And then… silence.

Anna, Anka, James, Fozzy, Merel… and some others stumbled upon olivetalks and kindly wondered where had I got to. What happened to the hairs? What happened to the Rio machine? Should a Rio Laser Hair Remover machine be added to the Christmas wish list? LadyRostand, be a sport and give us an update, they pleaded.

So, because the end of the year is coming and I do not like having unfinished business/tasks carried forward to dirty the brand new year we all get on the 1st of January (a day when you feel you are forgiven for all the previous failed plans and you think you will be able to follow through all the “new” brilliant resolutions) and also because I feel I owe it all of you readers, specially those who have left comments (much appreciated!), here I am. It is Wednesday 24 December and I am about to publish the last Rio Hair Remover Machine post of 2008.

So what happened? Why did I suddenly stop?

If you read the 1st post of all, I said, and I quote: I intend to log [the use I make of the Rio machine] for 6 months, for two reasons: 1. they do say in the instructions it takes a few months/applications to see “real” results; 2. that’s how long I have before I’ll be going to the beach to suntan. That was on January 16th, 2008, so only 5 months since I started posting on Rio.

The boxing match day post was not the last day I used the Laser remover, for I actually used it one more time. Two weeks after that post, I grabbed the machine and I lasered my bikini line once more. As a farewell more than expecting much. Not because I did not intend to use the Rio machine again, but because I was leaving for holidays and after exposing the skin to the sun, they say you should not use the Laser Remover for a while (was it 2 months?).

So I left on holidays… and I had to shave. A few hairs seemed to be gone, but how could I tell if I had bold patches like TheAymster mentions on her last post if I was not sure about the initial density of hairs? Then again, if the results were so little visible, did the Rio machine do anything at all? I must admit, I could not care less while I was reading besides the swimming pool with the sun warming my back.

Then I came back from holidays and I knew I had a last Rio post way overdue. I even mentioned it in the somewhat apologetic post of August. And… I could just not get myself to write. Why? Well, if you have read TheAymster latest post on NoNo you have probably guessed…

I was bored out of my senses.

No, not of life, mind you, but of the Rio Machine. Using the machine is boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooring. Really really boring. I mean, I was so bored of using it, that I had to hide the box underneath some clothes so it would stop causing this boredom feeling from crawling up my skin every time I happened to glance in its direction. Even thinking about writing the last post on Rio was making me feel bored.

So…, did it work?

What, not thinking about it?

No, silly, the Rio machine.

Oh, I don’t know… Not much I think.

You should have used it more often to see results, some could say.

Puff! I would reply.

“Puff” what?

puff… zzzzzzzzz

I see… so… are you giving up?

Puff… no?

You mean you will try again?

Puff… I guess… in January… I could include it in my list of new year resolutions… I mean, if people are interested…

<< previous entry -“Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? –

Related post(s)

• Rio versus NoNo – which one is better? (8)
• “Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? day 10 (11)
• “Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? day 9 (16)
• “Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? day 8 (15)
• “Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? armpits area (day 4) (10)

BUT, olivetalks is not dead, it was just in a coma! A coma caused by overwork, a few days holidays and… did I mention too much work? So no posts have appeared in over a month and some of our regulars have started wondering whether to call the police to search for us (thanks Anna, iworms, Aymster!) but we are back! Yes, my dear “virtual” friends. We are back and we will make it up to you for not deserting us in these weeks of complete silence.

In the next weeks we have already lined up:

• Two posts on nono (thanks to TheAymster, of course)
• An interview with TheAymster on nono
• A post on Rio which was written 3 weeks ago and has been gathering Internet dust since then
• A post on Edinburgh’s Fringe festival
• and many more!
  

For today, I will leave you with the news that we are back and a small treat: check out olivetalks new page Koen Suidgeest’s blogs, from where you can access this producer/director’s blogs on films and documentaries (as in blogs where he shares his everyday experiences while preparing films!).

Excited at olivetalks revival? We are

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• Rio versus NoNo – which one is better? (8)
• “Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? update 2 (14)
• NoNo post – Where did you go? (1)
• NoNo post – day 51 – Eureka! (2)
• NoNo post – day 42 – Definite Results (0)

with my posts on the Rio machine posts, I have been sharing with you my impressions on the machine as I battled against those unwanted ever-growing hairs. The intention as you all know, is to help you decide whether buying the Rio machine is worth it or not, as the machine costs a fair amount.

