Jump to content
  • Welcome to the TransPulse Forums!

    We offer a safe, inclusive community for transgender and gender non-conforming folks, as well as their loved ones, to find support and information.  Join today!

I Had My First Laser Session Today


Sally

Recommended Posts

OK, I had that first session today and while I must say that it hurts a but less than electrolysis painless it ain't!

Someone told me that it would feel like getting snapped with a rubber band - if that is the case they were using a rubber band that could launch a Space Shuttle.

I had really not worked on a Tuesday since I started on this job the two exceptions both brought me in at 2 PM or after so a 10:30 appointment didn't make me need to fill out a schedule request and i would still be able to go in as myself and then come home before going to work, right?

Not a chance - start at noon so I had to go in male work mode but the ladies were very nice and when my technician, Lisa came over to introduce herself she asked me what I would like to be called, I replied that I would prefer to be called Sally, her response was, "OK, Sally would you follow me please."

We walked down the hall and into a rather spacious room with nothing in it but a table, a chair for the technician and the laser - I laid down on the table and we discussed my fair skin and Lisa gave me a little time as she wanted me to relax a bit more and assured me that she would be able to get me to work on time even with the additional time for the numbing cream to work.

I mentioned to Lisa that I had a couple of tiny scars from my electrolysis attempt and while noting that anyone who could burn you with electrolysis was not very good she did lower the power on the first unnumbed test because of my fair skin - YIKES!

She then applied the cream and turned the lights down low, turned on some soft music and told me to just relax while the cream was taking effect as she left the room she told me that the room could get a bit warm at times so she was going to leave the door open.

When she came back we started for real, she looked at the test spot and it was a bit too red for her liking so she turned the power down just a bit more - the first zap showed that the cream was working - this snap would have been from a rubber band that could barely move a freight train, the next was on the heaviest concentration of dark hairs that I have - WOW!

She decreased the power another setting and said that we would start with a much lower power for a couple of sessions and slowly work it up in each session as my skin becomes more accustomed to the laser - she wants to remove the hair but does not want to leave any burns or scarring.

It wasn't really too bad but it isn't anything that I would want to do as a hobby or to relax.

I scheduled my next appointment, went to work and filled out a time off request for that day - I am not going in as male again!

Love ya,

Sally

Link to comment
Guest chngnwnd

If it makes you feel any better, I cried through my entire session the last time I had a laser treatment - and I go again Friday (most likely with higher power).

Hang in there, it is worth the pain.

hugs

Bobbi

Link to comment
Guest Donna Jean

.

Wonderful, Sally....

You are finally getting it all done. Good for you....

Well, as a girl of many hours of electrolysis, I know the pain for gain equation...

You're not very much in need of massive amounts of Laser...it'll go fast, Honey...

Hang in there, girlfriend...

LOVE & HUGGS!

Donna Jean

Link to comment
Guest sarah f

Sally I am so happy that you have started. The pain is definately there during each session. I tried the cream but after a few sessions it just wasn't helping that much.

I am now over 10 sessions in and let me tell you it really hurts because of the intensity level they have it set at. I always have tears come to my eyes.

I just can't tell though wich hurts more between Laser and Electrolysis. I think it is a toss up.

I hope your skin starts to get used to the laser so they can turn it up and get rid of those nasty little hairs.

Link to comment

They actually hurt about the same but with laser it is only about 20 bursts for the entire chin where elctro is - how many thousands?

Love ya,

Sally

Link to comment
  • Admin

Good for you, Sally! Well, you know the saying, no pain, no... well, like I said, you know the saying.

Did they give you chemical ice packs to use afterwards? Those help me, along with the gel lotion skin care product.

But everyplace is different.

It does work, girl. Slowly, yes, but it does work.

HUGS

Carolyn Marie

Link to comment

They didn't give me nothin' but then I didn't have any redness or any pain afterward, just when the laser fired.

