The Glow-Up That Hurt: What It’s Really Like to Get Skin Needling

In the glossy world of skincare and wellness, we often hear about the benefits of skin needling: tighter pores, improved texture, and that elusive post-treatment glow. What’s less discussed? Timing. More specifically, how the hormonal fluctuations of your menstrual cycle can impact the experience and your pain threshold, far more than the skincare forums let on.

I thought I had it all timed perfectly. I’ve done enough microneedling sessions to know that it’s not exactly a walk in the park – especially if you, like me, are the kind of person who winces at a deep tissue massage and cries a little during a bikini wax. So I planned carefully. I booked it during what I believed was a “safe” window, comfortably out of the PMS zone and well before Day One of my cycle.

Of course, my body had other plans. I woke up the morning of the appointment, cramps in tow, and immediately considered cancelling. That is, until I reread the clinic’s policy: 50% fee for rescheduling within 24 hours. And just like that, I found myself at the door, clutching my water bottle and whispering affirmations like I was about to sit an

Pain, Periods, and the Myth of the High Threshold

Let’s get one thing straight: we all have different pain thresholds. Some women breeze through labour with little more than a grimace. Others (hi, me) need to mentally prepare for eyebrow threading. But regardless of your usual threshold, during menstruation, everything changes.

As estrogen and progesterone levels drop in the days leading up to and during your period, the body becomes more inflamed, more sensitive, and, for many women, less tolerant of discomfort. You’re more prone to pain, your skin is more reactive, and even your emotional resilience takes a bit of a dip. These aren’t mood swings — they’re chemical fluctuations. And they affect everything.

That’s why, in hindsight, getting hundreds of tiny needles rolled into my face on the day my hormones hit rock bottom felt… intense.

But I wasn’t going to back out. I chose to stay. And to my own surprise, it became a moment of real resilience — not in a “push through the pain” way, but in a mindful, grounded, intentional way.

Breathing Through the Sting: A Masterclass in Mindfulness

As I lay back on the table, my therapist adjusted the pressure slightly and reminded me to breathe deeply, something I’ve heard in yoga studios a hundred times, but rarely applied to skincare.

At first, I distracted myself with light conversation – anything to keep my mind away from what was happening on my face. But when the more sensitive areas (cheeks, upper lip, forehead) were being treated, distraction didn’t quite cut it. That’s when I tapped into mindfulness.

I began to sync my breath with the pace of the roller: in for four counts, hold for two, out for four. I imagined breathing into the places that hurt, allowing the breath to soften the resistance. I reminded myself that pain is a wave — it rises, peaks, and passes.

And in that moment, I found something surprising: calm.

I wasn’t numbing myself or trying to “tough it out.” I was being incredibly present. Noticing the sensations, naming them (“sharp, hot, tingling”), and then letting them go. It felt like a meditation. One I hadn’t planned, but one I very much needed.

Wellness Beyond the Pretty

When we talk about wellness, we often imagine smooth transitions and well-curated rituals. But sometimes, wellness is uncomfortable. It’s showing up on a day you feel emotionally fragile and physically sore. It’s adjusting expectations, grounding into your body, and offering yourself compassion in real time.

That’s what this treatment became for me. Yes, I wanted clearer, more radiant skin – and I got that, eventually. But what I didn’t expect was to walk away with a deeper understanding of how connected my physical and emotional states really are. What we label as “low pain threshold” is often our body trying to communicate something important. And that there’s strength — a quiet, powerful kind — in choosing to stay present in discomfort.

So, Would I Recommend It?

Getting skin needling during your period isn’t ideal. Your skin is more sensitive, the inflammation response is heightened, and yes, it will likely hurt more. If you can reschedule without consequence, do it. But if you can’t, or if you choose to go ahead with it anyway, go in prepared.

Hydrate. Take paracetamol, not ibuprofen. Let your therapist know, so they can adjust their technique. And most importantly, take care of your emotional self as much as your physical one. Use breathwork to anchor you. Allow yourself to rest afterwards. And recognise that what you just did — despite the timing, despite the discomfort — was a form of self-care that goes beyond skincare.

Because wellness isn’t just about looking better. It’s about knowing yourself, trusting yourself, and supporting yourself through every phase — hormonal highs, lows, and everything in between.

Leticia Estrada Rahme is a writer, mother, and former TV journalist based in Bondi Beach. She explores beauty, mental health, and identity through the lens of storytelling and lived experience.

