numbing injection electrolysis question

5
u/missyspelled
Fri Apr 17 20:12:13 2020 UTC
(37 comments)

Hi everyone!

I am absolutely sick of my facial hair. I tried electrolysis before but it hurt so much I was crying after 15-30 minutes every time and had to stop. My hair grows pretty slow too so I had to go almost a week for it to be long enough for them to do it, which meant I had a week of facial hair I couldn't stand for less than 30 minutes of work which was getting me nowhere. I tried the strongest topical numbing cream I could find and it still was totally unbearable for me. My facial hair is a mix of colours with lots of lighter ones so laser helped a bit with some of the darker hairs, but not nearly enough.

All this to say I think my ONLY option is large scale hair removal where they sedate and inject numbing agent. I don't have a ton of money though so I really need to compare my options, I know precision in Chicago does it at around 2600 USD per full day session (2 techs working together for 7.5 hours = 15 hours of work), and I know Electrology 3000 in Texas does as well but they don't seem to list prices anywhere. I'm in Canada so also have to factor in travel and exchange rate, could anyone who knows the price of Electrology 3000 let me know what their prices are? Also I know this is a long shot but if there are any Canadian centres offering a similar service or any other american locations doing numbing injections and large sessions I would really appreciate hearing about it.

Crossposting to MTF, Transgender surgeries, and Asktransgender. Thank you all so much.

all 37 comments


1
u/AdrianeXX
Fri Apr 17 20:39:14 2020 UTC
(13 children)

You say that you have used the strongest numbing cream you can get. Do you mind me asking what strength the active ingredient is?

2
OP
Fri Apr 17 20:56:40 2020 UTC
(12 children)

Thanks for responding! I use 5% lidocaine, which gives a numbing feeling but as soon as it starts it's super painful anyway

2
Fri Apr 17 21:03:34 2020 UTC
(10 children)

You need to try TKTX Tattoo Numbing cream. It has 40% lidocaine and is very effective. I purchase lots of 10 tubes from China via Wish.

1
OP
Fri Apr 17 21:08:38 2020 UTC
(7 children)

Thanks for responding! Even if it does help with the pain I'd prefer long session so I don't have to have my facial hair grown out constantly as local electrologists only do an hour or 2 max. Thank you though! I'll look into that for the future if I need small upkeep appointments I could do locally!

Sat Apr 18 04:27:57 2020 UTC
(6 children)

[removed]

1
Sat Apr 18 07:32:03 2020 UTC
(5 children)

Yeah, but with that lot you might not wake up again.

Sat Apr 18 07:36:55 2020 UTC
(4 children)

[removed]

1
Sat Apr 18 08:19:35 2020 UTC
(3 children)

Pretty sure people have died doing that. It’s not something for people who have no experience with these things, and the people who are experienced probably already know what their tolerances are.

I expect most electrologists would be extremely upset if a customer did that without them agreeing in advance, and most probably wouldn’t.

Sat Apr 18 08:57:16 2020 UTC
(2 children)

[removed]

1
Sat Apr 18 09:09:30 2020 UTC
(1 child)

my NP gave me oxy for electro when I explained her it allowed me to do longer session and save money

I bet you didn't mention taking it with vodka though.

child comments hidden

1
Fri Apr 17 22:40:47 2020 UTC
(1 child)

I've bought medications from online pharmacies, but Wish‽

I'd feel safer sticking my hand into the sharps box at a needle exchange.

1
Fri Apr 17 22:14:52 2020 UTC
(0 children)

the base also matters, i found that zensa works way better than generic lidocaine, both are 5% lidocaine.

emla is also very good.

1
u/Darla207
Fri Apr 17 20:58:04 2020 UTC
(2 children)

Have you tried EMLA cream? It made beard removal much more tolerable for me. There is no "overnight" beard removal method. It is a long, painful(hopefully tolerable), process. But it helps separate the girls from the boys.

1
OP
Fri Apr 17 21:05:57 2020 UTC
(1 child)

Thank you for responding! I tried 5% lidocaine, which did nothing and seems similar. the biggest problem with creams is that local electrologists don't do more than an hour or 2, have little to no trans experience, and frankly don't seem very good. So I'll likely have to travel anyway, and want to do large volume so I don't have to grow out my facial hair constantly. So I'm specifically looking for places that will do a full day of clearance and are experienced with trans clients and will provide numbing injections. Thank you though!

1
Fri Apr 17 22:10:34 2020 UTC
(0 children)

Yes, it does sound like you need to find a good electrologist. EMLA cream has two numbing agents in it, and seems to work best. I have been able to get it thru Inhouse Pharmacy. As the hair breaks down, it gets finer, and closer to the surface of your skin, and much less painful to remove. I was lucky, and found a second generation electrologist , who literally grew up watching her mom work. The whole clinic is TG friendly. Good Luck!

1
u/SahreenaMae
Fri Apr 17 23:13:41 2020 UTC
(1 child)

I go to a foreign electrologist in the midwest. Once I started HRTs she had to use injected lidocaine. She has a doctor come in to inject it. Its $250/hr. But for MtF trans she will inject it herself for $50 per 4 hour session if you are the only person there and it is late at night (she also locks the door). She has worked until 3 AM for me. She is one of those kinds of people that would be willing to work 24 hours/day if she didn't need to eat or sleep. She is so nice, trans friendly, and willing to work with you. She charges $40/hr every other month. And she has been doing this for over 30 years. You need to find one of those. I got lucky because she was the first one I went to and it is really close to my house, like 4 miles.