When I was first thinking about buying it myself or not, I went to quite a few web sites where users had commented on the Rio Salon Laser Scanning Hair Remover (ok, from now, I will use the Amazon acronym Rio LAHS, the name is ridiculously long!). I was not very convinced with the user comments I found, as they all posted just a week after buying the product and never again afterwards, and the instructions of the Rio LAHS clearly say that it takes quite a few months to see its results (not because the machine is slow, but because the process is slow. It takes the same amount of time if you go to a professional salon! or so they say…). And this is how the idea of the olivetalks posts on Rio came up. The second thing that was initially stopping me from purchasing this machine was not knowing if the Rio LAHS was better or not from other similar products like no!no! or TRIA. At the end, I just went for the one I “had the feeling” I had read less comments against and… was easier for me to get (as in it was the only one advertised in the on line shopping magazine I had received a few weeks earlier).

So where am I getting at with this long introduction? Well, wouldn’t you agree that even better than reading about someone’s experiences over a period of a year on the Rio LAHS to see if it is good or not, it would be reading about someone’s experiences on the Rio machine AND the other Hair Remover machines? This way you would be able to compare them better and choose the one that convinces you most! Am I not right?

Well, today I am glad to announce the beginning of… No!No! Hair Remover posts in olivetalks!

No, I did not buy myself a No!No! machine, as my pocket is still recovering from buying the Rio one. And no, the No!No! producers did not send me a free “sample” to try and comment on (did they not get the hint from one my comments in the Rio post day 9?). But in olivetalks we are going to offer you the second best thing: guest posts on No!No!

One of our readers has been kind enough to agree to move her No!No! posts to olivetalks and this way provide other people in the same situation as us more information on the different hair removal machines out there. Isn’t she nice?

And additionally to her posts, we will be having entries on the differences between the Rio machine and No!No!, interviews,…

So watch out, readers, because the No!No! posts from TheAymster are coming to olivetalks! And to you TheAymster, welcome!

All the best,

LadyRostand

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• “Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? update 2 (14)
• “Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? day 10 (11)
• “Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? day 9 (16)
• “Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? day 8 (15)
• “Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? armpits area (day 4) (10)

The boxing match

Ladies and gentlemen! cried the presenter from the middle of the ring. Welcome to the fight of the decade! The one you have all (hairy people) been waiting for!

On the right corner… shouted the presenter while a bright light shone on the right arm, I mean, corner …coming all the way from the right forearm, in an otherwise hairless and white skin area, The Blacky Hair!!!!

yaaay! screamed the audience. Hold on to your roots! Hold on to your roots! chanted the crowd, while The Blacky Hair stood proudly, with its 1 cm length and obvious strength, extremely conspicuous among the otherwise thin, weak and scarce hairs in the creamy coloured forearm.

The Blacky Hair, our champion from the last few years will be facing a new challenger tonight! He will be fighting the machine that has been threatening the survival of many other non-sleeping hairs… Ladies and gentlemen!!!! this morning… I bring you… all the way from Rio, showing up now on the left corner of the ring… The Laser Hair Remover!!!

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!! went the excited crowd.

And among the cheering and deafening sounds coming from the audience, The Blacky Hair looked and growled at The Laser Hair Remover, which was noticing the pressure to perform well (aware of its doubtful track so far against other nasty hairs) but nevertheless still feeling confident in its resistance, if not speed, and suddenly it was heard Let the fight begin!

Ting! Round 1, the bell announced…

The Laser Hair Remover after a sneaky scissory move that reduced The Blacky Hair to a 5th of its height, jumped over it and pinned it down for 30 seconds straight! The Blacky Hair, though, having heard about its opponent’s moves, successfully managed to avoid he blunt of the attack and just receive a sided Laser “heat”. The Laser Hair Remover knowing that a second attack in the same area to try to improve its aim would be considered a foul move, backed off, hoping that the first punch will prove to have been enough to burn its opponent to its roots…

Round 2 coming soon…

PS. After this 1st round, The Laser Remover went to practice a bit more, attacking “old acquaintances” in the Bikini Line, practicing its aim and working on improving its success rate.

<< previous entry -“Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? – continue reading >>

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• “Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? armpits area (day 4) (10)

Just a few minutes before sitting down to write the post on today’s experience with the Rio Machine, I talked briefly with my mother via msn. I have copied and pasted here the part regarding Rio because it pretty much summarized my feelings at the moment. I have kept the conversation in Spanish which is how it took place, and I have translated freely into English underneath.

