My unbiased review of Tria with treatment diary!

Hair Removal Methods Do-It-Yourself Laser/IPL
#1

Hey everyone! I’m starting this thread as my completely unbiased review and treatment diary for the Tria. Before flaming and bashing that home laser doesn’t work, let me give my background, experiences, why I bought the Tria and my expectations and so on.

I started laser around 1.5 years ago, doing 4 IPL sessions on my abdomen at my friends clinic. This was when I knew nothing about hair removal and didn’t know the difference with IPL or laser. After 1 or 2 sessions I researched more, found out IPL isn’t that great, but kept going because I thought I was being treated with LightSheer (by Lumines) not the IPL module. Around this time I started looking into the Silk’n and Tria because I thought wow if I can do home laser hair removal then why not and save a bunch of money. That’s actually how I found this forum, and you can even see some of my earliest posts are talking about the Silk’n. I used the Silk’n for awhile and had literally no results, not even shedding. I kept using it because I didn’t even really know fully how laser worked and didn’t even know I was supposed to shed. Needless to say, I sold the machine for the price I paid for it which was good, then after reading this site, switched to GentleLASE. At this time I gave up on home laser since I realized it’s impossible to permanently remove hair at home yourself. I know fully that home machines aren’t strong enough or powerful enough to permanently disable a hair, no matter what anyone says.

Since then, I’ve done LOTS of laser as you can see from my signature. I kept doing abdomen, added some of my chest there, I’m doing face, underarms, and forearms. Whenever someone mentioned Tria I’d always say it’s not permanent and brush it off.

Now, you’re probably wondering why I bought Tria then. There’s a few reasons. Vulpes I believe it was, had a post on here showing his experiences with it, saying it does work but is a pain to use, is slow and so on. I started thinking to myself, even with professional laser, after the hair sheds, you’re pretty much hair free for 2 months after that. Even when the hair grows back it comes back finer first and slower. So I started thinking to myself, even if Tria isn’t permanent, but causes my hair to shed and stay that way for 1-2 months, that’s perfectly acceptable to me. I have no intention of stopping professional laser, but I thought the Tria might be great on areas that I’d like to be hair free, but that don’t bug me enough to go for professional laser.

I found new Tria units on eBay, the new 5 setting model and was able to get it for $460 with free shipping. It’s actually out for delivery today so I’ll have it soon. The areas I’m going to test it on first are my feet, and then bikini area. I’m going to judge how the shedding goes, and if those areas shed and stay clear for awhile, I may try it on my legs, but only if it stays clear for awhile. I know full well it runs on battery and that it will take awhile, but if it takes me a day or two to cover both my legs, that’s perfectly fine for me (the benefits of owning your own business and working from home lol).

The other reason I bought the Tria is for everyone on this forum. As you know from previous posts, I’m not afraid to experiment with laser and try new things, so I feel it is a privileged to test the unit out and report back here for everyone on this site. I hope from being here almost a year and my post count, will give me creditability in that my review will be unbiased, coming from someone that’s done and is doing professional laser and from someone that doesn’t work for Tria! My thoughts are that even if it’s junk, I should be able to sell it. Even if I lose one or two hundred dollars on it I’m fine with that. So please don’t flame this post saying it doesn’t work, I’m doing this of course for myself in hopes that it temporarily removes hair on me (or permanently even better!), but I’m also doing it for all of you.

I’ll update this post as soon as I receive the unit and test it out. I plan on documenting it with photos before and after each treatment and will be happy to answer any questions that anyone has about the unit. Thanks everyone!

#2

The Tria’s what I used. If you’re pleased with shedding, then you will get that at the very least. I always had good shedding with Tria.

I’m interested to hear how this goes, and appreciate you reporting back to us. :slight_smile:

#3

Great idea. Can’t wait to follow your feedback.

#4

Haven’t forgot about this. I just got the Tria delivered literally 15 minutes ago. First impressions with it:

  • It has some weight to it which is good
  • It definitely has a small spot size, can’t really imagine doing legs with this sucker
  • Charging takes 2 hours on normal, it says the fan will come on and off during charging. Quiet charge there’s no fan but takes 8 hours. You can leave the device plugged in all the time though so that it’s always ready
  • It says one charge does around 250 shots on the highest setting. The book shows how to overlap, which is hardcore. They show overlapping by about half the spot size! It says 50 pulses should do a 3cm/3cm section. That’s like 1.2 inches by 1.2 inches. Multiple by five, that’s a 6 inch by 6 inch section per charge, so definitely not a lot

I’ll post again later today after trying it out.

