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.