(22:07:27) mother: ya vi que estan muy interesado con tu depilacion

I saw they are very interested in your depilation

(22:07:32) LadyRostand: a que si????

Aren’t they???

(22:07:47) mother: si, asi que ponle mas enfasis positivo

Yes, so write with a more positive attitude

(22:07:51) LadyRostand: pero no voy a mentir!

But I am not going to lie!

(22:07:57) LadyRostand: el problema es que yo que me he aburrido ya…

The problem is I am already bored (of the whole process)

(22:08:28) mother: ya, pero yo estoy segura de que funciona, el problema eres tu que quieres resultados inmediatos

I know, buy I am sure it works, the problem is you, because you want immediate results

Constancy is not one my strengths, true, specially if there are no obvious advantages to it. When I bought the Rio Laser machine, I wanted to be able to stop having to shave (duh, you may think). And preferably within a couple of sessions. True as well. Sure, I read that it requires patience and multiple sessions… but as always, I thought: sure! no problem! But after a couple of weeks it’s like, ok, I’m bored, and the hairs continue to grow unperturbed by my attacks… With today’s session, I have lasered my bikini line 9 times in almost 5 months. So, about twice per month. The results? The demise of some isolated hairs.

So, yes, my mother is right: I want results fast and without too much effort from my part. And yes, if it weren’t for you: The Aymster, Anna, Monique, Sebastian… I would have stopped using the Rio Laser months ago already. So thank you! When the results take time, it is always so much easier to do anything if there are people encouraging you…

So, with summer a month away, it is time to do some emergency planning from the experience gained. The Rio Laser Hair Remover Machine is NOT going to make me bikini-line hairless by the 1st of July. Specially if I keep finding it more and more difficult to get myself to use the machine because of it’s tediousness. Ok. But, what it CAN do, is remove those hairs that appear near the bikini line, by themselves and, of course, because they are extra black, they tend to stay perpendicular to the leg and have the ability to make themselves extra conspicuous. Now, I have seen it work against isolated hairs. I can perfectly point half a dozen places in my body where there was a hair that would every second week appear and say “hi there, I am back” (with a nasty tiny grin, I must add) and now are hairless (HA! I could have shouted to those now gone hairs, but didn’t for fear of sounding too crazy).

So we have a plan for the bikini like, ladies and gentlemen. I will still have to shave most of the bikini-line this summer, but oh, those nasty isolated hairs (like the sneaky single black one that appears under my bellybutton) are going down!

<< previous entry -“Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? – continue reading >>

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As I mentioned on armpits day 4, this bikini session number 8 already was going to have a very special guest. ZoltarStark agreed to be in charge of lasering my bikini line! The aim of the experiment was to 1. try out the idea of whether it is easier/less boring if someone else does it for you. 2. have another person’s opinion on the machine besides mine in olivetalks (as the readers who got the machine are so entertained with it, they have not come back to share their stories )

A few days before the session, in preparation to Saturday’s test, I shaved with cream the bikini area. Now, you might have read in previous entries that I had decided to trim the hairs in the bikini line one by one with scissors and not shave like I do with my armpits, to avoid the after shaving bumps/irritation on the skin. Unfortunately, I forgot the rationale behind my plan, and to make it easier for ZoltarStark to laser the area, i did shave… and regreted it 24 hours later when the bumps appeared. Fortunately, by Saturday they had subdued quite a bit and we could proceed with the test.

So I taught him how to turn on the Rio machine, the code, how to place the wand, how to press the botton while lasering, how the blinking sound and light stop after the 30 seconds in Power Level III are over, and how to raise the wand and proceed to the next 5 mm of skin. And how do I aim? he asked… with difficulty, I answered. So, I laid back on our huge and amazing sofa, relaxed and settled to enjoy the show. 5 minutes. After 5 minutes the speech on how it was a waste of time and hairs are there for a reason and are a natural thing and we should not be wasting time shaving/lasering began. He decided against going after the hairs I pointed out and just do slowly but steadyly piece by piece (like Katie Malua’s song) the whole area. Ignoring if he could see hairs or not. As part of the excercise, I decided to shut up and let him do After a few more minutes we concluded that if you can get someone else to do it for you (husband/boyfriend/girlfriend…) they will rather hand you the money to go to a professional salon 10 times than spend another minute with the slow death machine. Think about it, you could get 10 sessions in a beauty salon for the price of one Rio machine: you get the machine, get the person that loves you but agrees you’d maybe be better without those hairs on your legs, or arms, or whereever, and chances are, after 5 minutes, they will either give you the money for the salon or admit they actually like you “just like you are”, à la Bridget Jones, with hairs and all.

