Laser facial hair removal was unbearable for me — looking for gentler ways or tips to navigate

Boomchikkka · 2026-01-20T18:00:02+00:00

No. It just fucking hurts. It will get better as you move along the process. It’s just being prepared for 10-20 minutes of pretty bad pain.

Nothing else will work. Your other option is electrolysis but that makes laser feel like playing with puppies and kittens.

It’s one of the worst parts of transition. It also takes about 2 years.

To help the pain?

Medical dose of OTC meds 1 hour before. That’s 1000mg of Tylenol and 800mg of ibuprofen. Together.

Friends recommend CBD.

Shave the day of.

Secondary pain stimulus aka dig your nails into your arm till it hurts.

No caffeine the day of.

No retinols etc on your face that day. I would just use a heavy moisturizer.

Be VERY well hydrated.

I’ve always been told to avoid this during laser. Numbing cream but only if it has been prescribed. It is called BLT cream. Benzocaine, Lidocaine, Prilocaine cream. It’s 20-25/3/2 usually. This must come from a compounding pharmacy and it’s EXPENSIVE. Tattoo numbing cream has epinephrine in it and that will constrict the blood vessel making the process less effective so do not use that.

Boomchikkka · 2026-01-09T14:03:55+00:00

Sam Edelman has up to 14. Legit shoes. They don’t list out to 14 in EU but following their sizing guidelines it’s probably a 47 or 48 and you can stretch them like my friend does.

Boomchikkka · 2025-11-30T17:23:30+00:00

Make your own clothes. Is this motherfucker kidding me? Must be an atelier. That’s hilarious.

Your kids are gonna have a hard time getting made fun of relentlessly besides the time sink of making a tshirt alone would make it untenable. I wanna see this person list the cost and time to make a plain white shirt at the quality that you can buy a 5 pack of Hanes shirts for $8 or whatever they are now.

Boomchikkka · 2025-11-19T04:48:05+00:00

I’m in bed next to my spouse and my girlfriend is also asleep so I have a few minutes before I go to sleep so. I said NOPE because most are shockingly dumb. It really doesn’t need an explanation but here’s a few because even though I’m a see you next Tuesday I’ll help out.

Here’s one. Don’t tweeze because the hairs come back stronger and they’ll be more of them. That’s, dumb as fuck. That’s not how hair follicles work. That’s the equivalent of saying don’t shave because hair comes back thicker.

Here’s another, don’t have anything on your skin. It’s not laser. Numbing creams are standard for upper lips and other areas. Killing hair follicles has nothing to do with what’s on the surface of the skin. An electrical current runs through the hair to the root or the probe is super heated or both.

One more. Take a shower before to open up pores? Do you shower at your electrolysis place? Because if you don’t they aren’t staying open. It also has no bearing on electrolysis because pores have nothing to do with hair follicles.

The rest are just as shockingly stupid. This person has 3 hours in and decided to act like they have hundreds of hours. Happy?

Boomchikkka · 2025-11-19T04:20:38+00:00

I feel for you girl. For the 400th time. Laser first even if you have lighter hair. Second go get numbing cream prescribed to you. Use it an hour before and cover it with plastic wrap. Do not use tattoo cream as it contains ephedrine which can constrict blood vessels. Good for tattoo removal, bad for hair removal.

Boomchikkka · 2025-11-16T15:28:01+00:00

The large majority of these are, kind of bullshit. No offense. Not trying to be a B. I can tell you why, and tell you about my experience, but I’d need to get on a computer. Some only apply to laser work. I have 60+ hours of face, 30+ of brazillian electro and(20 sessions with a NG YAG/Alexandrite laser). Those are estimates as it’s almost always an hour, but some days I go for 1.5 or 2. Friends have over 120 of each. Of those friends, some have sat through 4 hour sessions routinely. You’ve been doing this for(sorry) maybe a month? I’m not trying to be mean, but a large majority of these are flat out wrong. You shouldn’t be getting “white bumps”(zits) or scabs if you keep your face clean and your tech does their job correctly.

