considered upping the appointment frequency to once a week rather than every two weeks, just so I'll be done by May when I'll take a Vegas vacation. But the pain tells me otherwise.

Pain be damned, I'm doing the weekly appointments again.

Partly, too, this is due to the high likelihood of cancellations due to work and related matters. Mostly it's to get done faster. Besides, progress keeps on happening. The left side of the upper lip is about 60% done by now. the right side about as much or a bit more. Which means we're going to start working the center, which just happens to be the most painful part of all. Still, it's only 20-40 minutes per week.

Though that number is deceptive. Yesterday my appointment was for noon (an unusual set of circumstances). I left home at 10:30, making the mistake of only having a light breakfast. I arrived in the vicinity by 11:30, and spent some time parked nearby listening to the WWI portion of the history of Diplomacy from the Great Courses. The session ended by 12:25, and by that time I was ravenous. I bought a convenience store sandwich, which was as awful as it sounds, but it did drive the building headache and incipient dizziness in short order. traffic is worse at that time, so I arrived home nearly at 2 pm.

Add it all up and a 20-40 minute session takes 3.5-4 hours off my day.

I dared the dreaded center of the upper lip....

1) It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be (it was plenty bad, just not as bad). Partly because the anesthetic had a bit over an hour to work (directions say 60 minutes), partly because T the electrologist used a lower setting.

2) In the half hour allotted, T was able to cover only a small portion. She didn't get to the part right under the nose. So that potentially could be even worse than I think.

3) On better news, she cleared the left side of the upper lip in under three minutes flat (at a higher setting), because I'd put anesthetic on it. So that at least goes very well.

I don't think I'll be able to finally leave the razor behind next May in Vegas, but going by past experience I won't need any beard cover makeup at all! I still have plenty. I'll find someone to give it to. I may even be able to go out without using any foundation. Oh, I'd still wear it, I like it, just not every day.