Yes, it sounds like the electronics are telling you something there. Sometimes the circuits on these laser-related gadgets can be finicky, all right. And, hey, even if you end up buying another one it's still way cheaper than having hair removal done for you.

Hi,

thanks for the useful Haynes manual for Tria 4x (one for the UK members  ), but I'd like to ask Emily about permanence as I guess it's been a year since she started using it.

Soph x

Quote from: sophiesogood on October 29, 2014, 01:30:48 PM
Hi,

thanks for the useful Haynes manual for Tria 4x (one for the UK members  ), but I'd like to ask Emily about permanence as I guess it's been a year since she started using it.

Soph x

In my case, I still see a few long hairs in my legs and pluck them by my fingers or tweezers, although they are not so much noticeable. That same is true for my beard area. I guess I removed 95-99% of hairs in my legs and face by Tria.

barbie~~

Quote from: ♡ Emily ♡ on December 19, 2013, 02:59:25 PM
I have been lasering my face for about 4 months IIRC... My cheeks cleared up pretty fast, my neck is clearing now as well

Hi Emily, are you able to report any effect of using the tria on your skin, in the sense of it either improving skin quality, or not-improving skin quality - in terms of subcutaneous fat layer and/or collagen.

I'm also curious about how well this battery replacement worked out. It sounds scary to me with something that zaps my skin to do that, like I might end up burning myself. I'm much more willing to do it with things that are less personal.

Quote from: sweetkellie on March 13, 2015, 08:29:53 PM
Hi Emily, are you able to report any effect of using the tria on your skin, in the sense of it either improving skin quality, or not-improving skin quality - in terms of subcutaneous fat layer and/or collagen.

Umm, I am not sure Tria does anything to that effect except zapping Your facial hair. The rest is pretty much taken care of HRT and how You respond to it.

Quote from: ♡ Emily ♡ on March 14, 2015, 01:37:05 AM
Umm, I am not sure Tria does anything to that effect except zapping Your facial hair. The rest is pretty much taken care of HRT and how You respond to it.

Thanks Emily - putting my question more clearly, I'm interested to know a bit more about the process you experienced. For instance, with clinic based lasers, I've read accounts where men describe their facial hair becoming very patchy, and thus their face, even when remainder shaved, looking very patchy as well (especially because of skin being different texture in the various areas). Also, some report pigmentation issues.
And what about grey hairs on the face (if by chance you had any of these!), I heard that the tria can sometimes deal with some of these, though the manufacturer doesn't state this as a claim.

So in summary, it's more about the whole process you experienced (in terms of above type factors) that I'd be grateful to hear about.

Ok, I think I am getting it now. Well, in comparison to clinic lasers, Tria is very very weak laser (someone posted the same recently in another thread dedicated to Tria and I would subscribe to 98% of things that were said there). My facial hair never got "patchy" - I cannot even imagine how such condition would feel or look like . Tria worked on cheeks very well - and one day I noticed that hair was pretty much gone there with no shadow left. Since starting HRT and getting my hands on Tria pretty much overlapped timeline-wise, then I also cannot say which effects resulted from using Tria and which ones should be attributed to HRT.
No pigmentation issues but I was careful to apply sunscreen lotions during summer-time.
And grey hair has to my knowledge stayed where it was - I can feel those grey hairs as stubble along my jawline and some are on my chin - I can burn the entire area over and over but they are still there - I examine them clearly when I pluck them out and by no margin have they become thinner or softer. Also, Tria is quite painful to use, especially on upper lip area - I do have some stubborn hairs there as well and I am looking into the option of getting a coiuple of hours of electrolysis to get rid of these as well as the grey ones.

For anyone who lives in the US at least, I'd recommend purchasing your Tria from Sephora, which has a completely open ended return policy. When your battery dies in three years your can simply return it with the original receipt and get cash back.  I don't know how much of an international presence Sephora has or if their policies in other countries might be different.

Quote from: ♡ Emily ♡ on March 14, 2015, 09:38:14 AM
Ok, I think I am getting it now...

Thanks Emily, that's exactly what I was seeking to understand.

Have to say, from reading quite a few personal reports and experiences, I wonder if the clinic type lasers are often too strong (and/or operated at too high a level), and that maybe the tria, given it's lower output, offers an advantage in many ways.

Ok I am confused.... People are saying they have used the Tria 4x for facial hair?  I have one of these and they say it isn't designed to do this? Is it scatter shoot all over the place so you don't burn.... Or? Are they just saying it for legal issues?

Quote from: Autumn Faith on March 14, 2015, 03:53:15 PM
Ok I am confused.... People are saying they have used the Tria 4x for facial hair?  I have one of these and they say it isn't designed to do this? Is it scatter shoot all over the place so you don't burn.... Or? Are they just saying it for legal issues?