Lizzy dragged me out into the Sun today - all over the French Quarter - I stayed in the shade but we even ate on a balcony by the statue of Joan of Ark and in the court yard of Pat O'Brien's where Lizzy learned that one Hurricane is beyond her limit now.

I did stay in the shade and had a wonderful day.

Love ya,

Sally

Link to comment
Guest Miss_Construe

OK, I had that first session today and while I must say that it hurts a but less than electrolysis painless it ain't!

Someone told me that it would feel like getting snapped with a rubber band - if that is the case they were using a rubber band that could launch a Space Shuttle.

... sorry ... :blush:

I am afraid that I have perpetuated that here at some point. I agree that it doesn't feel great. Not a friendly snap, but more like you trashed your older brother's room and now he is sitting on top of you, pulling a fresh rubber band back as far as it will go and snapping while repeatedly asking "why are you hitting yourself?"

I have only had one session, but now my 9am shadow doesn't look like someone else's two day growth. I have been letting my beard grow wild since it is actually some pretty good sun protection and it is a half-hour walk to work, and 2 weeks post session my beard was falling out in handfuls. Now it doesn't really grow, and I can say that I am really happy about that :D <'SQUEEE'>.

Amy

Link to comment
Guest NatashaJade

They didn't give me nothin' but then I didn't have any redness or any pain afterward, just when the laser fired.

Lizzy dragged me out into the Sun today - all over the French Quarter - I stayed in the shade but we even ate on a balcony by the statue of Joan of Ark and in the court yard of Pat O'Brien's where Lizzy learned that one Hurricane is beyond her limit now.

I did stay in the shade and had a wonderful day.

Love ya,

Sally

Awesome, Sally. Y'all know it is a dream of mine to share a rum beverage with the two of you down in the French Quarter someday (or at least a chickory coffee). Be sure to wear a good sunblock. I use Olay Complete. It has an SPF 15. As far as the pain, don't worry. It gets much much worse. I didn't cry when we started but now, whenever she gets to my upper lip, well, as Dee Jay says, DANG!!! The tears do flow.

But it's worth it!!!

love

Gin

Link to comment
  • 2 weeks later...
Guest NatashaJade

Just had my second session and it was a lot less intense pain wise.

Well, my dear, I just had my 10th and while she only worked on the area around my mouth, I was crying. But I had some extra time on the clock, so I had her clean up my hands a little where the epilator was failing to kill off some hairs and then she zapped my eyebrows a bit to start my slow process of taming that area for good. But the longer you go, the more stubborn the hairs left are and the higher the settings are. Fun!

xoxo

Gin

Link to comment

For me the 1st was the most painful, and then the 7th one. I have had 7 up to now. The last one was solely the mustache. To me it felt like someone poured boiling water over my face. I can't see where that rubber-band idea comes from, the feeling was far from it. Yeah, maybe on your chest it might feel like a rubber band, but try the mustache and it 'l be another story.

Link to comment

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Who's Online   6 Members, 0 Anonymous, 100 Guests (See full list)

    • Karen Carey
    • SamC
    • Birdie
    • April Marie
    • MaybeRob
    • Betty K
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      80.6k
    • Total Posts
      768k
  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      12,015
    • Most Online
      8,356

    Quillian
    Newest Member
    Quillian
    Joined
  • Today's Birthdays

    1. Bowie Ellis
      Bowie Ellis
      (19 years old)
    2. Damien Mcknight
      Damien Mcknight
      (18 years old)
    3. JJ
      JJ
      (77 years old)
    4. KathyLauren
      KathyLauren
      (70 years old)
    5. memyselfandwe
      memyselfandwe
      (44 years old)
  • Posts

