Meladine finishes off the little ones!

Meladine can be used prior to using any home laser hair removal product such as the Silk’n or Rio x60. Meladine has received 510(k) clearance from the FDA as an “Accessory to a Surgical Laser treatments used for Hair Removal”. Meladine is a not a drug, but a lotion that is sprayed onto the area that requires treatment. It has also been registered with the FDA as a cosmetic preparation. Meladine’s ingredients are natural, non-toxic and hypo-allergenic.

Meladine needs to be applied prior to each laser treatment. The suggested time differs depending on which type of hair you have.

Meladine is best absorbed into the hair when just after shaving. In fact, it is recommended that the area be shaved daily for optimal absorption. It is important to apply Meladine as instructed for optimal results. Keep in mind that the goal of using Meladine is to create a melanin deposit that is dark enough to be effectively targeted by the laser hair removal products. If several applications are missed, you may consider adding more applications or extending the Meladine treatment for several days in order to make up for the number of treatments missed

After applying Meladine, you need to wait about an hour before showering or putting on any other types of lotion. Meladine is colorless and dries without any lingering odor. You need to keep the skin clean and free of any other types of creams or lotions, which may affect absorption of Meladine.

One bottle contains approximately 720 sprays, which may be enough to cover several pre-treatment regimens for a lip or chin, but may only cover one pre-treatment regimen for a full face. You will require more than one bottle for treating larger areas such as the legs.

The amount of Meladine used will depend on the type of hair to be treated, the size of the area to be treated and personal preference. Coarse hair will require longer application time. Some people think that a thicker application is better and may use Meladine more liberally when applying.

Meladine does not stain the skin or change the appearance of hair above the surface of the skin.

More information can be read in the Meladine Information Leaflet which we have uploaded for your information.

Meladine is available from www.so-smooth.co.uk/meladine for £65.00. There will be special offers available for bulk purchases.

New Tria

The new Tria boasts a quicker pulse rate, however it is the time taken removing the Tria from one area to the next that delays the process.  Also the Tria’s previous pulse rate was already extremely fast at less than a second.

The new Tria treatment area is identical to the old and works in much the same way.  However it does have an improved battery that can perform 300 shots per charge with a total of 300 charging cycles.  This is a total of 90,000 shots which is nearly 30 thousand more shots than the existing Tria. A more in-depth technical specification can be gained from reading the instruction manual which can be downloaded in PDF from here, (pending link).

The additional pulses with the new Tria subsequently increase the total area that can be treated during its lifetime before becoming obsolete.  The new instruction booklet with the new Tria explains the treatment differently by saying that approximately 25 shots are needed for an area 1 inch x 1 inch (or 2.5cm x 2.5cm). This would indicate that the newer Tria needs slightly less shots per area than before. However this is not specified and is unclear due to the amount of overlapping that is required when using the Tria device.

It seems that the new Tria takes the same number of shots to treat an area that the old one did.  The total area that can be treated with the additional number of shots per charge increases the total treatment area to a square approximately 127cm x 127cm. (This is an approximation).  Although this area is reasonably impressive it is unfortunate that once a Tria has completed its 300 charging cycles it cannot be used any more. This alongside being one of the most expensive home laser hair removal products indicates that either the Silk’n with its larger treatment area, no overlapping and endless lifetime or Rio x 60 would be a more sensible purchase.

It must be remembered that permanent hair reduction is a time consuming process that involves treating the same area approximately six times before there is a significant reduction in hair growth. This is due to the hair growth cycle which is covered in another article. As such before investing between £250 and £675 on a home laser hair removal product such as the Rio x60, Tria or Silk’n you should also consider how much area can be treated during their lifetime. You wouldn’t want to be midway through treating your legs to find that you have to buy another hair removal unit to continue your treatment.As discussed in the previous article the area each device can treat with each laser pulse differs with each unit. Both the Rio x60 and the Tria treat a smaller area during each laser pulse and require each shot to be overlapped. The Silk’n can treat an area 2cm x 3cm in one shot without the need to overlap. So when comparing these three unit’s total treatment area it gets complicated as these additional considerations need to be included when working out a comparable figure.

The current Tria battery lasts for 250 shots per charge and there are a total of 250 charges during a Tria’s lifetime. This is a total of 62500 Shots before the item becomes obsolete. To calculate this in terms of total treatment area I have looked at the instruction manual guidelines which can be downloaded in PDF format here (pending link). According the instruction manual it is recommended that it would take approximately 50 shots per 3cm x 3cm area. There are a total of 250 pulses per charge, so you would be able to treat 5 blocks of this size before needing a recharge.

