Electro is absurdly expensive and so is getting laser done, but is there any actually effective home laser hair removal? I'm a pretty good candidate, being pale of skin and dark of hair, but I don't want to waste what will still be a large chunk of money for me on something that simply does not work.

I don't believe there is any "home laser" as such.  Home treatments are IPL, Intense Pulsed Light.  Which kind of looks like a laser and flashes like a laser, but just doesn't have the same concentrated watts as an actual laser.  From what I understand, it will remove hair, but the removal is temporary.  The hair will grow back.

Quote from: KathyLauren on April 19, 2018, 04:50:23 PM
I don't believe there is any "home laser" as such.  Home treatments are IPL, Intense Pulsed Light.  Which kind of looks like a laser and flashes like a laser, but just doesn't have the same concentrated watts as an actual laser.  From what I understand, it will remove hair, but the removal is temporary.  The hair will grow back.

If it removes hair without leaving any grey behind, I think I'll take it, even if i have to keep going.

I do believe there is at-home laser hair removal devices, one I know of is called the Tria.

Quote from: Ellement_of_Freedom on April 19, 2018, 05:25:29 PM
I do believe there is at-home laser hair removal devices, one I know of is called the Tria.

I believe the Tria is currently the only FDA approved home laser hair removal device (meaning it has an actual laser) while others are just "intense pulsed light" or IPL.

I have a Tria laser. As others have posted, I believe it is the only diode laser for home use. It costs $600- $750 new. I got mine used on eBay for $200.

As far as effectiveness, it works, but not all that well. It isn't adjustable like the spa lasers. I started using it on my arms pre-HRT. It did sting like it was working, but probably only killed off 15-20% of the hairs after over a dozen sessions over the course of 3 months. After about 6 months of HRT I did notice fewer and fewer hairs. Can't attest to whether it was a latent effect of the laser or just the hormones.

Hormones have done wonders overall for my body hair. Chest and belly hair has nearly disappeared completely. I did very little laser work there, so I think there HRT is the most likely source of the vanishing hair.

I tried to use the Tria on my face once. I couldn't do more than 3 zaps before having to take a break. And that was with using an ice pack to numb before each zap. 10 zaps and I was crying, so I quit.

I have the Tria travel laser device - it was less than $200.  While I have seen slow progress with my facial hair, I'm too sensitive with the pain and even the LOWEST setting hurts me!!!

The website recommends using the strongest setting you can handle in order to see quick results, but it also says that it doesn't work on "men" ... and since I'm still pre-hrt I'm not sure if that's the reason why I haven't seen much results.

Based on personal experience and what a very experienced electrologist told me, body hair roots are different from facial and genital hair roots regardless of gender.  That's probably why so many report substantial thinning of body hair with MtF HRT but no change to facial hair, and minor change to genital hair from MtF HRT. 

I tried a Tria, gave up and went for professional laser and electrolysis.  I can see where a Tria would work well on areas other than face, but with the amount of hair I started with it seemed like painting a building with a fingernail brush. 

Tria has worked very well for me. I have posted several dozen times on Tria. For example,

https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php?topic=102684.20

barbie~~

Quote from: Kendra on April 20, 2018, 12:02:39 PM
it seemed like painting a building with a fingernail brush.

Yes. At first, I also thought like that several years ago. But eventually it worked. A merit of Tria is that you do not need to make a reservation, just playing with it whenever you have some leizure time.

Nowadays I still use my 2nd Tria, probably once per 3 months, when I notice a long and fine hair. I have not shaved my beard area at all during the past several years. In summer, I still use Tria on my bikini area.

barbie~~

Genetic background can be a factor for hair.  I am half Welsh, half Japanese.

I have the tria and it is working ok for me just takes a while so yes it is  like painting a building with a fingernail brush lol

I've been using my Tria about nine months. It seems to be working, but like others said, very slow. I can go a month now between zaps and nothing much grows, one or two hairs very slowly. I'll keep doing it until none grow back even if it takes two years.

The Tria isn't available in Australia.

For those who use the Tria, how often do you use it? The instructions told me to use it every two weeks but I had no luck, so I've been using it every weekend and still don't see much of a difference on my chin/jawline...

I used a home IPL device I got for $200 on Amazon.  It was effective in getting rid of the dark hairs but not the light hairs.  It was good enough though that it pretty much eliminated the shadow.


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Quote from: AshleyPixune on April 23, 2018, 01:19:50 PM
For those who use the Tria, how often do you use it? The instructions told me to use it every two weeks but I had no luck, so I've been using it every weekend and still don't see much of a difference on my chin/jawline...

@AshleyPixune the chin and jaw line is where I am working on myself it is taking longer to do than the rest of my face but that could be the hair was more dense there I have been told that that area does take awhile. I use mine in that area 2 a week on level 3 as my 4 and 5 do not work any more.

Quote from: AshleyPixune on April 23, 2018, 01:19:50 PM
For those who use the Tria, how often do you use it? The instructions told me to use it every two weeks but I had no luck, so I've been using it every weekend and still don't see much of a difference on my chin/jawline...

I used it whenever I have leizure time. It takes more than a month for hairs to regrow, but you may apply the Tira on the same area within a month, because one session of Tria lasts about 20-30 mins, insufficient to treat all hairs in the area.

Initially I used on average twice per month, but sometimes more. I noticed a significant reduction in 6 months for leg hairs. For other parts of body, it taked far less time.

The most tricky hairs are those in the beard area. I still see a few fine hairs regrowing in that area, but I can say that they are less noticeable than those fine hairs of my wife or daughter. Now, my little daughter has more fine leg hairs than me. She worries about it, but she may use Tria like me 

barbie~~

Quote from: natalie.ashlyne on April 23, 2018, 09:32:17 PM
@AshleyPixune the chin and jaw line is where I am working on myself it is taking longer to do than the rest of my face but that could be the hair was more dense there I have been told that that area does take awhile.

Ok, that helps to settle my nerves!  My wife was looking at my face last night and she said "I don't think the Tria is working" because I had some stubble.  I told her that I last shaved almost 36 hours prior, so it's doing something lol!

Quote from: barbie on April 23, 2018, 09:38:23 PM
Initially I used on average twice per month, but sometimes more. I noticed a significant reduction in 6 months for leg hairs. For other parts of body, it taked far less time.

I only tried it on the leg once, and noticed that it definitely didn't sting as much as on the face.  I suppose I should begin doing more than just my face, it just feels like such a lengthy and tedious process, since the laser delivery "window" is so small! (Size of a dime)
But I'm not complaining... if I get results, then that's just what I'll have to do.

Thanks ladies!
~Ashlynn