We’re always curious how posters who only post once on a thread that’s already been started find the forum. I don’t think it’s a weird question at all. Generally, people who are happy with whatever their methods are don’t seek out a forum and post. The only people who do are those who are looking for answers to another question (which they post first) and then notice other topics that they’re interested in.
It’s not a weird question at all. It’s human nature to be more negative than positive. When someone has a negative product experience, they hunt out boards and complain to anyone they can. However, rarely when someone has a positive experience do they do the same. They’re happy and leave it at that. It’s when something doesn’t work or a company pisses them off they want to hurt the company by letting everyone know not to go there.
So when there’s a post about a product like Silk’n which from my experience over 6 months with it, does not work, then suddenly someone who has 1 post comes on and writes a book about how good it is, it’s completely sketchy. It’s usually an employee of the company or someone that sells them that’s coming on to write those posts. I’ve owned the silk’n and had ZERO effects anywhere except my hands where it stopped the growth for maybe a month but then all came back. So people who come on here going on and on about not having to shave anymore, it’s complete nonsense. Even the Silk’n manual says “Do your treatment, after about 2 weeks the hair will start to fall out.” Total BS, I never had any noticeable shedding at all. It’s the whole reason I sold the machine and did professional laser instead. I completely agree with LAGirl as well. I had found this forum when I was doing research on Silk’n and Tria and then loved reading the posts, and now I like to post all the time. I’ve also searched forums for other products totally unrelated to laser, to post negative reviews when I get bad service (IE Vonage!). However I don’t think I’ve ever searched out a forum just to post about how much I love a product, so it’s just sketchy.
Well you are male (furthermore I have read that you did not shave before hand). I have not seen one positive post from a male about silk’n. If male don’t bother using it.
I do not work for silk’n, but you probably do not believe that. I have how ever seen posts on this very forum from some one who clearly were. Its a shame because it really is a good product.
I actually am looking for other hair removal options (electrolysis), because I will not use silk’n on some areas (fear of inducing hair growth etc). I did not search out this forum to post how good silk’n is. I have as stated known about this forum for years, because as stated I have had a hair removal problem for years. In the beginning of using the product and before purchasing it, I ofcourse searched the web for all relevant information, including this forum and other places with reviews. You don’t have to create posts when the question is already answered - so I only post if I have something to say. It did annoy me that people that had not used the product called it a scam.
And yes I’m very very happy with it, for me it has been the best hair removal product I have ever used. I’m sorry if you only want to hear negative posts about it and people calling it a scam.
Thank you Katie for your honest reporting about this product.
Dee
Our problem with the Silk’n, and the reason why it is often called a scam, is the way it leads people to think it is going to give the results of a LASER treatment at a doctor’s office or salon at home.
Note the YouTube Comment from “camboy1132” September 2009:
Im male using it. Hair goes away & it will come back. its not powerful enough for men to use, guys hair is to thick. im using it for more then a year im on to my 10th session & it just keeps growing back. Im not really hairy. this machine is peace of crap. but when you resell it again some one will buy it & you wont lose money. Silk’n is not powerful enough to yield permanent lasting results. For a short term fix, it might be Ok. good luck to other guys
Camboy1132, February 2009:
cartridges bulbs burn out after 2 weeks, u need 2 bulbs installeded to begain laser. there 80 dollers each. better resaults then the tria but they burn out. Tria dosent burn out but runs on batter life allows number pulses before the batterie life dies. great for Abercrombie & Fitch models. or varsity foot ball dudes. massive muscles
Whether a device removes hair doesn’t depend on whether that hair is on a male or female. The product in question can’t tell the difference. The only thing that matters is the structure of the hair, i.e. coarse vs fine, dark vs light in color, etc.
You also clearly don’t know how to read Katie, please tell me where I said I used the Silk’n without shaving?? I’m not stupid, obviously it’s not going to work if you use it without shaving. I bought the Silk’n after doing professional laser, as I wanted it for more private areas that I didn’t want to do in professional setting, so I know how to prep my skin for a treatment. As that comment above from James said as well, I’m also not hairy as well even though I’m male. I’m naturally smooth pretty much everywhere except legs, and underarms and of course face. So it’s also not like I’m one of those guys that’s covered in hair, hoping the Silk’n will remove the hair for good. It’s great that it works for you, as I said I’m going by my own experiences with using it where it does not work. I’m also skin type 3, light skin and dark hair so “ideal” candidate for laser/light epilation.
