Rio Electrolysis Hair Removal for Face, Body & Bikini

A loud whining shriek screams out if there is not enough current flowing through the hair. The problem is the pathetic gadget doesn't ever produce enough electricity to allow a strong enough current to pass down the hair. Only by spreading gel on the useless tweezers, hair AND skin around the hair can enough current flow be made. But even though the instructions advise this, doing so will burn the skin tissue because that's where the gel delivers the electric current to. Almost no current will reach the root of the hair- it all gets released at the skin. Anyone could become a millionaire by getting an adult to design a similar gadget that works- easy.

Despite many reviews here and elsewhere describing this product as 'ineffective' I have to disagree. Whilst it can be fiddly gripping hair right at the point it meets the skin, it was surprisingly effective in preventing regrowth. I use it at the highest setting, taking around 25-30 seconds per hair; there's a bit of a tingle and a slight red mark after pulling the hair but after ~6 weeks I've had only around 10% of treated hairs grow back. Using regular tweezers they return after a week or so. Way cheaper and maybe even quicker than professional electrolysis.

It comes with a 9V battery and has a socket for a 9V DC 15mA plug which you will need to buy separately. The alarm isn't too intrusive and loud enough to hear when it's not making contact with the hair and when it's ready for removal, and the flashy orange LED is a great way in letting you know if it's made contact with a hair that's lubricated with the conductive gel.The tweezers are a little chunky and has some trouble with finer and smaller hairs.The cord is very tightly wound and a little stiff which makes it less stretchy and flexible for doing eyebrows without having to lean down towards the device and give yourself a stiff neck and back at the end of the session. It's very light weight, maybe a little too lightweight as you can end up throwing it around the room if you pull the cord too quickly.The gel can dry very quickly and feels slightly tacky when dry so you only want to lubricate a small area at a time with only a small amount of gel, it washes off very easily though.Since the device requires waiting a few seconds on each individual hair you can get arm and shoulder pain after a while and will have to space out sessions.After several months of using this device I found it didn't make much difference to my face. The hairs are still growing back and are much thicker. I've resorted to using normal tweezers as they're 5 times faster and do the same job. Either the device is not powerful enough or it's defective as I'm not feeling any sensation that would hint that there's electricity zapping the hairs.

This item does work if you're patient - one hair at a time. However, the tweezer tip is not very fine and when it's covered in conductor jel this makes it very hard to grab each hair. Wouldn't want to use it on large areas. The odd upper lip and chin hair is about as much as I could use it for.

Ok, it was a bit of a risk purchasing this item given the mixed reviews but 4 weeks on, I can wholeheartedly recommend it. I purchased it to deal with a couple of clusters of stubborn facial hairs that I never had until I hit my forties and was looking for something to permanently deal with these few but irritatingly bristly hairs having spent a couple of years plucking them. The first time I used it it irradicated 80% of them, which I felt was a good success rate given it was the first time I'd used it and wasn't familiar with the settings. These hairs, a month on, have still not grown back! The next time I used it I made sure I increased the frequency to deal with these extra stubborn hairs and took extra care that I had enough gel and the tweezers were in permanent contact with skin during operation. I have used it a third time to target eyebrows in the hope for the same permanent results and to tackle just ONE hair that has been the only one to grow back in 4 weeks now - hoping todays session has zapped it for good, gave it a higher frequency again!Overall, it has given me better than expected results which makes me confident that if any more hairs crop up I now have the means to deal with them. I had three clusters where hairs grew totalling about 15 stubborn hairs, after the first operation 3-4 grew back, after the 2nd only 1 remained. I have given 4 stars because it can only be used for small areas since it would be highly impractical to cover bikini area, underarms or legs and also because the tweezers are not as ergonomical as they could be making it difficult to see if you have a proper grip on hairs at times. If you are purchasing it to tackle upper lip hair or any facial hair for that matter, then this is definitely the answer and much cheaper than paying for several electrolysis sessions in a salon. It would also be suitable for removing those occasional and worrying hairs that can suddenly turn-up anywhere on the body (an age thing, unfortunately) that appear on navel, back of legs or stray elsewhere. Note, it can be used on white and grey hairs which other permanent hair loss systems cannot tackle. For the price, it's worth every penny!