Five blocks of 3cm x 3cm is an area 3cm x 15cm, which is about the size of a small ruler, or a square area of approximately 6.7cm x 6.7cm. To calculate the total is slightly more complicated. For each charge, (250 pulses) the Tria can treat an area 6.7cm x 6.7cm. A Tria has 250 charges during its lifetime or 62500 shots. In total it can treat an area 6.7cm x (6.7cm x 250 charges). This is an area approximately 106cm x 106cm.

If you are serious about purchasing a Tria you need to consider whether this is a sufficient area to perform repeated treatments as recommend for permanent hair reduction.

The Rio x60 total treatment area figure is unknown as there is no information with the Rio 60 about needing to replace a bulb or battery. As it is mains connected and does not require any recharging, I would assume that its lifetime is endless and thus so is the area that it is able to treat. However one must weigh up the additional time each shot takes, for example on the highest setting a single shot can take up to 75 seconds compared to the extremely fast Tria and Silk’n.

Because the Silk’n requires no overlapping each shot covers an area 2cm x 3cm (2.44cm squared). If each bulb can administer 750 shots then the total area that can be treated is calculated by 2.44cm x (2.44cm x 750 shots) = 4,465.2cm which is about 67cm x 67cm. As you get two bulbs with each purchase you would get to treat two blocks of 67cm x 67cm. Once both the bulbs with your purchase have run out you can easily buy additional bulbs for around £45.00. As you have already purchased the product you would then be able to continue treatment in an extremely cost effective method.

In summary it seems that the Rio x60 is the most cost effective method, however using the Rio x60 takes a far greater length of time than its competitors. The Silk’n, despite treating a smaller total area during a single bulbs lifetime does come with two bulbs and the option to purchase additional bulbs whereas the Tria becomes obsolete once it has emitted 62500 shots.

I hope these comparisons have helped to give some clarity surrounding these three products. Future articles will detail the individual cost for each shot and how much it costs per device to treat identical areas.

Silk'n Laser Hair | Simply flash the hair away

Before deciding on which home laser hair removal unit you should buy out of the three main competitors, i.e. the Tria, Silk’n and Rio x 60 laser hair removal units you need to compare the area each device can treat and how many shots (or laser beams) it would take to treat a certain area. Here at so-smooth we want you to be well informed and happy with your purchase and as such we are hoping to provide you with as much information as possible before you decide which home laser home removal unit is best suited to your needs.

Over the past few weeks we have scrutinised our products and as such are able to provide you with accurate non biased informative article. The Tria’s treatment area is about 1cm x 1cm, the Rio x60 treatment area is just less than 1cm squared (0.85cm x 0.5cm) and the Silk’n boasts a massive 2cm x 3cm treatment area.

With the Tria you need to overlap each shot by around 4mm to obtain the maximum benefit from the product. In the Tria instruction leaflet we are told that it takes about 50 shots to treat each 3cm x 3cm area. They go on to say that this would take about 90 seconds. Although the laser beam emits at a fantastically fast speed the time it takes time to move the Tria from one area to the next, and there is a small amount of time between each laser pulse. The Rio laser x60 also requires a certain amount of overlapping to achieve maximum hair reduction. The Rio x60 advises an overlap of around 3mm. The Rio x60 device has a very helpful attachment which makes an indentation on your skin so that you can see which area has been treated and how much needs to be overlapped before moving and administering a second shot. The Rio x60 booklet suggests that to treat an area of around 3cm x 3cm you would require approximately 10 shots.

The Silk’n requires no overlapping at all, in fact the instruction manual advises against any overlapping. The silk’n with its very large treatment area can treat an area 2cm x 3cm in one single shot. If this calculation was made comparable to the Trio and Rio x 60 the Silk’n would only need approximately 1.23 shots for the same area that the Tria takes 50 shots doing and the Rio x 60 takes approximately 10 shots to do.

We have prepared a YouTube video comparing the Silk’n and Tria treatment areas for you to see in more detail the different treatment areas on each device. The video demonstrates with a five pence piece how different each models treatment area is. We have also prepared a Rio x 60 YouTube video for your information. We hope this information helps you make a more informed decision when buying a home laser hair removal unit. In following articles we will be looking at how long each device lasts, what area can be treated during their lifetime and real time costs for both the short and long term.