Rio Salon 60x Scanning Laser Hair Remover - beware of the Con (Rio Salon 60x Scanning Laser Hair Remover)

Member Name: LizziB

Product:	Rio Salon 60x Scanning Laser Hair Remover
Date:	16/04/09 (876 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: none

Disadvantages: It does not work

The Rio 60x Scanning Laser Hair Remover - BEWARE OF THE CON !

I would give this unit 0 stars but the system won't let me.

I did a lot of looking online before I bought this and there were not many reviews for the new 2009 model that does 60x hairs at a time. The fight against "tarantula legs" has been a life long battle for me, so I thought this machine was the answer to my prayers. I am very pale and have black hair, so I am an ideal candidate according to the literature. The booklet also says that it is not suitable for dark skin, grey, white or red hair.

I found the units on the Argos site for £ 293 and took the plunge and spent the money as for once in my life I really wanted smooth legs for the summer. Be warned though - these units are non-returnable: Once bought you are stuck with it. There is no taking it back for a refund!

The unit is quite small and made of white and sea-green plastic. It comes in a box with a DVD and a booklet and a set of keys which sets out how to use the machine clearly. There is no carry case - which seems a bit mean for an appliance that costs almost £300. The keys are a safety feature. You need to switch it on by unlocking it and by punching in a security sequence in order for the machine to work. Once activated it is fairly easy to use. Select the setting 20X 60X or single hairs, position the hand set on the patch of skin until the probes are aligned and the light flashes. Press the button on the top of the handset and the laser is supposed to then zap the hair follicle, permanently killing it.

All this sounds good so far? Indeed. This is why I was induced to part with £ 293 of my hard earned pounds.

I've had laser treatment before with a salon laser, but it was too expensive to keep up. Salon laser treatments feel a bit like a snap with a rubber band on the skin when they zap you with the laser. The zap kills the hair and after a few days they fall out, till the next cycle - so you need between 5 and 7 treatments to make a difference as a normal person has about 5 or 6 hairs lined up inside their skin. I suppose this is a throwback to times when we lived in caves and needed body hair to stay warm. This way you always have a covering. The first treatments also do not kill all the hair follicles, so you do have regrowth, but finer. The laser also only works on hair in the growth stage, so it is a complicated process. You have to keep going back for it to be a success, but it costs a fortune.

From the moment I positioned the Rio handset on my skin, I knew I had been conned. This unit barely raises the sensation of a pin prick on its strongest setting. The 60X feature is a lie too. It is the exact same thing as the 20X unit but only takes longer as the little laser eye "scans" a slightly bigger area. If you have to buy this product, you are better off getting the 20x one which is the same size laser and even the same plastic casing, but with one less button. The 20X retails for about £ 175, so there is a big price difference.

The laser "eye" only does a tiny area - about 1 cm x 1cm at a time and on the 60X setting takes up to 75 seconds to complete one patch. According to my calculations, it would take about 6 solid hours of zapping to do one round of treatment on one leg - ankle to knee. So if one does the math it becomes very apparent that it will take forever to be completely hair free, even if the laser worked as it claims to. This is fine if you are living in a monastery and have nothing else to do in your life but spend time zapping the hair on your legs, but for normal women it is simply not realistic.

Rio claims the unit is "clinically proven" but the "studies" Rio site on their website are very vague and seem to relate to general studies done on diode/ruby lasers - the big ones used in salons. I question whether this unit's "laser" is strong enough to penetrate right into the skin to reach the follicle. It certainly singes the hairs, but I suspect that if the Trading Standards Board examined this product, they may find the claims Rio make sorely lacking.

I wish someone had written this review before I bought the Rio Rio 60x Scanning Laser Hair Remover. All I got for my efforts were a few singed underarm hairs and the knowledge that I am £ 293 poorer. I suspect my unit will end up at the back of a cupboard or in a car boot sale someday. No wonder there are so many of them for sale on eBay.

You are better off saving up for a salon treatment or spending £ 700 - £ 900 on the TRIA home system which does actually have FDA approval and was designed by dermatologists.

Summary: Home Laser Hair removal system, or so they say.

Summary: Salon laser hair remover - allegedly