Regardless of whether the person doing it gets tired or not, I have to say it was really cool having someone else do the lasering and hold the wand. While ZoltarStark patiently “wanded” around (new word? ) I was able to write notes for this post.

After an hour on my left leg, ZoltarStark, with a stiff neck and a bored and dreading face exclaimed “and that was only one leg (bikini-line side)!?” And with a Scroogian voice he added “Ridiculous procedure, I don’t even see any difference“. Yup, I mentioned that in one of my first posts on the Rio Laser Hair Remover machine. “LadyRostand… can we take a short break?” sure honey… “LadyRostand… how about just doing the left leg? That way we can compare both sides in a week’s time to see if there are any differences…” Sure honey

So, in reality, this is day 8 for the left side of my bikini line, but the right side’s last session was on day 7. And now it’s been almost a week. Do I see any differences between both sides? Let me check…. hard to say… how annoying…

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• “Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? armpits area (day 4) (10)

On armpits-day 3, I wondered if I would notice a decrease in hairs by the next session, as I hadn’t noticed anything so far. Today I have to say, I do have the impression there is a decrease in the density of hairs. It’s not plainly obvious, but less hairs seem to have grown since last time I shaved. I guess I will be able to say if it’s really true, or I’m just wishfully imagining, by next session. Fingers crossed…

Today it took three hours…

Left arm up, half the armpit done, left hand falls asleep, right arm up, half the armpit done, right hand falls asleep, phone rings, chat with sister for half an hour, left arm up again, remaining half of the armpit done, uy, starving, cook and eat lunch, right arm up again, remaining half of the armpit done. Phew… if it weren’t for Xoro and Friends chapters, I wouldn’t last half the time doing it. Ok, and knowing that you (yes, you, reader) are interested in the results, helps too.

I have two months to my self-imposed deadline (30th of June) when I’ll have to stop using the laser Rio machine until I come back from sunbathing (as I do not want to get any spots in the lasered areas as they say it might happen if they are exposed to the Sun during the month after a laser session). I do not see myself not having to shave at all this summer, but at least there will be less hair to shave AND those stray isolated hairs that appear in the oddest places and I have targeted won’t be there. Small victory against the hairs, but a victory nevertheless. And as Connie said, maybe not this year, nor the next, but oh, all the hairs are going eventually down! Ok, not the ones on my head, eyebrows and eyelashes. I am fond of those. Oh and I don’t mind the ones on my arms either…

Last thing of the day: I am always looking for new stories to share with you to complement each entry of the Rio Laser Hair Remover. I doubt you would like a dozen posts with only “armpits done, initial number of hairs: 120, result after a week: 110″. So, if you have any questions or suggestions of what would you like to know about the process, or you’d like to share your stories, do let me know. You can always leave a note with a random nickname, so you shouldn’t be shy, nobody is going to know who you are. But for next session (bikini area day 8 already!) I have an interesting experiment lined up. I think it’s going to be fun. Sneak preview? ZoltarStark is going to be involved…

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So, my impressions on the “Instructions DVD” that comes in the box: hopefully the money Rio saved in the editing and design of the DVD was used to ensure the machine works… I mean, the DVD works and is quite informative, but:

• the lighting is terrible (no, the woman does not appear under unflattering lights, it’s just that the whole image is so white: white walls, white chair, white woman, white machine… that the menu is very hard to see),
• the sound is not perfect (at the beginning of each chapter you can notice a second has been cut off from the beginning of the sentence. It’s quite funny actually, specially in the Spanish version where the woman goes “tamiento en modo simple” instead of “tratamiento…“. Hey, the machine, thanks to the DVD, did manage to entertain me a moment at least, after all!),
• after playing it all, the DVD stops, instead of going back to the main menu. So? why would I want to watch it all over again? The DVD is 11 minutes long, and a bikini line session lasts at least an hour…

As I was saying, it is actually easier to follow the idea behind the machine with the DVD than from reading the booklet. If you do buy the Rio machine, I do recommend you have a look at the video first of all. It comes in 6 languages: English, French, German, Dutch, Italian and Spanish and it shows you how to turn it on, the options and gives you a hint on how to use it. I say a hint, because when they explain the Single Hair mode, they do not tell you how to aim correctly. As I have mentioned in previous entries of Rio Laser Hair Remover, does it work?, if I find it difficult to aim with the Scan mode, I would never make it with the Laser in single hair mode. I was hoping the DVD would explain how to do it.

