Benzocaine is amazing, I have been able to get areas totally numb with a 20% benzocaine and 5% menthol solution. This has been letting me do things like use the tria at max power on my upper lip without feeling like I am sticking my face with a cattle prod.

I wish I had known this when I first bought the tria.

I'll chime in again here on the Tria.

I've been using it since October, so that's about 8 months. It works in the body pretty well and I don't have much hair left.

It has worked on my face too. I have much, much less shadow than I used to, but even then I still can't cover it with makeup unless I use heavy concealer.

I have a lot of white hairs too so I knew I'd be doing electrolysis eventually. Today I went to a clinic and signed up for 12 sessions of Yag laser and some electrolysis after that. The nurse was surprised at how effective the Tria has been, although it's been slow work and there's still a lot left to do.

We then did a few test shots and here's the surprise. I was expecting pain, but compared to the pain of the Tria the laser at the clinic is nothing.

The Tria will do great things for body hair and considering the price is a good investment just for that.

For the face professional is probably the best way to go.

I decided "da hell" and went down to level 3 on my upper lip - that is the only area where those little buggers keep popping out but they are not really that much visible anymore. Basically, I dont need any makeup to appear as having no facial hair, but I need to maintain steady weekly regimen on my upper lip and chin area. Cheeks and neck are clear. I am also contemplating to do 5-6 electro sessions to clear up white hairs and remaining stubborn upper lip hair. After that - we'll see...

Quote from: ♡ Emily ♡ on June 19, 2014, 07:06:54 AM
I decided "da hell" and went down to level 3 on my upper lip - that is the only area where those little buggers keep popping out but they are not really that much visible anymore. Basically, I dont need any makeup to appear as having no facial hair, but I need to maintain steady weekly regimen on my upper lip and chin area. Cheeks and neck are clear. I am also contemplating to do 5-6 electro sessions to clear up white hairs and remaining stubborn upper lip hair. After that - we'll see...

Are you having any luck at level 3? I needed to put the thing all the way to 5 to get my upper lip hairs but other hairs seemed much easier to clear for me.

I dont know yet... but I plucked out some of that hair and a lot of them were without follicle (dead). I would not say that I had very little luck on upper lip, because I have in general 15-20 hairs on each side of upper lip, they grow very slowly and hair itself is very fine (it used to be quite thick and coarse), except... my upper lip keeps spamming follicles fro some reason (or maybe those are hairs which I plucked out some time ago and now they simply resurfaced).

Quote from: Hikari on June 18, 2014, 12:45:16 PM
Benzocaine is amazing, I have been able to get areas totally numb with a 20% benzocaine and 5% menthol solution.

Hi Hikari, were you meaning that you made up this benzocaine and menthol solution yourself.

I just wanted to add my experience here.  I bought a Tria back in 2010 and used it for over year.  It's a real laser, and it permanently reduced my hair, but it has limitations.

It's battery powered, so you have 15 - 20 minutes to treat a hand-print-sized area.  Then you have to wait for it to recharge (1.5 - 2 hours if I remember).  And the "pulse width" is very long, so the laser has to be moved slower than a commercial laser.  So you have to be very patient, and just don't expect to treat large areas with it (like a whole leg).

It's a very weak laser.  I always used the highest setting, but compared to my commercial laser treatments (Alexandrite and Diode mostly), it took many, many more "zaps" with the Tria to achieve a noticeable result.  Even after 6 - 8 rounds of treatment, the Tria mainly lightened and softened hair (where as commercial lasers had finished destroying the hair altogether, probably because they can move up to higher "fluence" settings).

It's super painful (at the max setting).  With a commercial laser, the pulse width (the time the laser is "on") is really short, so you can "grin and bear" the snap-like pain and it's done.  With the Tria, its' soooo slow (like a constant burning sensation, rather than a snap). I thought it was much more painful overall.  And that was with using EMLA.

So overall, I don't recommend it, unless you are treating very small areas (like the back of your hand or knees) or the odd stray hairs that were missed by commercial laser treatments.

Throwing my two cents into this one too.

I have had one of these since the start of March. Been using it every Friday on Legs, Happy Trail, Bikini Line and yes my face. I have had 4 Pro Laser Sessions on my face so its already thinned quite a bit.

But I will say like others have stated, this thing hurts like nothing else on the face. Feels horrible.

So far my legs are quite a bit less hairy, granted they weren't to start with. Happy Trail is almost gone it seems, face it is working on but will take a few months I think.

Overall I like it, and recommend it if you can get it.

Quote from: mfox on March 11, 2015, 01:56:41 PM
I just wanted to add my experience here.  I bought a Tria back in 2010 and used it for over year.  It's a real laser, and it permanently reduced my hair, but it has limitations.

It's battery powered, so you have 15 - 20 minutes to treat a hand-print-sized area.  Then you have to wait for it to recharge (1.5 - 2 hours if I remember).  And the "pulse width" is very long, so the laser has to be moved slower than a commercial laser.  So you have to be very patient, and just don't expect to treat large areas with it (like a whole leg).

It's a very weak laser.  I always used the highest setting, but compared to my commercial laser treatments (Alexandrite and Diode mostly), it took many, many more "zaps" with the Tria to achieve a noticeable result.  Even after 6 - 8 rounds of treatment, the Tria mainly lightened and softened hair (where as commercial lasers had finished destroying the hair altogether, probably because they can move up to higher "fluence" settings).