I don't have, and haven't used one, but I'm sure I read on this site or another, that in Japan, the tria is advertised for use on the face as well as the body.

I have personal experience with the Tria 4X.  I have used it for 5 months and I will share my results and thoughts on this product:

Everybody wants their hair removed yesterday.  My advice is to take whatever time frame you have in your head of how long it's going to take and multiply that times 4.  It's a long and slow process no matter how you do it.

I bought the Tria laser 4X in November 2014.  First of all Tria is NOT a laser.  It's an IPL Intense Pulsed light.  It shares the same frequency in the near infrared range of 910nm as 910nm lasers, but the distinction between IPL and laser is important.  NOT because it's not effective.  IPL is every bit as effective as Laser.  How could it not be?  Same wavelength, same power: produces same results.  It's a safety issue.  Physics speak:  Laser is in phase, IPL is not.   Layman speak:  You know when you point a laser pointer in the sky and you see a beam?  That's because the light beam is in sync with each other.  It's in phase or concentrated in one direction.  It allows energy packets in lasers to be delivered over long distances without losing power.  IPL scatters very quickly when leaving the optical end of the instrument.  So, IPL is safer in some respects.  A direct shot to the eye from 12 inches will not deliver the same power as a laser.  OK, physics lesson is over.  Now to the practical results. 

Does the Tria 4X remove hair?  Absolutely it does.  pressing the Tria directly to your skin delivers a good amount of energy on setting 5.  You will feel it like a snap of a rubber band.  If you don't feel it, you are probably not doing anything to remove hair in that area.  You either have the setting too low or have blonde or light hair.  I noticed about a 25% reduction of arm hair after the first treatment.  This was encouraging, but don't get too excited.  3 weeks later it hardly seemed like any impact at all!  Why?  because hair grows in cycles.  3 to 6 week cycles.  So that first treatment removed 25% of 1 of 3 to 6 cycles of hairs.  reducing the real percentage to somewhere between 25% of 16% to 33% of my hairs.  Does that make sense?  Each time you do it, you are killing cells that produce hairs, but since only 1/6 to 1/3 of your hairs are actually in a growth cycle, the others will come back.  25% of those actually in the growth cycle never come back.  It does work, but it can be frustrating and you may think you are getting no where.  But you are.  I do once a week for the last 5 months and I have about a 60% total real reduction in my arm hair.  I plan on continuing to blast it.

For the face:  Tria says you are not to use it on your face, but everyone knows that it is OK in Japan, Europe and Canada.  My opinion?  It's a legal thing that they don't allow it in the US.   And there is considerable more risk putting this instrument on your face which is close to your eyes.  You may think it's just a home product, but it carries a punch.  BE CAREFUL if you do use it on your face.  Never around your eyes.  Personally, I use it mainly just below my chin and all my neck.  I have been doing electrolysis to augment this for my face in other areas.  My opinion of why they don't recommend it:  IT HURTS LIKE HELL!  hairs are very concentrated on the beard.  I noticed an extreme difference between beard areas and areas of the body.  I have hit my upper lip with about 4 treatments and it helps to weaken the hairs for electrolysis.  That said, I have never been burned by the laser using it on my face even on the highest setting, but I can tell you even with a close shave it WILL HURT.  I just can't duplicate the regimen of weekly blasts that I do on the rest of my body.

I saw a review of home laser treatment once. They said that in their experience they found it to only be half as effective as professional treatments. With that said it could reduce the cost of professional treatments if you still need them. I have no idea if it was IPL or not though. Thanks to marketing I could see them getting screwed up by that.

I have one as well since Nov of 2014.... Yes hurts like hell at times but seems to be working.  Batteries can be replaced or powered direct. If you don't want to mess with it buy another one at 500. Still guarantee that it will be wayyyyy cheaper than the trip to the clinic to get zapped. It DOES work if you are in the right hair color blend.

BTW Awesome  response KelliL!!!!

Ok so fun story. I've been getting laser hair removal at a salon for chest legs and arms. I needed to do my face but it was going to cost about $3000 USD for 8 treatments. So I ended up buying a tria 4x for just under $500. Much easier on the credit cards.

This is where it gets fun. I tried to do half of my face with the tria. YOLO. Why not right? Part of me wanted to know how well it was working the other part was like if the shadow gets too wierd I can alway stop that side and do the other. It did thin it out but it was slow going.

The tria manual suggests using it every two weeks. I also had issues with my shadow being too dark to where a buzzer went off. There's no trigger, it just zaps you when you put it next to your skin. The other thing I noticed was it is a pain to zap yourself quickly when you have a dark shadow - that's more a comment on doing it yourself rather than how well it performs. It might have been easier if I had a second person zap my face for me. I'd zap myself 3 time, put it down for a minute to pout about the stinging pain, pick it back up and go again.

I tried the Tria for three sessions on half my face and then got frustrated with it. I still use it for my areas on my chest and legs that the laser technician missed, but I decided to go to the professionals for my face.

