Round 3 begins

I purposely waited a few days to get started on Round 3 to give myself a chance to really ’see’ the results I’m getting. 

Underarm:  Larger areas that are bare (visible but not *big*) and some areas that seem thinner.

Legs:  Areas, especially around the shins and knees, that are bare.  Again, not enough to significantly reduce the need for shaving, a little more obvious than before.

Bikini line:  I’m still not seeing much of a difference in this area.  I’m mostly attributing it to needing to use the lowest power level to treat. 

For this round, I’m going to work on really overlapping circles.  One suggestion in the Tria manual is to overlap horizontally and vertically.  If effect, covering each area twice, once in each direction, each treatment. 

So this morning, I started with my armpits.  Now the unit is recharging and this afternoon, I’ll start on my legs.

Wrapping Up Round 2

I’m finishing up the second round of treatment.  It’s taken longer than the first round because I’ve been using Level 2 as much as I can stand.  A charge seems to lasts around 40-45 min on Level 2, and then the Tria has to recharge for a couple of hours. 

Treat a small area.  Recharge.  Repeat. 

In addition to the Level 2 reaction I posted about earlier, I noticed along my bikini line on Level 1 that I developed red spots that made me think of heat rash.  After 24 hours, the redness has mostly faded, but some of the spots are still noticeable. 

I seem to be making some progress but it’s still very slow.  My underarms have probably 30% less hair than when I started.  It’s harder to say on my legs but I would guess somewhere between 20% and 30% less.   

Honestly, I’m a little disappointed at this point.    OK, a lot disappointed.

So far, I can say:

a)  This is taking MUCH longer than I expected.  It literally takes me hours to treat my legs.  I’m a fairly patient person but I really expected to be further along than I am.  After reading all of the literature, I knew the Tria would not yield instant results but I did expect more than this snail’s pace. 

b)  And this process is a LOT more painful than I anticipated.  Again, I don’t consider myself a wimp where pain is concerned but this seems a bit much for as slow as progress has been.  That rubber band snap thing?  Not a chance.  This is much worse.  Like burning hot needles poking sunburnt skin.

c)  I need to be a lot more flexible to effectively treat the backs of my legs.  I haven’t asked my husband for help yet but I may need to in the future.  This could be interesting.   

OUCH!

So, now I know what happens when I go too high with the laser power. 

Over the weekend, I tried to treat my bikini line for the second time.  Because I saw very little hairloss from the first round, I set the laser to Level 2 and got started.  The pain was excruciating.  I had to stop after a minute or so.  I just could not take it. 

I thought, perhaps, I had not shaved that area closely enough and moved on to a different area. 

An hour or so later, I noticed that region had developed tiny red bumps that scabbed over the next day.  The area remained very tender for 2 days and is finally starting to heal.

Round 2, continued

I’ve been continuing with my second round of treatments this week. 

Using Level 2 is still pretty uncomfortable, so my progress is slow. 

I attempted my bikini line this morning but had to stop.  I’m going to need to do something to give myself a closer shave in that area.  Level 1 didn’t seem to have much of an effect, so I really want to be able to use Level 2. 

Also, using Level 2 is a much heavier power drain on the Tria.  I’m averaging between 45 and 55 min per charge.

Tria Specifications

After reading a few items on messageboards and comments here, I decided to take a look at the technical performance specifications for the Tria again to clarify a few questions about how long the Tria runs.

The specs are included in the TRIA Instructions for Use booklet.  The 2 in question, I believe, are Number of Shots per Charge and Number of Charging Cycles.

No. Shots per Charge  >300

No. Charging Cycles  >250

At the bottom of the page is the following statement:  “The TRIA Laser Hair Removal System is designed to work within specifications for several years or until the battery no longer holds charge.  The TRIA laser battery will last for more than 250 charging cycles.”

Shots per charge speaks to how long it will operate on a single charge.  Note that 300 is the minimum.  I’m guessing rumors of a charge lasting only 20 min is based on that number.  Assume it takes 4 seconds to set-up and fire each charge.  300 shots * 4 seconds = 1200 seconds/60 seconds/minute = 20 min. 

I also believe that the 300 shots refers to a minimum number of L3 charges.  20 min at L3 may be correct.  Using the product at L1 or L2 should allow quite a few more than the minimum number at L3 and the unit should run longer than 20 min. 

I haven’t actually counted the number of shots I’ve done on 1 charge, but time wise, I’ve definitely gone for more than an hour on L1.  Yesterday I went 30+ min on L2 and my Tria was still going strong at that time. 