The DVD does mention that you can use the machine again on the same area, after 24 hours, but it also says that for the hairs to disappear you need 6 sessions over a period of 6 months. My impression is that while in a professional place it would take 6 sessions of say one hour, spread over 6 months, with the Rio Scan Laser machine it will take not only twice the number of sessions in the same 6 months but also more than double the time per session.

So one looks at the machine and goes, why? oh why am I wasting my time with the machine when in a professional place it would be quicker? And the answer comes from the pocket: ‘cos we don’t have the money my dear. Yes, my pocket calls me “my dear”. But does this thing work?? And if you remain very very silent, among the mean laughter of the 90 hairs that continue to grab themselves to their roots with all their might, you will hear the silence of those 10 hairs that you know were there and have not appeared in weeks now.

Shhh… die you little buggers…

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I have not noticed any hair reduction in my armpits yet. Hopefully I’ll start seeing it by the next session which I have planned in 3 weeks time.

Extra-info of the day, regarding “Laser Hair Removal Treatments” versus “Intense Pulsed Light Hair Removal Treatments“: According to a provider of Laser/IPL machines I talked to during my trip, both methods take the same amount of time, cost about the same and their results are comparable. They are both photoepilation treatments in which light (heat) is applied to the root of the hair to destroy it and therefore prevent hair regrowth. The difference seems to be on the number of wavelengths used. While the Laser uses one, the IPL machines use a broader band of wavelengths. The possibility of using different wavelengths means they can choose more appropriate wavelengths depending on type of hair, skin color, etc.

The same way shampoos don’t have the same effects on everybody’s hair (Pantene anti-dandruff shampoo actually increases my dandruff!), it sounds reasonable that there should be differences in the Laser / IPL specifications as well for each person/hair type. Funny though that the guy said they were both as efficient as the differences between the methods should make IPL better…

More next week. Bye bye!

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• bikini-line 6th day, and it’s been over 3 weeks since last treatment
• armpits 3rd day, and it’s been over 5 weeks since last treatment

During my trip I confirmed, as I was saying in my last post, that even in salons you must go 5 or 6 times before the hair starts to disappear AND you must leave over a month between sessions, so I am still not discouraged with the results of my experiment. The hairs are there but I do know of a couple of them that have not grown back. Patience, they say…

Today I should do both my bikini-line and my armpits, but as we have already seen, it takes about an hour to do each part (more, if you have more patience). As I do not have two hours today to spend on the hairs, I am going to do the following: today I will trim and attack all the hairs I see in my bikini-line and shave with cream my armpits. I will then publish this post. In a couple of days, with the armpits’ crops ~ 2 mm long, I will laser the armpits and publish the new post. How’s that?

I’ve been meaning to write a disclaimer for a while now, for it is important that you trust my opinion. I have seen many entries in forums and blogs where they discuss a product and you can easily see that their opinions are biased because, basically, they are getting paid to promote the product. So here goes my disclaimer:

Disclaimer: I do not work for or receive any payments from the Rio company for these posts. I might receive some money if you buy the Rio Machine using the Amazon or Google links, but

1. I would also get money if you bought the Philips DVD player I strongly object to in my Price does not equal quality… post or the funny looking “Briquette Maker for Recycling Newspaper and Junk Mail eko-mania” thingy (why would you buy that??) that just appeared for a sec as the Amazon “related” (seriously?) to olivetalks’ contents ad.
   
2. If my conclusion is at the end, that the Rio Laser machine does not work, I will say it. Even if it means nobody buys it and I have to admit I wasted money and let’s face, by now, even more time.

There, disclaimer written. Now to today’s impressions.

It took me an hour to slowly trim with scissors plus laser every hair in my bikini-line. I could have spent a second hour but my neck was starting to complain from looking down… I increased the power level to 4 because… well, because I’m getting impatient. The first 5 sessions in the bikini area were quite close together so from one week to the next I could easily trim the stubborn hairs and laser them. Today, it felt like I was starting all over again, because they were all long and… “everywhere”. Everywhere between quotes because, as I have mentioned in other posts, I have not tagged all the hairs and I don’t really know if these are the original hairs or the original ones “died” and these are the famous dormant hairs starting to appear. Hopefully the latter is true.