The laser salon I'm going to is local, it's called Columbus Laser Spa (I live in a town named Columbus.) I don't know the type of laser the salon has (I can ask and take pictures if anyone is interested) but it was as big as a good sized copy machine. The actual laser light was fed into a black cable with a wand at the end. When you get zapped, a burst of "cooling spray" blasts out of the laser wand and hits the target area. It really helps with the pain. They started with my upper lip and the spray blasted up my nose. The first one scared the heck out of me, I was expecting the sting just not the blast of cooling spray up my nose.

It was so quick though, it took 15 minutes to do my entire face. I could immediately smell burnt hair even though I was closly shaved, actually dry shaved in the car right before I went in (I'm weird I carry shaving razors with me because I hate facial hair.) The hair shedding happened for me pretty quickly, much quicker than the tria. In one session my left side basically caught up with my right side. Another thing to note is that while the Tria treatment is every two weeks, the professional treatment is every 4 to 6 weeks.

What I learned: professional laser is very effective and much faster but expensive. Tria takes longer but seemed to be effective. I only used Tria for about half the recommended minimum of 3 months. Because I didn't wait for the full set of treatments, I can't be more definitive on the details.

Lastly, everyone has different skin and hair. Your experiences will vary. In my humble opinion, I think the salon is worth it for the face. Tria is good for body hair.

Thanks for the report, Kova. It should be very useful to anyone consider one of the methods.

Why is it so much? I went with a groupon and 6 treatments cost me about $300.

I'm also glad I chose professional over in home. When I epilated my arms and legs the first time, there were times I couldn't both deal with the pain AND use the machine. When I got my face lasered, I can tell you right now there is no way in hell I could have dealt with the pain AND used the machine at the same time. I know the in home stuff is weaker and therefore less painful, but from what I've heard it sounds like the session takes longer and the pain bursts last longer.

My sister tells me its not as bad as an epilator, but she's never had it on the face before. So I don't know maybe I'll consider it for use on the rest of my body, but for face? No I'm super glad I'm having a pro do it.

Quote from: Kova V on April 01, 2015, 06:50:06 PM
Ok so fun story. I've been getting laser hair removal at a salon for chest legs and arms. I needed to do my face but it was going to cost about $3000 USD for 8 treatments. So I ended up buying a tria 4x for just under $500. Much easier on the credit cards.

This is where it gets fun. I tried to do half of my face with the tria. YOLO. Why not right? Part of me wanted to know how well it was working the other part was like if the shadow gets too wierd I can alway stop that side and do the other. It did thin it out but it was slow going.

The tria manual suggests using it every two weeks. I also had issues with my shadow being too dark to where a buzzer went off. There's no trigger, it just zaps you when you put it next to your skin. The other thing I noticed was it is a pain to zap yourself quickly when you have a dark shadow - that's more a comment on doing it yourself rather than how well it performs. It might have been easier if I had a second person zap my face for me. I'd zap myself 3 time, put it down for a minute to pout about the stinging pain, pick it back up and go again.

I tried the Tria for three sessions on half my face and then got frustrated with it. I still use it for my areas on my chest and legs that the laser technician missed, but I decided to go to the professionals for my face.

The laser salon I'm going to is local, it's called Columbus Laser Spa (I live in a town named Columbus.) I don't know the type of laser the salon has (I can ask and take pictures if anyone is interested) but it was as big as a good sized copy machine. The actual laser light was fed into a black cable with a wand at the end. When you get zapped, a burst of "cooling spray" blasts out of the laser wand and hits the target area. It really helps with the pain. They started with my upper lip and the spray blasted up my nose. The first one scared the heck out of me, I was expecting the sting just not the blast of cooling spray up my nose.

It was so quick though, it took 15 minutes to do my entire face. I could immediately smell burnt hair even though I was closly shaved, actually dry shaved in the car right before I went in (I'm weird I carry shaving razors with me because I hate facial hair.) The hair shedding happened for me pretty quickly, much quicker than the tria. In one session my left side basically caught up with my right side. Another thing to note is that while the Tria treatment is every two weeks, the professional treatment is every 4 to 6 weeks.

What I learned: professional laser is very effective and much faster but expensive. Tria takes longer but seemed to be effective. I only used Tria for about half the recommended minimum of 3 months. Because I didn't wait for the full set of treatments, I can't be more definitive on the details.

Lastly, everyone has different skin and hair. Your experiences will vary. In my humble opinion, I think the salon is worth it for the face. Tria is good for body hair.

Quote from: awilliams1701 on April 30, 2015, 04:11:34 PM
Why is it so much? I went with a groupon and 6 treatments cost me about $300.

$300??? OMG. Where is THAT? I'm doing laser right now and it's costing me $2000 USD for 6 sessions. Just the facial hair.