Well, let me tell you about my first session with laser… I was quite apprehensive about it yesterday, but I went anyways, and I’m glad I did…
I went into the office and filled out paperwork. The lady (RN who owns the shop and runs the equipment) took me to the back room and showed me some pictures on how the laser works, which I already know mosty from reading this site. One thing that she mentioned that I have never seen here though is that laser pretty much works the same as electrolysis, in the manner where heat is used to destroy the follicle.
she was very informative, let me touch the laser, put the tip on my hand to feel the coolness (It was a Lightsheer laser). Then asked if I had any questions, I said no, so she told me to lay on the table.
I had shaved this morning (upper lip) but could not get the hair near the nostrils as I was afraid I’d cut myself. She shaved what I missed for me and noticed a tuft of hair just under my lower lip, very fine dark hairs, she shaved those as well and told me she would do them and not charge me for it! 
She did a test ‘zap’, and I damned near jumped off the table… I didnt know what to expect, but ya, it friggin hurt! She said the machine was set properly for me (set on 35) and continued to smear ultrasound gel on the places she was going to laser.
She made me wear these ugly saftey glasses to protect my eyes and went to work.
I’m not going to kid you, it hurt like hell, I had tears in my eys and jumped a few times. The worst parts were along the lip line and the 2 zaps she did under my nostrils. It did feel like a rubber band being snapped on my skin, and I did NOT feel the cooling tip (I can just imagine how much it hurts WITHOUT the tip!!! 
).
She explained that the reason it hurt so badly was because there are a lot of nerves in your upper lip (tried electrolysis there once and couldnt go thru with it because it hurt too much!).
She carried on and then did the area beneath my lower lip, which also hurt, but not nowhere nearly as bad as the upper lip did.
I know why it hurt so badly. The hair on my upper lip was very thick and coarse and black, comparable to leg stubble!! It absorbed a lot of heat just because of the nature of the hair. You could also smell burning hair as she was working the laser, she said that was the hair under the skin burning.
She said with each treatment, it gets less and less painful because the worst pigmentation is usually destroyed the first appointment and the remaining hairs are fine and dont require as much absorbtion.
When I was done, she cleaned the gel off me and told me that the skin was a little red and that it should settle down in a few hours. I got up and looked in the mirror and it was nowhere near as bad as I expected, it was pinkish red, but not beet red like I expected. The whole procedure took 3-5 minutes, and we were done.
The redness went away pretty fast. I filled up my car and hit the liquor store on the way home for a case of beer. Maybe it was my imagination, but the guy at the liquor store seemed to be staring at my lip when he was talking to me at the till…lol. By the time I got home, almost all the redness was gone. I put some aloe vera gel on it and it feels pretty good, slight tingling sensation, nothing to be concerned about. My skin feels almost like it has ‘shrunk’, it is very tight, but it also feels incredibly smooth!
I talked to her about other areas and she gave me a price list. I am going to have my underarms done in 2 weeks for a cost of $125 for both (the upper lip was $60).
I also asked her about the bikini line (not sure if this is ok for this board or if I need to move it to the mature board?) but the prices are anywhere from $175-$225. She explained that the difference is that a regular bikini is the cheaper one, if I want more taken off, it goes up from there, $225 is the max. I had asked her if she will do it “all”, she said she has never had anyone ask for it “all” (meaning pretty much brazillian, landing strip, thats all that would be left), but would do it if anyone asked. She said that ‘those areas’ are more sensitive and would probably hurt, but she is willing to do it…
I will wait till I get my underarms done and see how that feels, I do want the bikini area done, but want to see what the results are on the smaller areas.
I would highly reccommed her to anyone, she was very professional and personable, very nice lady who seemed to have extensive knowledge to back her up!! She also put me at ease before doing the procedure, she saw I was nervous, which I am thankful for.
Anyone who lives in Calgary, Alberta (Canada) that needs a referral, I’ll gladly give you her info, I was very impressed with her.
I can now see why people say its addictive, I asolutely LOVE the way my skin feels right now. Just have to wait a couple of weeks now to see the results!
, It’s great to hear stories like yours. I’m hoping my turn at it goes as well as yours did. Congratulations!