Review of Soprano XL

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

Hey everyone,

So I thought I’d post a quick review on my experience with the Soprano XL. I know I posted one forever ago after one treatment with it at one clinic, but I tried it again at another probably 6-8 months ago or so not sure how long now and just thought I’d give an update.

The first time I used it I had NO shedding and hated it. About 6-8 months ago or so I bought a Groupon type deal which was $199 and was for unlimited hair removal for 1 year on 5 body parts. Full legs counted as 2, which is why I bought the deal since it’s like $350 a session at my clinic with alexandrite, then I included forearms and also chest which I’ve already done laser on and am pretty much as far as I can go with it. The deal however was for LightSheer which is why I got it.

I went for my first treatment with LightSheer and found it was okay, a little painful but not as bad as alexandrite. After the 10 days or so, I only had maybe 60% shedding. At my first appointment as well my tech told me that she had just bought a Soprano XL which was disappointing since at that time I did not want Soprano XL at all. She told me we can keep using LightSheer if I want but should try out the Soprano.

At my next treatment we used the Soprano. The one thing I liked was that she told me she would keep going over the area until I told her I couldn’t handle the heat anymore, or until she thought it was treated enough. That made me happy since the first time I used it they did it so fast there was no way it could be effective.

She spent awhile on each area and it definitely got hot. I found treatment took just as long, if not longer as the LightSheer did. Anyway to my surprise, around day 10, the hair was falling out like mad. Pretty much 100% fell out, the exact same way it does when I’d have treatment with Apogee Elite alexandrite. So that made me super excited.

I did a few more treatments with it, spaced about 8 weeks apart, but she would only treat hair that was visible and not areas that were still hair free. All in all I did about 4 treatments with it I believe.

Anyway, due to scheduling and some other issues, I haven’t been able to go in for my next treatment which she scheduled 12 weeks after my last one. So now I’m about 15 weeks since my last one and have full regrowth. However, it looks like pretty much nothing has happened! The hair looks exactly the same that it did before, or if anything MAYBE 10% less. The structure of the hair seems a bit different, like before it was more curly where as now it seems more straight, but I wouldn’t say I’ve had a big reduction at all. Definitely not the same reduction my forearms had for example after 4 treatments with the alexandrite.

So I’m disappointed with it and really don’t feel that it’s that effective. My forearms and chest have no change either since I started going there (however both those areas have had around 8 sessions already with alexandrite so I wasn’t expecting much to happen). I’m not going to complete my package and instead will just bite the bullet and pay the $350 or whatever it is to treat my legs with the alexandrite at my current clinic.

#2

Wow, this is disappointing. I am using the Soprano xl too. I guess I will see the treatments through and hope I have better results. How did the hairs look when they grew back between treatments? Did they look thinner, more sparse, or did they look the same. My bikini area looks to be promising. There is a huge difference between the areas treated and untreated. The hair looks much thinner, and much less of it grows in. This is after 2 treatments. Thanks for the review either way.

#3

It’s kind of mixed actually. Since I wrote this review ages ago I haven’t done anymore treatments on my legs. There are areas that definitely have less growth and I think there may have been some reduction. I’ll have to dig out my old before pictures to check as maybe I’m just used to it the way it’s been. I think the challenge with the Soprano is that unlike other lasers where you fire the pulse and that area is 100% treated, the Soprano depends on how much time they spend on the area. So on your first leg they may spend a long time on your lower leg, then thigh, but then when they’re on your second leg if the appointment is running long etc they might go faster meaning less pulses hit the skin and so on. There’s just a lot more variables with the Soprano is all. Between the treatments the area is totally smooth as all the hair does shed.

I actually was thinking of this review the other day and I think I would change it bit as I don’t think it’s quite as bad as I had said. I think I definitely do have a reduction, its just hard to tell since legs grow back so slowly that you get used to seeing them totally bare for a couple months so when hair comes back it looks bad. A few of my treatments as well were done about 6 weeks apart so that’s too soon for legs also.

I think it depends on what you’re paying for Soprano as I do thing it does work, it’s just not as efficient. So I’d never pay like $300 a treatment for legs on it, but if it’s one of those deals where it’s $199 for unlimited for a year etc then I think it’s totally fine.

#4

I agree with you. I would never pay full price either. But I don’t want my $199 to go to waste. I had the problem you mentioned. One of the places I went to would undertreat my arms. Since it didn’t hurt at all, I was happy that it was painless. Until I read these forums and didn’t see much shedding. This last time I went there I asked the technician to treat the area longer, and felt more heat and pain which tells me it’s finally treating the hairs. I’m gonna wait and see what kind of fallout I have this time. If I had the money I would go with an Alexandrite, but for now I have to do with Soprano.