Anyone hear about Pain-Free, Hair-Free‘s Soprano®

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

So I have been a lurker on here for a while now and have benefitted quite a bit from everyone’s helpful advice. The support on here is great and it’s nice to know I am not alone!

Now that I’m a part-time student and am able to pick up a lot more hours at work, I can finally afford to go on this journey.

Now, I have booked quite a few consultations around Toronto and I came across this: The Pain-Free, Hair-Free‘s Soprano®XL laser.

Apparently with this laser you can go over the same area twice, you use a gel, and it does not hurt as much as traditional laser. Now, I’ve never heard of this type of laser, and I’ve always been under the impression that with a true laser, you don’t use a gel and you cannot go over the same area two times. So I was wondering what you all think of this. I have black hair and I have type II Fitzpatrick skin type.

Here is a link to the manufacturer’s website
http://www.almalasers.com/soprano_xl.jsp

#2

Is it just me, or does this look and sound like an advertisement? With the repeated use of the (trademarked) name, and the link to the manufacturer’s website, I suspect something more is going on here than an honest conversation.

#3

It looks like they just copied the name from somewhere not sure if its an ad or not. To be honest I’ve been using the Soprano for a bit now and so far the results seem pretty good. I’ve always used alexandrite which I really prefer but I’ve yet to find somewhere that does full legs for less than $350 a shot which is a LOT. If I had tons of leg hair that really bugged me then fine but it’s more just a why not right now. So I bought a deal ticker deal for a place that uses Soprano XL, was about $249 for 5 areas which covered full legs full arms and chest.

They originally had LightSheer and after 1 session I had maybe 60% shedding. They then bought 2 Soprano XL’s so we tried it for fun. I was hesitant because the first time I used Soprano it SUCKED. I had no shedding at all and was a total waste. I even paid $250 for ONE session on my legs that time. To my surprise with the Soprano, about 7-8 days after treatment the hair started to shed, and I’d say was full shedding just as good as an alexandrite like Apogee or GentleLASE when I used that. Just had my second session with it a week ago and so far the hair is falling out like crazy.

I know that’s not a guarantee that it works but so far so good. I think the key is that they treat the area enough times to the point it starts to get hot and almost painful. It’s definitely not pain free, you do feel it but it builds up. Either way I do hope it works because I LOVE this laser the treatments are great. Kind of sucks having to use gel since it’s a bit more messy but it really is a nice treatment.

#4

I had a test area done and I hated it! It certainly NOT painless, you’d think it would be less painful but it’s just a different type of pain compared to be zapped in one spot, as the person moves the laser around, you feel it zapping each individual hair follicle and it’s anything but comfortable.

Again NOT painless, and it burned the skin.

I haven’t had any treatments for years, did full arms / hands with Gentlelase, not once did that laser burn me.

In my opinion, the marketing ploy of soprano is nothing but a LIE.

Laser hair removal is painful, period.

Pain Free means - no pain, not less painful or a different type of pain.

#5

It sounds like it wasn’t in SHR mode, how fast did they move it around? Like really quickly over and over or did it move slowly?

Only because I get treated at the highest possible settings, I know it is because first she told me, second she showed me, you couldn’t go any higher as when you would press up it would stop at the highest joules which is 10. On an area that’s say 3" x 3" the first 10-15 seconds you feel nothing, then it starts to get warm and after a minute or so it’s hot but not burning.

Sounds like something was wrong, I wouldn’t compare this to GentleLASE at all, GentleLASE from my experience is way more painful.

#6

Alas! I hoped it would not sound like an ad. I listed the name of the manufacturer a lot because I was interested in this specific laser by that specific manufacturer.

I guess because they seemed to be claiming “no pain, great results.” and I am pretty weary. I have heard some people on the internet say that it did nothing at all for them after more than one treatment.

Since I’m a student I am pretty scared of that. Also, it seems to be more expensive. None of the places with this laser will say on the website or without seeing you exactly how much pone treatment area costs.

Anyways, thanks for the input guys and sorry if you thought I was a ad-placer!

I will be going for a patch test and I’ll review the place.

#7

If you’re a student with limited funds, even more reason to go for an Alex or YAG Laser by a good company and at a good clinic.

Don’t risk it with the Soprano. I haven’t heard one successful bit of long term feedback by someone who’s not affiliated with a clinic or the Laser.

Also, if operated properly, it’s not pain free - many people can vouch for that.

#8

I don’t know, I say it’s really up to you. My feelings are that an Alex is the best way to go if your skin type can handle it. I’ve had great results with alexandrites but not Yag. Yag was great on my beard because it’s super dark and coarse, but on the rest of my body it was a waste of money whenever the clinic would insist on using it. So I’d use Alex first and then Soprano.

My first treatment with Soprano sucked but the clinic sucked too, full legs took maybe 15 minutes. There’s no speed benefit with Soprano if used correctly. While it may be “newer” so it’s harder to say how permanent the results are, it still is a diode laser which LightSheer is and which has shown to be permanent. It just uses a different method of treatment.

A year ago I would have been on here saying stay as far away from Soprano XL as possible but now I’m not so sure. My latest clinic we started with LightSheer, full legs, arms, chest. Settings were high and it was painful and I had maybe 60% shedding. Then we switched to her new Soprano she just bought and I had full shedding. Like I mentioned I just had a treatment about 11 days ago and the hair is falling out like crazy, exactly the same shedding results that I got from an alex.

To be honest, I went to a clinic recently as well and bought a starter package, it was GentleLASE and I did full legs. She spent no joke 10 minutes on them, 18mm and 6, yes 6 joules. She fired randomly all over my legs no pattern grid or anything and told me come back in 4 weeks for my next treatment. Not a single hair shed so I got a refund of course, but just because a place has GentleLASE doesn’t mean it’s any better.

What I tell people all the time is if you want to do laser then start on your underarms. You can get packages on Groupon and other sites for 4-6 sessions for usually $99, but at every clinic I’ve gone to long before sites like Groupon existed, underarms are always around $60-70 per treatment and that’s for both. It’s inexpensive and a great way to do a test to see how the results are. I’d never start at a new clinic and pay $300 or whatever and do full legs.

To add to the above, if Soprano XL is operated correctly then no it’s not pain free, however it doesn’t even compare to GentleLASE or Apogee Elite. Using underarms as an example and a pain scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being absolutely no pain and 10 being almost unbearable, I’d say GentleLASE and Apogee on Alex are both in the 6-7 range and I have a very high pain tolerance. I’ve gone with friends before who said they couldn’t handle it and had to keep taking breaks and would rate it more like 8-9. On the flip side, the pain level I’d say Soprano XL gives is maybe at it’s worst point a 4-5. It starts out feeling like nothing then gets warmer and warmer and almost hot, then you start to feel those prickles like a typical Diode feels like. It may not be 100% pain free, but I really don’t think it compares to other laser types.

#9

Thanks guys!