Today’s afterthought: when you decide to laser your hairs, you get hooked. I mean the process is boring but when you see a black hair you laser it, right? Once you are not paying attention to that one, you notice the two nearby hairs that are not as black as the first one (that’s why they weren’t the ones that caught your attention to begin with). So you laser those two. And that’s when you see the 5 hairs around the initial five which are even a lighter “shade of black”… and so on. I have to stop myself from expanding the target area and stay focus on the hairs of the bikini line which belong to my experiment area number 1. In this sense, the Rio Laser Machine is worth it. You can do as many areas as you want, for the same price. I wonder if I keep this going and the Rio machine works, if I’ll end up like the tiny birds at the end of Pixar’s “for the Birds“… now that’s an image!

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But I could not let two weeks pass without some kind of update. As far as my target areas go (armpits and bikini line) I am still not able to see any general decrease of hair density, but the few hairs I targeted by themselves do seem to be gone. I am not discouraged yet.

To complete my opinion on the Rio machine I purchased, I have visited a couple of beauty parlors this week to compare prices. Feigning ignorance, I asked about their laser treatments and sessions, prices,…

First discovery was that both places I went to did not carry out “Laser Hair Removal Treatments” but “Intense Pulsed Light Hair Removal Treatments”. I have done an initial search in Google and have found that in general… there is a lot of confusion about the differences between both methods of hair removal. I will try to learn more about Laser versus IPL (also known as Photoepilation, it seems). So far though, from what they said about IPL treatments, it sounds exactly the same: one must leave 4 or 5 weeks between sessions, you must make sure the treated areas are out of the sun, some dark spots might appear, you must treat each area at least 5 times, and the prices… are astronomical. As my friends were saying: around 60 EUR per session for the armpits, 60 EUR per session for the bikini line, about 25 EUR for the upper lip (fancy way of calling women’s mustachio area… )…

Today I’m keeping it short. Bye bye!

<< previous entry -“Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? – continue reading >>

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• Rio versus NoNo – which one is better? (8)
• “Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? day 10 (11)
• “Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? day 9 (16)

Both the instructions and any pages about hair growth in the Internet, talk about hair being in one of three stages:

Anagen or active phase (when it’s growing), Catagen or degradation phase (when it’s just there) and Telogen or resting phase (when the hairs fall out)… And hairs can only be treated effectively with the laser, when they are in the growth phase.

Ok, so whatever I do, I will only affect the ones growing. Gotcha.

In a single treatment not all the hair follicles in the active phase will be destroyed. Some may be miniaturized into light fine hairs and others enter prolonged dormancy. Armpits have a density of 65 hairs per square cm of which 28% are in resting phase (which lasts 3 months) and 69% are in the active growth phase.

I’ve been saying that I have 4 hairs per cm² in my armpits. From 4 to 65 there are lots of hairs! I wonder what am I missing… besides 61 hairs… Never mind. So they say there are 65 hairs in a cm². Of those 65, 45 will be growing (blue bars) and 18 resting (red bars). We’ll ignore the 2 degrading ones. The black horizontal line represents the skin.

So then I go and laser the cm². Remember the laser’s dimensions? If not, see the images of day 2. So I will have to pass the laser almost 3 times to cover the whole cm² (the red rectangle in the following image represents the laser…)

And they say that not all of them will be “killed”. Some will evade us, others ignore us…

And some of those resting ones will appear in a few weeks:

So you might notice an improvement (or slight deforestation) from the first image to the fourth, but overall the process is going to be slow. And because the hairs don’t just fall off, you cannot really know in hairy areas how many hairs did you get each time, at least not until some time has passed.

At the same time, if you actually see the hairs growing, surely they are in their growing phase?

So my conclusions are:

• in areas with high density of hairs (like armpits), I am going to try to be patient and just laser them every 3 or 4 weeks. This way, in theory, the hairs there will be those I have to target. And I will scan the area in a patient and orderly manner: ie zap, move, zap, move…
• in areas like the bikini line, where you actually see the independent hairs, I will target each hair directly (one by one if I have to, but using the scan mode) once per week if the bast* sorry, the darlings, have decided to continue growing.