    • Heather Shay
    • Heather Shay
      When do you know you've had enough surgery?
    • Heather Shay
      Another week completed with more inregration.
    • Heather Shay
      Relief (emotion) Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Relief_(emotion)         Relief is a positive emotion experienced when something unpleasant, painful or distressing has not happened or has come to an end.
    • Heather Shay
    • Heather Shay
    • Heather Shay
    • April Marie
      Loving this woman I am becoming.
    • April Marie
      Good morning, everyone!! I was up early again - already on my third cup of coffee having walked/fed the dog and read the local paper.   We have a birthday party for a friend to go to this afternoon but no real plans otherwise.   I hope to be able to attend tonight's TGP Zoom session. It's been weeks since I've been able to participate with the illness/loss of our dog, two horrible colds in succession and our trip to chase the solar eclipse.   Have a wonderful day and look for the goodness in it.
    • April Marie
      I think we tend to be overly critical of our looks, whether we're trying to express ourselves as masculine, feminine or anywhere along the gender spectrum. For me, I use photos as a way to track my progress, to help me find my style and look and to help me find ways to improve myself in posture, looks, make-up, style......   I didn't really think about our FB avatar being public but then realized that when people search they do see it.   Since I'm not out to anyone but my wife, therapist, priest and people here, my FB page remains "that guy." I have created a Bitmoji that is relatively androgynous moving slowly towards the feminine. Long gray hair, earrings, softer features...I'm transitioning it along with myself. :-)
    • April Marie
      I so very much enjoy your posts. This one, though, hit home with me for many reasons. I was commissioned in the Army in '77, as well. Like you, I was not overly masculine in the way that many of our contemporaries were. I (still do) cried at weddings, pictures of puppies and babies, when I talked about bring proud of what my units accomplished and was never the Type A leader. In the end, it worked for me and I had a successful career.   This is, of course, your story not mine so I won't detail my struggle. It just took me much longer to understand what the underlying cause of my feelings was and even more to admit it. To act on it.    Thank you for sharing your story, Sally.
    • Sally Stone
      Post 6 “The Military Career Years” In 1977 I joined the Army and went to flight school to become a helicopter pilot.  To fly for the military had been a childhood dream and when the opportunity arose, I took advantage of it, despite knowing I would have to carefully control my crossdressing activity.  At the time, military aviation was male dominated and a haven for Type A personalities and excessive testosterone.  I had always been competitive but my personality was not typically Type A.  And while I could never be considered effeminate, I wasn’t overtly masculine either.  Consequently, I had little trouble hiding the part of my personality that leaned towards the feminine side.    However, serving in the Army limited my opportunities for feminine self-expression.  During this period, I learned that being unable to express my feminine nature regularly, led to frustration and unhappiness.  I managed these feelings by crossdressing and underdressing whenever I could.  Underdressing has never been very fulfilling for me, but while I was in the Army it was a coping mechanism.  I only cross-dressed in private and occasionally my wife would take me out for a late-night drive.  Those drives were still quite private, but being out of the house was clearly therapeutic.    I told myself I was coping, but when it became apparent the Army was going to be a career, the occasional and closeted feminine expression was clearly inadequate.  I needed more girl time and I wanted to share my feminine side with the rest of the world, so the frustration and unhappiness grew.  Despite my feelings regarding feminine self-expression, I loved flying, so I wasn’t willing to give up my military career.  Consequently, I resigned myself to the fact that the female half of my personality needed to take a back seat, and what helped me through, was dreaming of military retirement, and finally having the ability to let Sally blossom.   About Sally. Ironically, she was born while I was still serving.  It was Halloween and my wife and I were hosting a unit party.  I looked upon the occasion as the perfect excuse to dress like a girl.  After a little trepidation, my wife agreed I should take advantage of the opportunity.  Back then, my transformations were not very good, but with my wife’s help, my Halloween costume looked quite authentic.  Originally, my wife suggested that my presentation should be caricature to prevent anyone from seeing through my costume.  But that didn’t appeal to me at all.  I wanted to look as feminine and ladylike as I could.   