Soprano laser experience

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

Hi everyone, it’s my first time posting. I am fairly new to laser hair removal, but I’ve gotten some electrolysis done on my upper lip for a few months. I got 2 groupon packages, one for full arms and one for 6 areas (bikini, armpits, upperlip, sideburns, hands and feet. They both use the Soprano laser.

I went to the first one December 27. It didn’t hurt at all, the lady used the SHR mode. I felt slight warmth. After a few weeks, I didn’t notice much shedding, however about half the hair would come out if I pulled on them. These hairs never fell out but stopped growing at 3-5mm while the others kept growing normally. I called the tech and she told me I shouldn’t expect shedding the first time.

January 26th, I went to the other laser clinic. I asked her upfront if I should expect shedding, and she said after 2 weeks. I was very surprised when she started doing my bikini area because it was very painful. It felt much warmer, nearing hot. I could feel prickling all over the area. It was unbearable for me, I was squirming the whole time. I was so shocked because the other treatment I had was nothing like this. She laso used SHR mode. All the other areas were almost as painful, and of course she wouldn’t take a break because the SHR technique has to heat the hair to a certain degree.

I noticed she was using the setting 10 on top and 26 on the bottom. The other place was using 10 and 10. I don’t know what these setting correspond to, maybe someone can enlighten me. What do I make of this? Is the first clinic not using high enough settings? And is the procedure supposed to be this painful. I know laser hair removal is painful but the Soprano claims to be painless. I am actually more confident of the second clinic because of the “no pain, no gain” mantra this forum uses. Also the second plcae asked me not to shave the hands, feet, upperlip and sideburns next treatment. Is this normal? I thought if I don’t shave the laser would be burning the hairs exposed.

Edit: I should mention I am female, with Type II/III skin and black hair.

#2

Hey Dackerie,

That sounds like my Soprano experience. I first used it at one clinic which was owned by a former poster Odi on here. I did underarms and then my full legs. Unfortunately I don’t know what settings were used and I’m not sure what the settings you mentioned refer to. When I went for my treatment she started on my underarms. In total I’d say she spent around 2-3 minutes on each underarm and by the end it was definitely feeling hot. On my legs she did both of them probably in 15 minutes total. It was really fast, I felt some prickles (which is typically how diode lasers feel) but I never had that heat sensation. Couple weeks later, underarms were shedding but nothing on the legs so I immediately figured Soprano XL was garbage and ruled it out.

I then bought a Groupon which was $200 and was for full legs, full arms, and chest. When I went for my first session it was with the Soprano and I was surprised when she told me to tell her when the area she’s treating starts to get really hot feeling. She would spend a lot of time on an area and it would almost get to the point where it was too painful to handle. Not as painful as say an alexandrite laser, but painful in the sense that you had all this crazy heat on the area. Anyway 2 weeks later, I had pretty much the exact same shedding results that I’d get with an alexandrite, almost 100% hair free so I was really surprised.

So I think it depends entirely on the person doing the treatment and how good they are. Actually just remembered I did another with Soprano 2 months ago was a deal I bought and did the back of my neck. She took I bet 5 seconds to do the area and that was it! No shedding of course, so emailed the deal place and they gave me a refund. Most are really good for that.

One trick you may want to try is that most hair doesn’t just fall out on its own even if it’s ready. What I do sometimes is after 2-3 weeks, I put duct tape on the area and press it down hard and then slowly peel it off. Don’t rip it off like waxing just peel it off. It’s sticky enough that any hair that’s ready to come out will easily be removed, but hair that isn’t, it’s not strong enough to rip out. Kind of fun to do that! Sometimes 2 weeks after doing my legs they still look full of hair then I do that and they get completely hair free.

#3

Thanks for replying. I am excited as I can pull out the hairs on the treated areas with ease. It’s been one week since my treatment, so I’m gonna give it 3 weeks to fall out on their own. I know shedding doesn’t mean permanent hair removal but I’m glad to see any results.

I have another appointment coming up with the place that is treating my arms. Should I get a refund for the deal because I didn’t see full shedding? Plus the technician won’t admit that if the treatment is effective there should be shedding. Or could I kindly let her know she should use more powerful settings without insulting her?

One more question. Should I not shave before going in for laser treatments like I was told, or is that a bad idea? The laser technician told me not to shave the areas with fine hair like the upperlip.

#4

If it’s for the face, don’t shave. Any other area, shave a day before.

As edokid mentioned, using the Soprano takes skill and experience.

10 and 10 or 10 and 26 is the same thing really. They are both 10. What you saw could have been skin type setting which is meaningless if it’s in SHR mode. The amount of pain you will feel would depend on the amount of energy that they put into the area. They usually count that either by passes on the area or by the amount of joules that the machine is showing. 10 means 10 joules 10 times per second so every second you get 100 joules. If it was for example set to 9 that would be 9 joules times 10 per second which is 90 joules per second.

You also need to remember that these clinics are losing ALOT of money on those deals, so it’s somewhat of a gamble. To do it right they would have to be willing to lose money on every single customer or slack a little bit and save themselves money and then you won’t be getting the results you are looking for.

#5

edokid, i love your duct tape idea but it doesn’t seem to work for me. IS it any particular form of duct tape? My just doesn’t seem to have the sticky power!

#6

Hmm not really, just the regular gray duct tape… I had a black one here before from something and it didn’t stick at all. I think there’s an actual duct tape brand, but I don’t think I have that, just the regular gray one!