Also further to your comment about people who have never used it saying it’s a scam, I have used it as I said. I bought it wanting it to work more than anything. I used it every other week as it said for 6 whole months. Towards the end I even did it every week just to see the difference. I went through so many cartridges and I got NO results at all. So it’s totally fine that you say it works and want to convey that, but consumers really need to know that maybe it will work for you but the general consensus seems to be that it will not work. I bought it brand new from someone for $500 and I sold it for $550. It came with 3 lamps for that price, and I bought 2 more later on a promo for $50 that I got. So in the end I came out completely even, so I’m not “bitter” or anything towards it. I bought it, didn’t work, sold it, didn’t lose any money at all, so when I say it doesn’t work it’s an honest opinion based on my experiences.
I did my 2nd treatment today (2 weeks after first). Yesterday was the first day I noticed any shedding. I would say that 30% of my lower leg hair had shed, but I hadn’t noticed any shedding anywhere else (armpit and lower navel (?sp)).
Pleased with lower leg so far, as the regrowth was noticably slower and 30% shedding was better than I had expected. I have also noticed fewer ingrown hairs.
Will keep you posted.
It’s not that you are seeing regrowth slow down, it’s more that you’re seeing a bit less hair since some shed. It will take at least several more weeks for that hair to grow in again.
Edokid - It was certainly not you that I thought had said something without trying it. Of course your opinion is valid! If it doesn’t work for you it doesn’t work.
But as said I have not heard one positive review from a male. And I probably confused you with someone else who said that they didn’t even bother removing their hair on their ‘privates’ before using it. Sorry.
And yes hair is hair, but young males have hormones and some men have very thick hair. I did thought the consensus were that laser would require more treatments for males.
I was thinking about maybe documenting the effect with photos. It thought it was great seeing on this very forum what to expect from Tria. It will not be a before and after of course. (The only place I have not used it would be underarms, but hair does not bother me there - for some reason I don’t mind shaving there).
I have taken some photos - and quite frankly it is very hard to see any hair on my legs, even though there are some. The only place that you are able to see hair on a photo are on my bikine-line (and there are more hair as this have been much more slow in responsiveness to treatment) and I just don’t know if it is ok to post pictures here of that? Let me know - for now I will just post pictures of my lower legs.
If you look you can see a bit of hair. This is 9-10 weeks since last treatment and 2-3 weeks since shaving. I will estimate I have about 5 % hair at the moment. I will do a touch up this weekend on lower legs and a full treatment on bikini (40 % hair) and upper legs (30 % hair).
I used the upload function - but are any of you able to see the photo?
well I added the photo to flickr anyway. This is as stated 9-10 weeks after treatment and you can see that some hair has returned (estimated about 5 %)
Your proposition that it’s harder to remove “thicker hair” is not accurate. Laser works BEST on coarse dense hair. And laser has no way to tell whether the hair is on a female or a male.
Katle,
The reason I am harsh on the Silk’n and Tria, and called both scam products, is simple. If you say a product is the SAME as a professional laser or IPL treatment you had better be able to back it up with EQUAL results. I’m not sure what the overall permanent removal rate is of professional treatments but let’s just say it’s 70%. Shedding from professional laser or IPL treatment will be 100%. Although neither, laser or IPL, can be marketed as permanent removal, the thermal damage from intense red and infrared light will cause histological changes in hair follicles that appears permanent. Since not all hairs respond equally, even on the same person, this cannot be classified as permanent hair removal but permanent hair reduction. Now given the Silk’n and Tria are marketed as EQUIVALENT to professional treatments, we need to see these SAME numbers of shedding and permanent hair reduction. We see neither, not even close. Everyone who has used these devices sees no long term benefit. Their marketing is misleading and is purposely trying to deceive the buyer. In short, they are lying. The hair removal industry has seen scams throughout the years. The Silk’n and Tria are just more along the lines of electric tweezers and transdermal patches. I would not call this product a scam if they changed their marketing to reflect the real efficacy of their product. They won’t do this, until legally forced, because you can’t sell a product for $500 which has the exact same result as a $10 wax kit from Walmart.