1
Tue Jul 28 12:55:53 2020 UTC
(0 children)

OMG......😊♥️ What a beautiful person to do this.... would you mind sharing......or send me a pm...I maybe moving to the Midwest. Thank you.

1
u/CandyappleWinter
Fri Apr 17 23:16:36 2020 UTC
(0 children)

I'm not sure, but I'm currently having electrolysis withdrawals

1
u/HiddenStill
Sat Apr 18 00:13:36 2020 UTC
(0 children)

You might find something useful in the wiki

https://www.reddit.com/r/TransWiki/wiki/hair-removal

1
u/helloworld1989
Sat Apr 18 00:59:13 2020 UTC
(3 children)

I went to Electrology 3000 for a few sessions. It was worth the money. But, be warned those lidocane injections are level 10 painful and they do them every 25ish min or so. good news is no pain during electrolysis. bad news is 20 to 30 seconds of crazy intense pain every now and then.

2
Thu Sep 3 02:01:55 2020 UTC
(0 children)

For anyone looking into them, Electrology 3000 is absolutely horrible and full of incompetent workers who'll blame you for their own fuck-up. If you care about your mental health you should go to literally anyone else.

1
OP
Sat Apr 18 10:13:43 2020 UTC
(1 child)

Thank you so much for answering my question! I didn't realize that the injections hurt so much or that you still felt them after the first one (T_T). I'm also surprised they have to do them so often. How much did a full day session cost you if you don't mind me asking?

2
Sat Apr 18 10:34:12 2020 UTC
(0 children)

Injections only hurt like that because they are not done properly. Lidocaine is acidic, so imagine what it would feel like if you injected lemon juice. It should be buffered with sodium bicarbonate first, to take to the the same pH as the body, eliminating the pain. You're left with the needle pain which is far less - and hopefully they are not using something tool large.

1
u/molested-toaster
Sat Apr 18 22:41:59 2020 UTC
(1 child)

i dont have a direct answer to your question, i can offer a bit of insight on what i've experienced

lido injections are really painful, try to avoid them if you can

i tried numbing creams hat didnt work, ended up paying for so many lidio injections. recently bought Uber Numb for other reasons not expecting much, it worked so much better than other numbing creams. you want to test it for timing before your visits, i think i need to use 45 min before my 30 min visits for ideal pain management.

if you drink coffee you need to cut way back day before and no coffee or heavy caffeine day of treatment, huge difference in pain levels.

1
OP
Sun Apr 19 20:46:58 2020 UTC
(0 children)

Thank you for your response! I'll look into that

1
u/[deleted]
Sat Apr 18 22:51:11 2020 UTC
(9 children)

For face, E3K is about $115/tech-hour. They also work really fast. I wouldn’t say they’re the most highly skilled. Every time I’ve gone, they end up training people on me and charging me a discounted rate for that tech.

2
Sun Apr 19 17:41:32 2020 UTC
(5 children)

I have had a pretty good experience with E3000. No training on my yet but I have a new person scheduled for next visit and I do not know how good she is. I think I spent $2400 on my first clearing but that included the genital area too. I went one full day on my face and came back the next morning for 4 hours for a full clearing on my genital area. The numbing shots are painful but after its over I don't really feel a thing until the move to a new area and give me another numbing shot. Like u/helloworld1989 said, they are extremely painful but I cannot imagine having electrolysis without them.

1
Sun Apr 19 18:25:18 2020 UTC
(1 child)

I agree. Some of the techs do the shots more painfully than others. Sandra does lots of little, shallow injections while her sister Sabrina injects once and tracks the needle sideways under your skin about 2”... that hurts like crazy, but it is much more effective and long lasting.

Do they do face and bottom at the same time? Or did they make you schedule two visits? I’m not sure I could handle both at once, but it would save me a lot of time and money. I have to fly there and stay with a friend...

2
Mon Apr 20 05:53:29 2020 UTC
(0 children)

No. My face took two techs for a full day. I came back the next morning for about 4 hours for my genital area. I don’t think three people will have enough room to work. It wouldn’t hurt to ask though. I would love to get it over with in one day but there will be pain in two areas instead of one. It took four days for my face to look normal again. I was very swollen.

1
OP
Sun Apr 19 20:51:12 2020 UTC
(2 children)

Thank you so much for answering my question! I'm not doing genital so that should help, it really sucks to hear about the needle pain, I am really bad with them already, it's also really terrible to hear that each one hurts, I was hopeful that even if the first one hurt because it numbs the ones after would be less painful. This gives me more to think about, thank you so much!

1
Mon Apr 20 06:01:37 2020 UTC
(1 child)

The first shot does not numb the pain for the second shot.....normally. I have gotten lucky a couple of times. I was scared first too but I have to get it done. I have a suspicious feeling that I need to get used to needles in my face....transition is painfully rewarding.

1
OP
Mon Apr 20 09:22:41 2020 UTC
(0 children)

It seems like (T_T)

1
OP
Sun Apr 19 20:49:01 2020 UTC
(2 children)

Thank you for answering my question! when you say 115/tech-hour since they have 2 techs does that work out to 230/hour? Thank you!

1
Sun Apr 19 22:16:29 2020 UTC
(1 child)

Yes

1
OP
Mon Apr 20 09:22:51 2020 UTC
(0 children)

Thank you!