Sorry in advance for the wall of text
"There's nothing I can do"
Pretty much sums up my experience. I'm not sure if it was because I used a Groupon, the esthetician had a really off day, or if this location needs to review its practices, but I have never got so many ingrown hairs that have taken so long to take care of -I'm still trying to get rid of many of them!
I was taken into a tiny room off to the side. It seemed like a converted closet. There was barely any room to get around and it made me a bit claustrophobic. I tried to control my breathing and thought to myself "it's just been awhile since you've had your pubic hair ripped out of your body, don't freak out, you've done this before".
No sooner did I get my breathing down when the hot wax was globbed on without any warning about the temp.
(Now it had been a while between waxing sessions but I've been trimmed prior to waxing in some trouble areas where the esthetician thought the length might cause more irritation)
She kept complaining about the thickness of my follicles and length. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be able to do about that while i'm in the bed naked from the waist down. I'm literally in one of the most vulnerable positions having to apologize -essentially- for my genes.
The process continued rather slowly like she was deriving pleasure from watching my pain in between pulls.
The area was so small she didn't even have space to thoroughly inspect her work. When she handed me the mirror confident in her job done, I noticed a glaringly obvious missed patch and had to point it out to her.
When she finished again she put baby powder. BABY POWDER on the area. I don't know what rock this company has been working under that they still allow the use of baby powder on such a delicate, sensitive, raw area. A product that has been linked to ovarian cancer. That caught me completely off guard and was almost as alarming as her pushy sales tactic. I didn't even get to put my underwear on before she launched into her spiel about buying a wax package of x amount of sessions. Being the meek person that I usually am, I gave the reason that I wanted to see how my results looked before spent 100$+. I got dressed and left to pay.
I don't even know why I tipped or why I didn't say anything to the receptionist (actually, it was probably because the waiting room was full and I am a self-conscious lady).
Full disclosure: I received the wax September 9th.
I'm still dealing with the ingrown hairs and am kicking myself for not saying something sooner but hopefully better late than never.
The impetus for this review was the conversation I had with an employee today when I had a talk and asked about ingrown hairs (how often they hear complaints, how they recommend to deal with them). The lady informed me that waxing doesn't cause ingrown hairs it actually helps remove them and blamed it on my lifestyle habits. She did try to sell me on their laser hair removal service though. When I let her know I couldn't afford laser hair removal (nor would I from them) and asked how I could otherwise deal with the task at hand she gave no new information (exfoliate/scrub, keep the area dry, tweeze the hairs out). If that's all I can do. Then so be it, but it really got to me that when I told her my experience her response was "we use the powder to get the hairs off. We'll ask in the future if people want it." I tried as calmly as I could to let her know that wasn't the point.
She looked up my appointment and let me know that the esthetician has 10 years of experience. Oh, she also offered me 50% off a service -I'm assuming waxing- but other than that, there's nothing she can do.
I don't know how in/correct she is about ingrown hairs (I'm going to need to do more research) but my eating hadn't really changed from the the wax I had prior.
Even if it's not a 100% link between cancer and baby powder in the genital region, I still don't think it's worth the risk especially because the skin is in such a vulnerable state there and they could be literally patting talc into the vagina.
If an esthetician with 10 years of experience operates like that then there is no way I am risking another wax.
I feel like it was a knee jerk reaction to tip. I always make sure to tip generously when I use a Groupon and I regret this instance and I regret waiting so long to say something. read more