Btw, the hair doesn’t “return” at 9-10 weeks. Hair grows in cycles. If the hair you treated 9-10 weeks ago, shed and you haven’t touched it since, you should be seeing NEW hair come in at this point from the NEXT phase of growth.
I don’t think I have said that it is exactly the same hair that has returned?! As said I still believe that young male hormones makes removing hair more difficult.
And to galvaniczap, this is certainly not the same results I got from waxing.
Men have better results at hair removal because laser works better on dark thick coarse hair which is found more on men than women. A laser works by targeting that dark coarse hair. The darker and coarser, the easier it is for the laser to “see” the hair to remove it. Laser uses one light wave or frequency and is targeted to the hair. The problem with light based devices is that they fire the entire colour spectrum which isn’t as effective and can burn the skin easier since it’s like using a canon to kill a wasp. A hair is a hair, doesn’t matter who it belongs to, horomones just control growth rate and cause hair to grow on the chest and back and so on with some men. All the laser cares about it seeing a hair and delivering all its energy into it. The easier it is to see it the easier it is to kill it. Just because you believe male hormones make hair removal harder doesn’t mean it’s actually true especially without any proof to back it up. If you’re talking about hair removal on a teenage male then for sure it will have an effect, as men continue to produce hair until their 20’s. So a 18 year old with a smooth chest aside from a small patch in the middle, may have a full chest of hair when they’re 23. If they did laser at 18 to remove that patch, then sure more hair will come back after, which is why men should wait until their 20s to do laser once all hair has developed. But once you’re at that age when it’s all in, then it doesn’t make a difference at all. Even in that example, it also has nothing to do with hormones making laser less effective, it’s new hair that has developed, it’s not that the laser couldn’t remove it since it can’t remove what isn’t there to begin with.
Hormones don’t make it m ore difficult to remove the hair. All it means is that the body will produce more hair later and touchups will be needed. It doesn’t mean that hair removal works any worse presently as you’re treating it.
I am male, and have been using the Silk’n on my chest and stomach for over a year. I have had excellent results in my opinion. I had left positive post before and also felt like I was sort of being attacked. So I really don’t bring it up anymore.
I never expected to get permanent hair removal from using the device. Anyone who knows the technical specifications of the product knows that it just isn’t possible. But to me it is much more convenient, and economical than professional treatments. And not even comparable to waxing. The price of the bulbs now are only $45. I only use one about every 3-4 months. So you don’t hear me complaining.
I have heard many people say that you can get professional laser done for what you spend on this product. I wish that were the case! But I have never found that to be true. I have done plenting of price checking in my state and the cheapest I have found to do my chest and stomach is $600 for just one treatment. And I live in Ohio, so I can’t imagine other states being much cheaper. Maybe I’m wrong.
I also have a slight recentment because of some professional laser treatment I had in the past on my shoulders and upper back. It stimulated much more hair there than what I had initially So now I have spent the past five months getting electrolysis on that area trying to get rid of that hair once and for all.
I would LOVE to have electrolysis on my chest and stomach as well. But there is no way I could afford it.
So for now, the Silk’n is working just fine for my standards.
BTW: I almost forgot! I have tried using it on my face a couple of times, and had no results at all. I mean it didn’t do anything! Which surprised me consider how well it does on my chest and stomach.
Also, funny tid-bit! My electrologist did not beleive me that my chest and stomach ever had hair on it. When I told her that they were both completly covered with hair she was pretty impressed.
TommyW, we welcome your feedback here. Once again, we don’t say that Silk’n doesn’t work well for temporary removal. If that’s what you’re looking for and are satisfied with, that’s great. The issue that I personally have with the product is that they don’t market it like this, thus promising people something they can’t deliver. This bothers me about professional treatments as well when they advertise removal on “all types of hair”.
You’re right. $600 for chest and stomatch is pretty steep. In most major markets, you can find these treatments for $300 or so.