As a trans woman, I am very interested in hair removal. I have a lot of good genes but, alas, the luscious locks on my head come from the same genes that give me my thick, bushy, body hair. I’ve had laser done on my face, which worked pretty darn well. (Although now, a year or since my last session, I’m noticing a few new hairs. I think I just need to bite the bullet and go to electrolysis.) But home hair removal has always seemed attractive, as there’s something very efeminizing (the parallel to emasculating – I know, it needs work) about going to a professional to get hair removed.

Well, I was recently privlidged with a review copy of the no!no! hair removal system, offered through Sephora.

From no!no!:

Portable and sleek, no!no! utilizes revolutionary Thermicon™ technology, which emits a gentle wave of heat that painlessly destroys the hair follicle while maintaining the integrity of the surrounding skin. Through extensive clinical studies, research found that no!no! safely reduces hair regrowth up to 64 percent; a number that is clinically comparable to more expensive professional hair removal treatments.

I’ll be testing the no!no! over the next couple months and let you know how it goes. Details of my first try after the break.

The no!no! is all about the sleek packaging. As G said, it looks like it could be the next iPod.

The idea, as far as I can gather, is that a hot wire burns through the hair and also sends an electrical signal down to the follicle and disrupts how the follicle tells the hair to grow (hopefully inhibiting further growth). I’m skeptical, but at $250 it’s not too pricey, even if it doesn’t work quite as well as I’m hoping.

I’m going to try using it every other day, as advised, on my right leg. On the days in between, I’ll be shaving both legs. Here’s a before picture from today:

I last shaved on Thursday, so four days ago. The hair doesn’t show up amazingly well (but it sure feels stubly!) so you may have to take my word for it…

I used the no!no! on my right leg for about half an hour. You need to glide it smoothly, which definitely takes some getting used to. You need to keep the green light at the top of the no!no! stays steady, indicating that the wire filament is being heated. And, as a number of the reviews I’ve been reading indicated, there is an odor of burnt hair.

By the end of the half hour, though, I was definitely getting better at keeping the light steady, and there was definitely less hair. I wouldn’t say that it was as smooth as right after shaving, but that’s not the only goal: If, three months from now, I have to shave less (obviously I’ll still have to shave) then I’ll consider it a big win.

An after pic:

I’ll admit, the picture isn’t fantastic, but I think you can see the left leg has a bit more hair than the right. Another pics:

I think this shows a little better that the left leg (on top) has more hair than the right. But, again, I’m not as concerned about it’s ability to just remove hair, as I am about reducing the return growth.

So we’ll see! I’m cautiously optimistic.

-R