60 minutes later…

I wish I were rich and didn’t have to do it myself because it can become tedious… So today I lasered the bikini-line for the 5th time. I cannot say if the reason I have less hair in the area is because I’ve killed them already or just a result of me trimming them every week and therefore more often than ever before.

More information next week. Bye bye!

<< previous entry -“Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? – continue reading >>

Related post(s)

• “Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? update 2 (14)
• Rio versus NoNo – which one is better? (8)
• “Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? day 10 (11)
• “Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? day 9 (16)
• “Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? day 8 (15)

In our private interview I ended up with:

So, after 4 months (that’s 180 EUR times 4, ouch!), are the hairs still growing? just some? did they fall out?….

And, after sighing, he answered:

Let’s see LadyRostand, the idea is that the hairs continue to grow, but like 30% of them fall off. With each session, 30% of the hairs you have fall (but they do not disappear completely, some of them regenerate). I didn’t see any hairs fall, but there were some hairs that if you touched them, they’d fall on your hand. Once you start with the treatment, you must never pluck them again, because that does not help. The hairs do come back, but in less quantity. What happens is you see less hairs in general. They are thinner, more delicate, they take longer to appear. I don’t know, you do notice it. It’s weird. But, as I said, it’s a long process!

So if my friend with four visits to a professional salon (spread over 4 months) thinks that the improvement is a general decrease in hairs, but not a complete localized “boldness”, it’s normal that I do not see great achievements yet. Encouraging

I had a discussion with ZoltarStark on how does the Rio laser hair remover really work and it took us a while to finally understand it. I am going to draw some pictures for next week to try to clarify it in simpler terms in olivetalks, in case more people find the explanations in the booklet and Internet as confusing as we did.

My intention with these posts was to help out other people decide if it was worth their money (and time) to buy the machine and any questions on it will be answered most readily. It seems most of you that reach these pages (hello, you googler) are too shy to ask directly, though . So, in the following weeks, I will be answering the questions olivetalks readers have, according to our Google Wordpress Stats, regarding this machine.

Finally, today’s impressions: 40 minutes on each side. My patience is definitely improving. I slowly but surely found each hair, trimmed it with scissors, and zapped it with the laser in Scan mode at power level 3. After the hour and twenty minutes of labour, quite a few smoky hair-tips and a distinct burning smell in the room. Bad thing of the day: twice I had to stop the scanning because the “pin prick” was more like a full blown ouch feeling. Maybe I got a nerve or more sensitive areas? Good thing of the day: two hairs I definitely knew the location of, have not grown back since I zapped them (one a month ago, the other one last week).

<< previous entry -“Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? – continue reading >>

Related post(s)

• “Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? armpits area (day 2) (3)
• “Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? update 2 (14)
• Rio versus NoNo – which one is better? (8)
• “Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? day 10 (11)
• “Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? day 9 (16)

In the professional salon I went to, the price per session for half a back was 180 EUR and it took around 20 minutes.

I paid around 350 EUR for the Rio Salon Laser Hair Remover. That means it cost me the same as two sessions of laser treatment on an area as big as half a back. I am treating far smaller areas. If you have read my previous posts, you will know my test areas are two 8 x 8 cm² areas (the bikini line) and two armpits 2 x 10 cm² each. Adding them up… about 13 x 13 cm² of skin. It’s easier to visualize if you grab a ruler. I’ve just phoned my friend to see how big his back is to compare and he said that although the area is a lot bigger, what they actually consider when deciding how much to charge you is the density of hair. He reckons for 180 EUR per session he had done less than the amount of hair an average male has in one of his armpits… now there’s an image. So… I think the bikini line plus the armpits surely are equivalent to this friend’s half a back, as far as amount of hair is concerned… Therefore, assuming both methods work (which is still to be seen), doing it at home is a lot cheaper. For the same amount of money you can have two sessions done either at a salon or at home. Any additional sessions at home will therefore be money saved. That’s definitely a plus.

Another friend had her upper lip done. She says it cost her about 25 EUR per session, and they told her she needed about 6 or 7. That’s about half the price of the Rio Salon machine. So if all you ever want to done is your upper lip, then it would be cheaper to go to a salon. Furthermore, I can see how it would be difficult to do the hairs close to the nose by oneself, as the wand of the Rio hair remover would bump against the nose… I’m not going to try. If anybody out there has tried it, I would really appreciate it if you could drop us a note.

