That's the problem with topicals when they are used for facial areas. You have to drive to get to the electrolgist and walk into a place of business with the "got milk" look and plastic to boot. How private is that? Ideally, the cream should be applied over clean skin and left to marinate for about an hour. It should be applied like cake frosting (1/4") and then covered amd taped with plastic wrap (if you are using EMLA).

The newer type epilator's can deliver nice bursts of microflash and/or nice levels of blend to make the treatment very tolerable without anesthesia IFFF the person using the epilator is trained properly. Comfort can be obtained with hardly any skin reaction with these computerized, digital epilators.

Most of my upper lip clients have two side reactions when I work on their upper lips, teary eyes and sneezing, with tearing being a given. So a tissue is always placed in their hand before treatment begins. Surprisingly, they say it's very tolerable and that the tearing is NOT because of pain.

There are a few people that just can't take it without some EMLA applied correctly.

Extremely competent electrolgosists can make an older epilator work comfortably in your favor as well, just depends.

Venting is healthy, so come here anytime you desire.

Dee

My dear friends the Giors have special rooms at their offices for clients to arrive early, apply their emla, and watch TV in private while waiting for it to set in. They are about the size of a tanning room.

I've tried pretending I was blowing my nose during the whole drive, but it got a bit awkward when I had to make sharp turns. And holding a tissue in front of my face for so long made me feel self-conscious too. I considered putting a few drops of red food coloring on it to make it look like my nose had been bleeding, but managed to stop myself before heading too far down the road to nuttiness. The special rooms that you describe seem like a good way to get around the whole problem.

Red food coloring! Oh, kranky, you're too funny!

Maybe consider wearing a hat with a large brim?

Heh, I think I'll try to go with the arriving early option. Or just telling myself I'll never see any of these people again, so why should I care what they think, though that approach doesn't work for me too well. Thank you for trying to help.

Sounds good. Btw, not sure if you're doing this now, but putting the clear plastic over it helps it stay still