Laser Hair Removal. Three words which mean "a whole lot of pain."

Now, I'm undergoing *Brazilian* hair removal. A full Brazilian removes the hair from the symphysis pubis all the way around to the gluteal cleft. Some other body parts aren't so sensitive, but that ... is. I did get a free underarm treatment once -- trust me when I say that was painless in comparison to this. My husband and I looked into various hair removal options prior to the wedding. Since this one is pretty much permanent and he said he'd pay, I decided to go for it. Okay then. Too bad that, like childbirth, the woman gets all the pain. *sigh* (granted, the results are lovely ... and probably worth the pain).

My first treatment wasn't so bad. Walked into a semi-posh clinic in the local mall, gave them my name, and they had my chart all ready for me as I'd come in the week before and filled out paperwork. Someone handed me a cold bottle of water and escorted me back to the treatment room. The APRN (who performs all said treatments) came in and we talked about my health history for a while. She's great, very friendly, made me feel very much at ease. Until she started the treatment.

Ow. The laser shoots out a burst of cold liquid (Cryogen) milliseconds before stinging the living daylight out of your skin. It targets the pigment of the hair and destroys it at the root, and a full course of treatment can take up to two years.

They do have a numbing cream available by RX only through a pharmacy in Florida, which is the only pharmacy in the country that makes this particular concoction. Since my first treatment really wasn't that bad, I decided to forego the numbing cream.

Ten weeks later, my second treatment nearly made me cry. She didn't warn me ahead of time she was going to increase the power of the laser. *sigh* I ordered the numbing cream. In the meantime, I'm rather enjoying being mostly hairless. It makes hygiene at that time of the month sooooo much easier. She did miss a spot, which is annoying and needs frequent shaving, but was taken care of at my third treatment this morning, 9 weeks after the last. What's left of the rest of my hair (it's about 50% gone) didn't really even start growing back until the last few days.

When the doorbell rang Wednesday afternoon, I was expecting something more than a 1-ounce jar for my $37.50, but hey, I was hoping it would get me nearly painlessly through the next 2 or 3 treatments, at which time I hope to really be a hairless wonder from just under my "baby" bump all the way to my back.

I apparently didn't use enough cream and didn't apply it evenly enough, as I still felt large amounts of pain in various places. Next time, I'll use more cream and hopefully won't have a small fry pounding on the door, asking if it's time to take her to school yet. Owie.