Like getting a haircut, waxing falls into the category of grooming yet we don’t speak about it with the same level of frankness as we do with a trip to the hairdresser's. ‘Love your hair!’ we tell our friends. ‘Love your Brazilian!’ – Well, it would take a very special kind of friendship for you to utter or hear this one.
Granted, one’s more private than the other but STRIP: Ministry of Waxing have been quietly grooming KL’s nether regions since they crossed over to our shores from Singapore five years ago. A popular treatment here is the Brazilian, a waxing procedure where you can opt for some subtle pruning or have everything taken right off. That G-string bikini you’ve always wanted to wear like the locals on Rio’s beaches (that’s where the term ‘Brazilian’ came from?), STRIP’s xxxx Strip (all off) is your solution to any unwanted hair sightings.
TOKL sent one of its own – me – to test it out and I dutifully went to STRIP’s nautical-themed branch at Lot 10. The process began with me being led to my very own private room, being handed pre-sealed wet wipes from my own STRIP Personal Hygiene Pack (also contains disposable latex gloves for my therapist, fresh cotton pad for prep-waxing disinfection, disposable wooden spatulas, and cotton buds for the application of post-waxing products), removing my bottoms, and lying on the treatment bed for it all to begin.
My therapist guided me briefly through each step and got straight to the actual removal, which despite the build-up (the first thing people associate with a Brazilian is pain) isn’t as bad as it sounds. A few applications of hard wax here and there, a few yanks later, and – believe it or not – hair all gone.
The most awkward part of the process was deciding where to look. Luckily, STRIP have wall texts in their treatment rooms and other little visual distractions so you don’t have to make eye contact with the total stranger staring at your privates. Does it hurt? Sure, some parts more than others. Will you have trouble walking afterwards? Nope. Where does it stand on the pain scale? I can’t speak from experience, but I imagine childbirth or an amputation being much, much worse. Ultimately, a Brazilian is manageable because it’s over very quickly; 15 minutes is STRIP’s promise and they delivered.
If it’s your first time, fork out for hard wax throughout. This as opposed to the ‘combi wax’, which combines soft and hard wax, and which will hurt more. Also, what comes after the waxing is important. To help with irritation and to calm your skin, I tried STRIP’s newly-launched Peace+ serum, a moisturising and soothing serum that retails at RM18 an ampoule.
Still a wax virgin? Now’s a good time to try it out because you’ll be stripping it all off for a good cause – yours and that of some other furry creatures out there. STRIP’s current campaign, Unfurgivable, is in support of the SPCA and from now until February 29, 2012 STRIP will donate RM2 to SPCA for every new customer that has a Brazilian wax treatment at any of their four outlets. It costs RM88 instead of the usual RM115 too.
Waxing? Not as hairy an ordeal as it sounds. In fact, not very hairy at all.
To book a Brazilian experience of your own, visit www.strip-my.com.