So, today is my second laser treatment day for armpits. Shaved, check. Hairs 2-3 millimeter long, check. Rio Scan Laser Hair Remover connected, in Scan mode and at Power Level 3, check. Ok, here we go then…

45 minutes later…

I was a lot more thorough this time. I think I am getting better at covering all the hairs. You just need loads of patience and… to rest your arms in the middle. Ouch, they are a bit sore from holding them against a mirror so I could see where to aim better.

So now I’ve done the bikini line three times and the armpits twice, I’m already saving money! But I do think I am spending twice the time it would take in a salon As always, time versus money. More in two weeks, with the bikini line day 4. Thanks for passing by!

<< previous entry -“Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? – continue reading >>

Related post(s)

• “Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? day 4 (3)
• “Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? update 2 (14)
• Rio versus NoNo – which one is better? (8)
• “Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? day 10 (11)
• “Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? day 9 (16)

Update on how it seems to be going:

• in the bikini line (which I shaved with cream a couple of days ago in preparation for the 3rd laser treatment) I cannot say I see a reduction of hair in general. BUT it could be because I did not memorize the exact locations of where I had hair at the beginning. I have noticed though, that two isolated hairs I treated have stopped growing. I see their tips, exactly like they were 3 weeks ago. Interesting… I’ll zap them today as well
• in the armpits I do think there has been a reduction of the amount of hair. As it is a smaller area with a higher density of hair, I guess it’s easier to see. I’ll have to confirm it next week when I treat my armpits again and the following days.

As I mentioned in “Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? armpits area (day 1), I think it’s interesting to compare the home treatment with laser treatments carried out by professionals. I have asked a friend who had his back done a year ago for his opinion. I’m going to share his comments, plus compare them with my experience so far with the home treatment.

[...] at the salon, they first make you lie down. I know a friend who had her upper lip done and she had to lie down too. Then they start by shaving you with some kind of blade and they leave the hair very very trimmed. Then they apply a cream on the area to be treated which is extremely cold.

I should find out what is that cream for…

It doesn’t hurt at all. You do notice a je ne sais quoi… kind of what you mention in your posts, that “pin prick”. Like a tiny electro-shock. Like when you touch a car or someone and sparks come out, but without it being painful. It does hurt a bit more when they treat nearer to the neck, but I don’t know if it’s real pain or just a weird feeling from hearing “zap” besides your ear. You get goose-bumps there…

I agree! the “pin prick” does feel like tiny electro shocks! I guess it makes sense. You have two metallic pins on your skin and if one stops making contact, it stops the laser. So you have to be conducting some electricity between the pins for the machine to know the wand is correctly placed.

Each session is around 20 minutes, half an hour tops. After the fourth session, I started noticing the decrease in hair. But if you stop the treatments, the hair comes back. At the salon they told me I had to go 6 times minimum, 8 or 10 to have good results (depending on the type of hair), in a row. Without stopping. The sessions had to be between 3 weeks and a month apart. After this initial 6 to 10 monthly sessions, they said you can go down to once every 4 months or even once a year. And finally, all the hair will disappear.

At home it definitely takes longer per session, probably due to the size of the laser aperture and maybe the strength of the laser.

I will get back to my friend for more information, like prices and general thoughts, and let you know next week.

Session 3 done:

Today I’ve spent 40 minutes zapping away hairs in the bikini line. Quite boring if it weren’t for the Friends chapters I was semi-watching at the same time. I find it generally easier to treat hairs that I didn’t shave: I trim them with scissors just a second before targeting them and then I know exactly where to aim. It’s a slower process, but at least you don’t feel you are pointing a laser to hairless areas unnecessarily.

Two after-thoughts today: 1st. going to a professional place would definitely have the advantage of not having to fight with your legs and your backbone to reach more difficult areas. At home, maybe if two people were to use the machine, you could take turns zapping each other… This is starting to sound like Star Wars… 2nd. maybe I should go to a professional salon to have the bikini line done once to compare first-hand. I’ll think about this.

More next week (armpits day 2!)

PS. ZoltarStark’s three hairs are unable for comments at the moment. Pity. I’ll try to get an interview with them for next week.

<< previous entry -“Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? – continue reading >>

Related post(s)

• “Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? update 2 (14)
• Rio versus NoNo – which one is better? (8)
• “Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? day 10 (11)
• “Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? day 9 (16)
• “Rio Laser Hair Remover” does it work? day 8 (15)