To my wife’s and my amazement, my costume was the hit of the party.  In fact, later in the evening, my unit buddies decided they wanted to take me out drinking and before either me or my wife could protest, I was whisked away and taken to one of our favorite watering holes.  Terrified at first, I had an amazing time, we all did.  But on Monday morning, when I came to work, I learned that I had a new nickname; it was Sally, and for the duration of that tour, that’s what I was called.  Well, when it came time for me to choose a feminine name, there weren’t any other choices.  Sally it was, and to this day I adore the name, and thank my pilot buddies for choosing it.   And this brings me to my last assignment before retiring.  I was teaching military science in an Army ROTC program at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia.  I had been a member of TRIESS (a nationwide crossdressing support group).  I wasn’t really an active participant but when we moved to Georgia, I learned there was a local chapter in Atlanta.  I reached out to the membership chair person, and joined.   Because the chapter meetings took place in Atlanta, a trans friendly city, and because Atlanta was so far from Macon and any of my military connections, I felt it would be safe to let my feminine hair down.  The monthly meetings took place in the Westin Hotel and Conference Center in Buckhead, an upscale northern Atlanta suburb, and the hotel itself was 4-star.  The meetings were weekend affairs with lots of great activities that allowed me to express myself in a public setting for the first time.  It was during this time, that Sally began to blossom.   I have the fondest memories of Sigma Epsilon (the name of our chapter in Atlanta).  Because the hotel was also a conference center, there was always some big event, and in many cases, there were several.  One weekend there was a nail technician conference that culminated in a contest on Saturday evening.  When the organizers learned there was a huge group of crossdressers staying at the hotel, they reached out to us looking for manicure volunteers.  I volunteered and got a beautiful set of long red fingernails that I wore for the duration of the weekend.   During another of our meeting weekends, there was a huge military wedding taking place, and imagine what we were all thinking when we learned it was a Marine wedding.  Our entire group was on edge worrying we might have to keep a low profile.  It turned out to be one of the most memorable weekends I would experience there.  First off, the Marines were all perfect gentlemen.  On Friday night and throughout the day on Saturday before the wedding, we rubbed elbows with most of them and their wives in and around the hotel, and at the hotel bar.  In fact, we got along so well the bride invited us to the reception.  Somewhere, there is a picture of me with a handsomely dressed Marine draped on each of my arms, standing in the lobby of the hotel.  Sadly, I never got a copy of it because the woman who took the picture used a film camera (yes, they actually took picture that way in ancient times).    My two-years with Sigma Epsilon was the perfect transition.  I went from being fully closeted to being mostly out.  I enhanced my feminine presentation and significantly reduced my social anxiety.  It also signified the end of one life and the beginning of another.  I had a great career and never regretted serving, but I was ready to shed the restrictions 20-years of Army service had imposed on my feminine self-expression.  My new life, Sally’s life, was about to begin, and with it I would begin to fully spread a new set of wings, this time feminine wings.    Hugs, Sally
    • Sally Stone
      Ashley, for a very long time she clung to the term crossdresser, because for her it was less threatening.  Over the years, though, she has come to recognize and acknowledge that I have a strong feminine side.  And like me, she now has a much better understanding of where my transgender journey is going, so me being bigender, isn't the threat she might have perceived it as, years ago. 
    • Carolyn Marie
      https://apnews.com/article/title-ix-sexual-assault-transgender-sports-d0fc0ab7515de02b8e4403d0481dc1e7   The revised regulations don't touch on trans athletes; which I totally understand, as that's become a third rail issue and this is an election year.  But the other changes seem pretty sensible, and will obviously result in immediate right wing lawsuits.   Carolyn Marie
    • missyjo
      darling you have wonderful taste..I especially love the red dress n sneaker outfit   enjoy   missy
  • Upcoming Events

Contact TransPulse

TransPulse can be contacted in the following ways:

Email: Click Here.

To report an error on this page.

Legal

Your use of this site is subject to the following rules and policies, whether you have read them or not.

Terms of Use
Privacy Policy
DMCA Policy
Community Rules

Hosting

Upstream hosting for TransPulse provided by QnEZ.

Sponsorship

Special consideration for TransPulse is kindly provided by The Breast Form Store.
×
×
  • Create New...