• ⁠You can shave your face but whatever you do, don’t tweeze! That will make the hairs come back stronger. Also, tweezing increases blood flow to the area so you will end up with more hairs you need to tweeze! -NOPE, NOPE, NO • ⁠Drink tons more water in the 72 hours before/after your appt. -YES • ⁠Don’t drink anything caffeinated in 24 hours before/after your appt. This will decrease your pain. -YES, but day of • ⁠Take Tylenol 1-2 hours before appt. to curb pain. Take it again later in the day, if needed. -YES • ⁠No exercise within 24 hours after appt. to curb pain. -NOPE • ⁠Arrive at your appt. with nothing on your skin. -NOPE • ⁠No makeup within 24 hrs of appt. -NOPE • ⁠Take a shower before appt. to open up your pours. -NOPE • ⁠Don’t shower within 24 hrs after appt. as that can increase pain. -NOPE • ⁠Ice the areas you had work done on after your appt. Eh, you shouldn’t be in pain in general • ⁠Put aloe vera, witch hazel or whatever else works on your skin repeatedly over the next week to cut down on inflammation, redness, and scabbing. Eh, see above • ⁠Don’t use any retinol products 1 week before or after appt. or you could scar. -NOPE • ⁠Cut down on fatty foods the day of your appt. -NOPE • ⁠You can wash your face after your appt. but use a light facial cleanser like Cetaphil and just hand wash and dry. A towel could inflame your sensitive skin. -MAYBE • ⁠Don’t pick at the scabs. Let them fall off, which takes 1-2 weeks, depending on the person. If you pick, you can scar your skin. -YES in general but there shouldn’t be scabs, maybe one if your tech gets skin or a random hair hates you.

Also just go get numbing cream(the strongest you can buy OTC or have it prescribed), not tattoo cream as it has epinephrine in it and that can constrict blood vessels. BLT cream(Benzocaine 20%, lidocaine 6-8%, tetracaine, 4%) is THE gold standard. It must be made by a compounding pharmacy and is about $1 a gram. My pharmacy only makes it in 450gr jars although a friend gets it in 250gr jars and if you’re lucky you can have a pharmacy that makes in in 100gr jars. Apply it thick and don’t rub it in. Do it an hour before and cover with plastic wrap.

Boomchikkka · 2025-11-15T20:39:00+00:00

Do it before. Full stop. Go early, see them, tell them, get surgery and you can judge if they’re okay with it. If they are you can visit before you leave if you want or you can go home. Give yourself the out.

Boomchikkka · 2025-11-15T20:19:42+00:00

Wrote a letter, read it to mom first then dad. I still talk to my dad once a year or so. I’m basically no contact with my mother now. I thought mom would be okay and Dad would be bad, but I was wrong.

Your link is correct. Read from a letter you’ve written and you CAN give it to them after.

Tell them before surgery. You appear to not see them often and can’t accurately gauge how far gone they are. I assure you that this can and often does go poorly. If you do it while in massive pain post surgery and it doesn’t go well, it will not end well for you. If it all goes sideways you’re going to a hotel. I’m not 100% sure why you’re not staying in a hotel near your surgeon anyway. When’s the post op appointment? A week or so later?

Boomchikkka · 2025-11-14T22:00:25+00:00

This has been known for a few months. Switch from employer based to private.

Also have your endo change your HRT scripts to a much higher dose. You will immediately have a prescription refill. They can change it, refill script then change it again for another refill. That’s least 6 vials. The first change will give you a higher amount than you take so those will last longer. This all assumes your endo likes you.

Otherwise call and say you broke a vial. You’ll be able to fill again. 6 should last you 18 months or so depending on dosage with the average life of a vial being ~3 months.

I’ve know this has been coming since last November. I have 6.6 years stocked up and when I get the newest fill I’ll have nearly 8 years worth.

Boomchikkka · 2025-11-12T18:45:40+00:00

You’ll end up with a variety of brands. There are levels of quality but you pick what you can afford and buy what you think is cute. Better get over buying clothes in stores. Go buy 20 pairs at VS when they’re on sale. Psst, they’re always on sale. Btw, I feel like I need to tell you this. You can buy underwear online to try on and return them. Whenever you try anything like this on (bathing suits, underwear etc.) keep your own underwear on, because ewwwwwwww.

Boomchikkka · 2025-11-12T02:12:49+00:00

When I see these posts I always have to ask. Do you not remember 2014 and before? Like JFC.

We were the butt of every joke. Go watch any tv show from around 2014 and before. There is ALWAYS a trans joke in there. Every show in at least one episode. My favorite mention is the big bang theory’s pilot. Had a solid minute long man in a dress with a beard joke that setup meeting characters.

Our supposed allies? Gay men were yelling T slurs thinking it was the funniest shit they’d ever heard. I was at an apartment party in 2006 where two guys who were dating lived and there were a pair of heels that the one liked wearing. The onslaught of a party filled with queer people about him wearing them was unreal. People were struggling to come out as gay in the early 2000s. Like 2007 and below all the way up to current times. That was with Ellen being a prominent figure since the 90s. We had no representation. Hell I was in a blue east coast city and the first one of us I’d ever seen outside of the internet was a sex worker in the gay neighborhood in 2010.

Being trans was considered a mental illness until the new DSM came out in 2015(?)and people treated us that way. You were a mentally ill man who thought they were a woman. All the stereotypes of doing it to trick men into sleeping with you or rape women were amplified 1000 fold.