It's super painful (at the max setting).  With a commercial laser, the pulse width (the time the laser is "on") is really short, so you can "grin and bear" the snap-like pain and it's done.  With the Tria, its' soooo slow (like a constant burning sensation, rather than a snap). I thought it was much more painful overall.  And that was with using EMLA.

So overall, I don't recommend it, unless you are treating very small areas (like the back of your hand or knees) or the odd stray hairs that were missed by commercial laser treatments.

^wow, you know your stuff! I agree 100% with everything mfox said. I was using a Tria and a modded Onetouch for some time. I finally broke down and went with professional laser, and I'm very glad I did. Much faster, and less painful. Worth the money to save time and get it done with the best technology available.

edit: mfox i love your cat avatar... so hipster! i hope you're fortunate to be friends with that cat irl 

Another 2 cents.

I've had one for about a month. I'm not really seeing results yet, but based on other reviews from people that have used it longer, I'm holding out hope that given more time I'll see what I'm looking for.

On the body hair, I can set it to 5 just fine. It still stings a little, but no more than a bee sting. I haven't tried the pits yet though. I'd expect that to sting a bit. I do find it funny that their ad shows a women calmly doing her pits with this thing. Insanity!

For facial hair I can do a 4 on some areas that have already been thinned out by electrolysis, but that's just on the jaw line and cheeks. For the upper lip, I've been using a 3 and that's almost torture. I don't feel the bee sting feeling up there. It feels more like someone lit my face on fire. As a result, I don't cover the whole upper lip or sideburn area ever. It also seems to be totally ineffective on the bottom of my chin. I've tried stretching the skin to make it more level and it still does the bad beep. I have their ideal skin and hair color, ghost white with pitch black hair. I could be Snow White if I didn't look like a guy. I think I may go back to a professional for the face. I just wish they'd start on the upper lip and sideburns instead of saving them for last. Maybe if I flat out tell them I'm trans they'll be more willing to do that.

The manual does say that it works on the face, but it also says to never ever use it on a man's facial hair. I think it'll be fine once it's thinned out to about as much as a woman would have though.

Please can you share the numbing technique you used for tria (if considered successful!). I've been using emla cream (2 applications, covered in between for approx 40 mins) but it still isn't a very comfortable experience... (that's an understatement btw!)

Numbing? I've never used anything like that. I'm interested too now. It may make it more bearable.

I've been using emla cream and waiting 30-45 minutes and an icepack. It was still really painful on the face until about 12 sessions. Also avoid caffeine in your system helps and also an anti inflammatory like ibuprofen for some people but I didn't notice.

Quote from: ♡ Emily ♡ on November 21, 2013, 02:39:15 AM
...I wanna try this Pigmentine first.

Hi Emily, did you end up trying the pigmentine product. If so, what did you make of it.

Quote from: sweetkellie on April 17, 2015, 04:28:29 PM
Please can you share the numbing technique you used for tria (if considered successful!). I've been using emla cream (2 applications, covered in between for approx 40 mins) but it still isn't a very comfortable experience... (that's an understatement btw!)

Instead of getting caught up in numbing (as emla is expensive as well), I've decided to just use the lowest tria level, and do much more often - as I can take this level without much issue on most of my face.

Anyone tried this approach, and if so, did it work. Haha, just a touch concerned this approach might stimulate growth rather than stop it!

Quote from: sweetkellie on April 28, 2015, 04:27:45 PM
Instead of getting caught up in numbing (as emla is expensive as well), I've decided to just use the lowest tria level, and do much more often - as I can take this level without much issue on most of my face.

Anyone tried this approach, and if so, did it work. Haha, just a touch concerned this approach might stimulate growth rather than stop it!

My experience tells that it does work for face, but take longer time, as the hairs there are thick and more resistant.

barbie~~

Quote from: sweetkellie on April 28, 2015, 04:22:31 PM
Hi Emily, did you end up trying the pigmentine product. If so, what did you make of it.

Nope, I did not try it out - eventually I ended up with plucking out white hairs . Someday I will probably go to electrologist to fix that issue, but atm there are very few of them so they do not really bother me that much.

Quote from: sweetkellie on April 28, 2015, 04:27:45 PM
Instead of getting caught up in numbing (as emla is expensive as well), I've decided to just use the lowest tria level, and do much more often - as I can take this level without much issue on most of my face.

Anyone tried this approach, and if so, did it work. Haha, just a touch concerned this approach might stimulate growth rather than stop it!

I did this for a bit (zapping upper lip with power level 3) and it seems a viable long-term strategy. But in the end I realised that I can clench my teeth and bear level 5 zaps and then redo them after a day or two. But I have to agree, those pesky hairs on upper lip seems to be extremely resistant.

Have been having great success with Tria Precision. I've found that using emla with a Tegaderm dressing (approx 5x6cm) works really well. A Tegaderm dressing is absolutly essential imo - I tried film wrap, but that doesn't 'contain' the emla in one small area and at a few mm thickness of emla on the skin, but rather causes the emla cream to spread out in all directions. Then after two hours emla application, I just focus on that small 5x6cm area. On my skin, I've found I can go over the same small area multiple times at power level 3 (for approx 15 mins, till the Tria battery runs out) with no problem at all. I'm finding even grey hair is being significantly affected using this technique. Using the emla like this is also adequately numbing.

Just an update, it's been about two years since I did a session on myself with the Tria and chest/stomach are still completely clear.

Quote from: michelle666 on December 22, 2015, 06:18:36 PM
Just an update, it's been about two years since I did a session on myself with the Tria and chest/stomach are still completely clear.

How about other areas?

barbie~~