NoNo Pro Review 2016: NoNo Thanks
NoNo Pro
One gander at my shiny dome, and you’ll see that I’m no stranger to hair removal. In the case of NoNo (or as they so stylishly write, “no!no!“) my wife and I thought it would be fun to give it a try, so we picked up a NoNo Pro5 in 2014 and put it to the test.
NoNo Pro first appeared in heavy advertising rotation in late 2013. Since then it has advertised with diminishing regularly, although it received another push during the 2015 holiday season. Although it is currently not heavily being advertised, I expect it to re-emerge again on occasion.
There are other “NoNo” products which have been produced, such as the NoNo Ultra, which doesn’t seem to have gone very far – and I don’t see it anywhere on their website as of May 2016.
Models: NoNo, NoNo Pro, 8800, Pro3, Pro5
A few years ago, NoNo was just NoNo. Later, the NoNo and NoNo Pro were being advertised simultaneously. Sometimes you’ll even see models such as Pro3, Pro5, and 8800 thrown around. This leads some consumers to wonder which model is best and which they should get. Here is my Rosetta Stone for figuring out the NoNo and NoNo Pro models:
- “Regular” NoNo is the 8800. This was the original NoNo, but it seems that it is no longer available from the official website. As of early 2015, I did see the regular NoNo on sale at a local Bed Bath and Beyond.
- NoNo Pro originally had two models, Pro3 and Pro 5. The Pro5 was stronger, and had five treatment level, but was removed from the NoNo Pro website in November of 2014. As of April 2015, the Pro5 appeared as an upgrade on the order page, for an additional $20, but even that has been removed at the close of 2015.
How does NoNo work?
The commercial states, “It’s not a razor. It’s not a laser.” Well what the heck is it? Surprisingly, it’s hard to find a description of how NoNo Pro actually works. NoNo uses “pulsed thermicon technology” which uses a heated wire to remove hair. This differs from other at-home hair removal systems you’ll see advertising, such as Tria Laser – which uses (not surprisingly) an actual laser.
I can confirm that when you use the NoNo Pro, you will likely smell burning hair as it is being singed off.
Fake Reviews
Anyone who has pondered buying any version of NoNo has undoubtedly taken to the internet to read some good “unbiased” reviews before shelling out hard-earned cash for it. What they typically find, however, are good old-fashioned fake affiliate reviews. I ran across one review website – which I won’t acknowledge with a link here – which rambled for over 1500 words (yes I actually checked) about the virtues of NoNo Pro, only to end with a giant, bold link that read “CLICK HERE TO RUSH YOUR ORDER…”
In other words, that “review” was simply an affiliate who stood to make money when anyone clicks that link. Hardly objective.
When you take a look at truly objective opinions, however, a much different picture comes into focus.
Objective NoNo Reviews
- On Amazon, NoNo had 2 out of 5 stars with over 600 user reviews before it was removed. A few models are still there as of late 2015, with around a 2-star average.
- At Bed Bath and Beyond, original NoNo has a 2.3 star rating.
- Consumer Reports noted that none of their testers said they’d buy one.
- There are currently 229 complaints at Pissed Consumer, where it holds a 1.8 star rating.
What is the cost of NoNo Pro?
- NoNo “Regular” (aka “8800”) was $285
- NoNo Pro3 is about $250 (It used to be $305)
- NoNo Pro5 was about $325
You can break your payments into 3 installments of $83.33.
Does NoNo Hurt?
The website says it is “completely painless” but this description is subjective. There is a prickly – or some may say burning – sensation. I didn’t find it to hurt, but it there was a strange sensation there.
Conclusion
Not once during our use of NoNo Pro did we feel that the treated areas were smooth or hairless. The fancy technology they boast may have performed well in lab tests somewhere, but in the real world the overwhelming results of my test is that NoNo Pro is somewhat underwhelming. There are effective at-home hair-removal systems out there which use a different technology than NoNo.
Originally published February 2014
Revised May 31, 2016