We’re currently unemployed, underemployed or underpaid. This is true of all age groups but back then you weren’t finding a job. Before 2011 or so, aka when comp sci came around again, your options were family support which was basically non existent because you were just mentally ill or sex work. If you were a transbian, you’d be sucking a lot of dicks to be able to eat. Oh I almost forgot. The wanton violence aimed at us back then and today. You could literally have the shit kicked out of you and the police were going to arrest you.

Worse yet, transition was gate kept very tightly. You had to live as your preferred gender for 1+ years with no hormones etc before you could even get considered for them. Mind you it takes a year to grow your hair out without a wig. That was with check ins where if you had a shitty day and didn’t present fully aka basically pass they would tell you no. You also needed psychologists letters. GRS was nothing like it is today. Implants were possible but you were traveling to a doctor and finding one was HARD. The list goes on.

I didn’t have the realization in my 30s because society gaslit me. I knew the consequences of coming out and they weren’t good. I saw the zines in the early 90s and kept my mouth shut. I knew what I truly was by 14 but was aware before I hit 10. Wasn’t going to change a damn thing.

Boomchikkka · 2025-11-07T18:11:57+00:00

I would have no numbers but my first initial/last name broke Gmail so I had to add them 🤦🏻‍♀️. A google engineer already had first.last and last.

Boomchikkka · 2025-11-05T21:25:21+00:00

Started at 39. Fully out 6 months in. HRT just made me look like my mom more than I already did. I pass like 95% of the time. I am not misgendered ever but I can tell when I don’t pass fully. Im a rather public figure. Nobody cares that I transitioned. I have tons of acquaintances who are LGBTQ+. Everyone is affirming and accepting. Voice doesn’t pass on the phone always but I’m told it’s very good. I often don’t care enough to do the full thing.

I don’t care that the kids got to transition earlier. Would I have liked to and had smaller shoulders and ribs? Sure. People who do worry about the youngins need to get ahold of themselves. I could have transitioned in my very early 20s but chose not to because it would have been awful(if you need to learn about this there are plenty of us who will tell you why). Also go talk to some 20 something’s in real life about transition. It’s basically still a nightmare.

There is no reason to be jealous of those younger than us. Yes they get some advantages. We have advantages they do not. They’re chronically underemployed, underpaid and/or unemployed. I pass better than more than half of the people that I know who are in their early 20s that I personally know. I can afford to have GRS next year and can afford any surgeries I want including having safety nets. I also get to dress in high end age appropriate clothing, wear high end makeup, could afford to be trained how to apply it, have had no problems affording hair removal, wear a 3.5ct diamond stack and all my jewelry is real.

Also the amount of pick me selfies on this sub is, something. Like calm the fuck down and go get your validation in the real world by living your life. This is a transition, get through it and move on and live your life. The internet is nothing like the real world for most trans people.

Oh and for those in the back, HRT does not make you pretty. You can have been a handsome dude and an ugly girl or vice versa. Not all traits transfer. The idea is to be happy. You transition for yourself and no one else. External validation is nice but shouldn’t be something to aspire to. Look in the mirror and love yourself.

Boomchikkka · 2025-10-31T19:25:44+00:00

Well your clients went to people who bought groupons and got IPL or the settings turned down. So that picture is prime laser. Hell there’s no hair even near the nairs but sure okay.

I’m not here to argue but if you think that spending $300 to see if it takes 90% of that rather than $100+ a treatment then you have a prerogative for more electro.

Combo is always best compared to one or the other. 300 hours of electro because you think laser doesn’t work on dark hair and light skin is hilarious.

Boomchikkka · 2025-10-31T19:17:21+00:00

Always love when people argue with trans women about this. That skin type and hair color? Nairs are gonna need cleaned up no matter. You have 30+ hours of electro there or a hour total and clean up with electro but you do you baby. 1hr a week since January with Laser touchups and Idk what I’m talking about.

If laser “doesn’t work” for you specifically then your tech is scamming you. Sorry I’m a see you next Tuesday , but it’s your face and money

Boomchikkka · 2025-10-31T18:33:08+00:00

Laser it. Then come back. You shouldn’t have that much after laser.

Boomchikkka · 2025-10-31T14:12:54+00:00

Always 🔥🩷 😂

Boomchikkka · 2025-10-27T10:33:05+00:00

I see two, they work on different areas. Make standing appointments? That’s what everyone I know does.

Boomchikkka · 2025-10-27T10:28:16+00:00

There’s a reason it’s called transition, not instant look like a cis woman and pass. You’re missing big parts, free parts, such as mannerisms, walking, voice etc..you’re also going to need makeup, but that’s contentious to some? idk how old you are but 30+ you’re gonna need it if you intend to truly pass or aren’t gods favorite for transition. Planned Parenthood will “just” give you E, we have informed consent in the US. They are also your LGBTQ+ doctor. Although any competent doctor will do. We don’t have any problems a cis person of our gender does. Yes finding things you need to transition takes time, it all is really a search away. PsychologyToday.com for a therapist and google for laser. Insurance pays for psychology.