What’s more important than being a good employee right now? Looking like a good employee in the eyes of AI productivity trackers that more managers are using to evaluate their teams.

Employee-monitoring systems are especially popular at tech companies and are also used by other white-collar firms that want to probe how people spend company time. The scary thing: You might not even know you’re being watched because many states don’t require disclosure.

Metrics can include performance data that is undoubtedly relevant, such as sales results. But it also can employ dubious proxies like keyboard strokes and how often your computer screen goes into sleep mode.

We generally accepted, or at least understood, heightened surveillance during the work-from-home era. Back then it seemed reasonable for bosses to keep tabs on employees they couldn’t see.

Yet the oversight has only escalated, and tensions are rising, too.

A group of former Meta Platforms employees alleges in a lawsuit that the company used a “constellation of internal artificial-intelligence systems” when it began laying off about 10% of its workforce in May. Meta says humans make termination calls.

However that case shakes out, a couple of things are clear. Companies eager to gauge which employees are locked in now have sophisticated AI monitoring systems at their disposal. And they believe they have leverage in a tepid labor market.

So while we may chafe at having our worth reduced to numbers on the boss’s productivity dashboard, we have to play the game as it’s being played. Here are some tips, based on conversations with people who make employee monitoring systems—and others who game the systems.

Be meticulous about your calendar

Calendar integration is one way that productivity trackers have gotten more advanced and, ostensibly, fairer.

Let’s say you make an old-fashioned phone call or attend an in-person meeting. Your Outlook or Slack status may switch to “away,” making you appear as inactive as if you were taking an extended coffee break.

Employee monitors like one made by a company called Insightful cross-check your online status with your calendar to see whether there is a valid reason for your apparent inactivity. If that call or meeting is on your schedule, then the system will recognize that you are busy offline. If nothing is on the books, it could look like you’re slacking off.

Hit the activity sweet spot, around 80%

Let’s not go any further without addressing the underlying question: How much downtime is permissible during the workday? After all, people have been scared to let managers see anything non-work-related on their screens since personal computers first arrived in offices.

No one knows this better than Roger Wagner, who is widely credited with creating the first “boss button” in the early 1980s. He designed a keyboard shortcut to instantly display a spreadsheet if the boss walked by your cubicle while you were playing a computer game. Boss buttons have been features of countless diversions since. (I confess to using one built into a March Madness streaming app.)

Wagner, the founder of computer-education company 1010 Technologies, says his original design was a joke—more of a commentary on overbearing managers than a cover for lazy employees. Good bosses understand workers need mental breaks throughout the day, he says.

This matches what I heard from Insightful Chief Executive Ivan Petrovic. He says customers that use his company’s workforce-management platform don’t expect employees to stay on task 100% of the time.

“On average companies are aiming for 60% to 80% of your time being utilized for work during the day,” he says.

Go ahead and exhale. It’s probably OK to watch an occasional YouTube video at your desk.

And if you’re going to artificially inflate your activity level, be careful. Hitting 90% could look suspicious.

Get physical

So don’t leave your mouse jiggler on all day. Choose the right one if you must resort to shenanigans.

There are lots of software applications that mimic the movements of a computer mouse, so you can appear to be working while away from your desk. There are also devices that plug into computer ports and do the same thing.

Corporate cybersecurity systems increasingly block these apps and devices, and productivity trackers claim to be able to detect them. But some workers swear by mouse docks, like one made by Tech8 USA, that keep cursors moving. The company originally made mouse-moving software but now focuses on physical jigglers.

“People are drawn to mechanical solutions because they’re so simple and don’t require software,” says Tech8 Marketing Director Sam Matthews. “As monitoring technology becomes more sophisticated, that distinction has become even more relevant.”

Use AI, but not too much

Another popular metric for employee-monitoring systems is AI usage. Companies want to know who is embracing new tools, and it can be tempting to think more is better.

“There’s a performative aspect where employees overblow their usage of AI so that they appear relevant in the organization,” says Andrea Derler, principal researcher at Visier, which helps companies track and analyze employee work habits.

In a recent Visier survey of 1,000 U.S. workers, 48% admitted to exaggerating their AI usage.

This is already an outdated strategy. Using AI for everything used to score points for experimentation. Now it can seem wasteful because many companies are watching AI token spending more carefully.

Look, productivity theater has always been part of work. Most of us aren’t trying to cheat the system, but expectations are changing so quickly that we need to be savvy about what the latest employee trackers are looking for.

Sometimes it takes a little gamesmanship to get full credit for our contributions.