The first time that I ran my Tria, it did appear to lose charge after about 30-40 min.  I think the unit may have shut off to avoid overheating.  The next time I used it, the phone rang about 25 min into my session and I ended up taking 1-2 min break while I took the call.  When I went back to it, I had no problems continuing for the rest of the hour.  I had to stop to do something else but the unit was still working.

Round 2

Yesterday, I started up my second round of treatments.  I’m working in the same order that I started. 

I also decided to do as much as I can using Level 2 instead of Level 1 to see if that makes a difference.

Area 1:  Armpits. 

OMG, Level 2 really, really hurt.  Seriously, on Level 1, I could “feel” maybe 1 in 10 pulses.  On L2, my experience was the opposite.  I seriously doubt I will ever progress beyond L2. 

Also, I could feel a burning sensation, like heat build-up in the area where I was carefully overlapping pulses.  The feeling would dissipate a bit when I took a short break, 10-30 seconds.  This meant the entire process took longer to finish, a little over 30 min for both arms.    

4 hours later, I still felt a stinging/burning sensation in that area.  Bearable but still uncomfortable. 

Area 2:  Legs.

With a fully charged Tria, I started on my lower legs on L2.  Again, I could really feel the stings.  It was late and I was tired so I only managed 2″x4″ area on one leg. 

I dropped down to L1 and did a little more but I was still really feeling it.  Was my skin just more sensitized?  No idea.  I’ll try again tonight.

Also:  what I felt was pain and then some ongoing burning/tenderness in that area.  I did not notice any redness or swelling that I was actually expecting as it was mentioned as a possible side effect.

Continued Progress

This morning I am noticing a number of small patches developing on my right leg with no or significantly less hair than before.  These aren’t quite the dramatic results I was hoping for but I am definitely feeling more positive about my purchase.  Also, I understand that this sort of shedding will continue for up to another week.   

Next week, I will start a second round of treatment.  I think I need to suck it up and move to power Level 2 as much as possible.  More pain = more breaks = more time to complete.  Also, I’ll need to recharge the unit more often.   

Also, I can see why it is so important to overlap the tiny circles to get the best results and I need to do a better job with that.  And, again, that will add time.

Success? Maybe?

It’s been a little over a week since I started using the Tria and I can confirm that, at least in the short-run, it is making a difference. 

I am very pale and have very dark hair.  When it comes to my underarms, I have to shave them every day, especially during the summer. 

Although I didn’t witness any actual shedding, there is definitely less hair in that area than there was before I began.  I last shaved 4 days ago and, as of this morning, there is hardly any stubble at all.

I’m not hair-free by any stretch but this is definitely a promising start.  My legs took longer to treat so I’ll report back with any changes I notice there over the next few days.      

And I’m off…

With all of what I wrote below in mind, I set my laser to level 1 and went to work on my armpits.  On that level, I could feel each pulse and a few of them were a bit painful.  I tried to use level 2 but most of the pulses were painful and I could feel a fair amount of heat building, so I backed down.  It took about 15-20 min each side. 

Manufacturer recommends starting low and working your way higher.  I’m not sure I’ll ever get above 2 but I can’t say at this point. 

Over the past week, I’ve managed to do my legs and (very conseratively) my bikini line.  I’ve read some blogs about people doing their legs on Sunday night while watching television but I’m not sure how that’s possible.  Seriously, maybe I am a Yeti but it took me hours to do each leg entirely.

Also, the battery life is an hour to 2 hours.  A few times, the unit shut itself off.  To prevent overheating perhaps?  After that I found that taking a quick break every 30 min or so resolved that issue.

On my legs, I mostly used Level 1.  A few areas I went with Level 2.  Bony areas (ankles, knees) were more painful than fleshier ones. 

The pain has been described as feeling like you are being flicked with a rubber band.  I disagree.  It feels more like tiny, hot needles.  Mostly it’s bearable but every now and again one of them goes a little too deep.   

Also, the advice about the shaving is no joke.  Any visible hair absorbs the heat from the laser and OW! 

And now I wait.  Because (another bit of info I didn’t notice on the Tria site) it takes 7-10 days for the hair follicles to fall out or, as they elegantly put it, to be ejected, I won’t know if this worked at all for another couple of days. 

And according to the enclosed instructions, I need to wait 2-4 weeks before re-treating.  The CSR on the phone told me a month.  We’ll see.  I really doubt I will wait a month.  3 treatments is the minimum to see results.  6-8 treatments for best results.