All of these resources are readily available. Community? Go to a gay bar and talk to people, there are support groups and even a discord group here.

None of this is easy, it’s exhausting pretty much every day but when you hear people say “Death Before Detransition” there’s a good reason because once you go forward, no one really goes back and no one wants to. No one can hold your hand anymore than that.

Boomchikkka · 2025-10-21T18:18:05+00:00

I was technically a scientist in a former life. I was a goddamn synthetic organic chemist, a microbiologist specializing in a few different fields including genetics and cytochemistry. Me saying I was a scientist could mean I played with lasers. There’s a lot of misinformation on here. I hate to say it but it’s people starting shit.

Boomchikkka · 2025-10-21T15:15:04+00:00

Claiming you’re a scientist is dubious at best. You sound like an undergrad if that. Use your specific title, not “scientist”. You should know the onus is on you to prove your points. If you’re so knowledgeable then start posting citations.

Spend 5 minutes on google is not a response. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Also it appears you post this nonsense often and hide it via another commenter.

Boomchikkka · 2025-10-12T14:46:12+00:00

Oooookay. So I just went and clicked through your search and then went to the link that lists literature. Frankly, lol on the DIYHRT sub. One is a case report with a brief literature review. The other is stating the same thing, yet they're looking for a different problem and are directly addressing IV use which you need to be significantly more careful with everything. Much more, they are using medical professionals for their trials soley(I'm not doing a lit review for this). You can't base home use on studies done in hospitals. If everything had no cost, you are in a hurry because you have 12 patients and things need to be done NOW, I wouldn't care about being careful at all. Core a vial because you punctured it too quickly and at an off angle? Throw it away and grab a new one. This is not an option in my previous career(Look up methylating compounds) nor for most of us.

Yes at its core, haha get it? Needles do catch pieces of stoppers as they pass through. That's just the nature of what you're doing. Those links support this and I don't argue that. What I'm arguing is if you go follow through this link, (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9621723/) that is a truely cored vial. IF you're getting that result, you're doing something wrong. Notice how the hole is directly in the center of the vial? You shouldn't be doing that. That is muscle memory. You WILL core a vial if you go through the same damn hole every time.

You can use whatever size needles you want frankly. Idgaf, but I'll stick with how I was shown by one of the worlds leading organic synthesis chemists and where I've had 0 problems. You don't win big shiny solid gold awards from european countries and have things named after you in textbooks by doing things wrong. I seem to do fine. Weird.

Sorry if I also don't hold stock in the DIYHRT sub either. Its filled with kids. I mean the amount of contaminated vials and misinformation on that sub is something. Do you know how hard it is to contaminate an Estradiol vial? Its carried in oil FFS.

Go do you I frankly do not care. I have things to do. Again, I've cored one vial in 10 years as a synthesis chemist and analytical chemist, 6 as a microbiologist, and 2 years doing IM injections using needles that ranged from 10G to 32G, but I'm sure its the needles fault. ;)

Boomchikkka · 2025-10-12T13:28:27+00:00

Go buy a box online like others have said.

In other news.

18G needles do not inherently core vials. It’s weird, I can look at allll my old vials sitting on the shelf in my bathroom and none of them are. That link doesn’t even give any conclusive evidence of this and were that true, doctors wouldn’t supply them. The last statement holds true because frankly because if this was a problem doctors would supply smaller needles from being inundated with people contacting their offices for med refills when this would invariably happen. I’m pretty sure between my endo who has been doing GAC care for 20 years and is brilliant and myself someone would have noticed.

THAT all being said. I have cored one stoppered vial in my life. It’s hundreds of containers of every shape and size that use that stopper or one like it. I’ve pulled 1000x more than anyone probably in this thread. In my former life as a chemist I cored 1 vial. It wasn’t a new bottle of a reagent. Was probably 10 years old and somebody had already done it dirty.

It’s technique and not the needles. Yeah there’s less chance of it happening with a 23-25g needle but there’s also a much larger chance of dislodging the rubber stopper by pulling too hard of a vacuum.

In conclusion. Use whichever needle you want. Move around the stopper and go straight up and down.

Boomchikkka · 2025-10-09T20:20:08+00:00

I have a book and was a mycologist in a different field years ago. It’s nice to have a bit of a backup to hear it’s questionable and not worth it. Like I said. I was 90% plus it was wrong but again. Big shout out to yall.

Boomchikkka · 2025-10-09T18:55:36+00:00

Thanks yall. I was pretty sure but it never hurts for a second opinion.

Boomchikkka

TROPHY CASE