#5

I hope that the Tria works for you! I found it to be way too painful for me. And it just wasn’t practical for a male in my opinion. At least a male with as much hair as I wanted removed. I wanted to do my chest and stomach and found it more of a hindrance than a help.

I ended up getting rid of mine just because it was getting to the point mine was just laying in the case never getting used. Basically because I thought it was too much of a nuisance. Even though I would think I was overlapping the way it recommended, I wouldn’t realize how off I was for a couple of weeks when I started shedding. I would keep having the stop and recharge everytime the battery went dead, and my skin would swell up and become so red from the previous treatment, I couldn’t tell where I had stopped and where I should begin. Then in 2.5-3 weeks when I would start shedding, I could see bald little spots here and there the exact size of the Tria’s small spot size.

I will be looking forward to hearing what you think. I hope your experience is better than mine! :slight_smile:

#6

She’s still charging right now so we’ll see! For me it’s just for smaller areas, I do my forearms, face, chest, abdomen etc all at a professional clinic, and even in those areas I don’t have much hair. When I say chest, I literally mean both nipples, and like 2 inches by 1 inch between my pecs then the odd random hair on my collar bone. Then there’s literally no hair until my belly button (or rather used to be now it’s all gone). This is more for smaller areas and so on so we’ll see how she works. It’s been exactly 2 hours so it should be done any time now. The manual said doing the normal charge the fans would come on and off throughout but it’s cold and no fans so not sure what that means lol.

#7

Okay so, like I said it’s been 2 hours 15 minutes it still shows charging so I’m impatient I wanted to see what it would feel like. I unplugged it turned it on, tried it on my arm on setting 1, felt nothing. Tried setting 3 felt nothing tried setting 5 felt nothing. Tried many places on my arms (which mind you aren’t really hairy) and felt nothing. I tried on my abdomen which is pretty much hair free right now and felt nothing. I thought i’d at least feel something but I guess because there’s no dark coarse hair there that’s why. On my pubic line I just had that retouched this morning at my professional clinic, so I tried to fire it over that same area since it definitely does have hair there and still felt nothing. I’ll try it after work when I get home on a real area and see what happens, but I thought I’d at least feel a sting or something. The only thing that happened was after 2-3 pulses the fan would turn on. I shaved a very tiny area on my lower leg and tried it on setting 5, I felt absolutely nothing. I fired 5 times in a row in the same spot still nothing. People online are saying they use it at 3 because it can get intense but I’m feeling absolutely 0. Probably just my luck the unit is defective or something…

#8

If you ever read my post on the Tria, I said the same thing. I was disappointed because it felt like pretty much nothing, even on the highest settings. People were shocked that I actually WANTED more pain, but I really don’t think you can burn through many layers of a follicle without feeling some discomfort! The people who claim Tria hurts must have never had real laser treatment to compare it to, so they really think it’s painful. But honestly, shaving hurts more than the Tria (for me anyway, I Tria’d my arms).

Maybe yours isn’t at full power because it wasn’t done charging, and you’ll have more luck when you get home. You’ve unlocked it, right? It won’t fire if you don’t use the skin tone test to unlock it. :stuck_out_tongue:

#9

Hey Kitty thanks for the response.

I bought mine off eBay new, it’s the UK version or European one rather, so it doesn’t use a skin sensor it just works. I remember reading they need to be activated before use so I thought maybe that was it but the Tria website doesn’t accept my serial number. The unit powers on, I can cycle through 1 to 5 for power and touching it to my skin beeps then beeps the second time like it should. It’s just the way it is so far, no one could even possibly say it hurts, it might as well be turned off like I feel absolutely nothing, there’s not even a mark or redness after it fires. It might be that it’s not fully charged like you mentioned though. It’s just weird because the book says normal charge takes around 2 hours and the fan comes on and off throughout, where quiet charge is 8 hours with no fan. For the 2 hours 20 mins I had it charging the fan never turned on once and it still showed charging. I’m home now so plugging it in for another hour or so to see. If still nothing then I’ll leave it plugged in over night and see if I can get it to a full charge.

Like you said though, if this really is the extent of how much it hurts then guaranteed it can’t be permanent or do anything since you have to feel SOMETHING!!! The main thing concerning me is the posts online people saying they can’t use it higher than a 3 because it hurts, like I feel zero difference between 1 or 5. I know how to test it after though. The SIlk’n barely hurt as well until I tried it on my bikini line and other places down there, that I definitely felt. So if I feel nothing with this there then we’ll have an issue!

#10

I have the tria 1

It hurts just as much for me if not more than professional treatments (on level 3.) I found it pretty much unbearable on stomach/chest without numbing cream. I only ended up doing a couple of spots as it was painful and could see it would take forever (without permanent results)

I would compare the pain to lightsheer, but more than coolglide

I’m guessing you guys don’t have very coarse hair? (tbh mine isn’t all that coarse anyway)

#11

Well then something is wrong with mine or I don’t know what. It’s still charging so I won’t judge until it’s at full charge. I just had a professional treatment today on my abdomen to my pubic hair line. I shaved even lower on my pubic line because I want it to be very low. I’m male so the hair there is as coarse as any guys pubic hair and I felt absolutely nothing, maybe a tiny bit of heat. I went even lower between my legs still nothing. On my ankle shaved a tiny spot of hair felt nothing again. I’m going to let it fully charge and try it again but this is not a professional feeling treatment at all. The touchup I did on my abdomen with the Apogee Elite today hurt like hell. Not too impressed so far.

How did it charge for you guys? It says 2 hours normal charge that the fans will come on and off, or quiet charge is 8 hours no fans. I’ve had NO fans come on, only when I was testing it out but none while charging.

#12

yeah if you are feeling no pain then there is defo something wrong with the machine. I don’t imagine a full charge will help - If I charge mine briefly it hurts just the same but you get less shots.

vulpes did a similar write up on it a while back and he also found the pain unbearable without numbing cream (and he’s had professional laser done as well)

I’m not sure how long mine takes to charge. Maybe 3 hours or so. Yeah fans come on all the time if you do the quick charge.

#13

I just tried it again on my foot the one area I wanted to use it on, I felt NOTHING. Like zero. It might as well have been turned off, it would do the 2 beeps and flash red but nothing at all. The area was cold after. I hit one spot 5 times in a row, was cold to the touch. Also 3 hours on quick charge, never finished charging and the fans didn’t come on once. GRrrrrr!

#14

Maybe it’s not actually on quick charge. Maybe it’s glitching and stuck in the quiet-charge mode? Most reviews I saw before buying it said that it was pretty painless, so maybe vulpes actually had a malfunctioning one that worked more intensely than it’s supposed to? That would explain why he got some results and others didn’t…

#15

Yeah maybe I dunno!!! Some reviews people say it hurts others they say nothing. I can put it into slow charge mode (or at least I think I can). RIght now the 3 lights go fast, but pressing power slows them to a crawl. Maybe I should try that mode for a bit maybe it’s backwards! Either way it still has a charge and is running so I don’t think that it would matter how charged it was…

#16

ha, not sure what reviews you’ve been reading - but all the ones I read said it was too painful on level 3 around bikini etc

Trust me, mine hurts significantly. Like lightsheer (minus the burns)

#17

Well I bought it brand new on eBay I’ll contact the seller see what they say. Annoying thing is there was $15 in custom charges I had to pay, so if I get a replacement usually I have to pay to ship it back then I’ll get another $15 customs charge so not even sure if it’s worth getting another one or if I should put the $460 I spent on it just towards actual professional treatments lol. I think there has to be something wrong though, no fan while charging at all? I’ll leave it plugged in all night too see if it ever finishes charging, that will pretty much explain that!

#18

Maybe sell it to some poor chump who doesn’t realize it’s not working? Apparently, that’s what the last seller did. >_>

:stuck_out_tongue:

By the way, even though I felt nothing, I still had shedding. So since you’re hoping for shedding as a temporary hair-removal method, maybe wait it out and see if you get any?

#19

Yeah I’m going to play it by ear. I’m just concerned with the charging, the fact that 3 hours and it’s still not done with no fan, I dunno doesn’t seem right to me. Then the more I think of it, it’s such a small spot size and a lot of work just to get some shedding. Like I was really thinking for my legs. Right now I wax them once in awhile or before summer since it takes forever for the hair to grow back, so I thought use Tria get the same results maybe longer and maybe it will come back finer, keep using it and even if not permanent, have a big change. But the battery is the killer on it! The spot size is small but it’s fast at least to move to another spot. I literally did the 6" by 3" on my foot in 2 minutes if that. It wouldn’t be so bad if it was a 30 minute charge, since I figured do a bit, charge it, do some more charge it etc. But 2 hours that’s a day or two just to cover your legs! I’m not too concerned though, if the unit is defective I should be covered by paypal and be able to return it. Worst case I’m out $30 or so, $15 for the customs and prob $15 to ship it. I’d go to town treating everywhere before returning it but if it doesn’t work, that’s a lot of ingrown hairs and unpleasantness in some areas!

#20

Next time you buy on eBay from someone outside your country, ask them to put “gift” on the customs form. Then you won’t have to pay anything. I always do that for int’l buyers.