Male Waxing Blog

I am so excited at the moment! There are some new Waxing Aftercare products that are launching in the coming months … and they are going to be awesome! The great thing about these new products is that they have been developed by waxers – people who do this for a living, so they know what clients want.

Lots of clients ask me about ingrown hair treatments, and there are some excellent products out there but these new ones are amazing. Ingrown hairs, acne / folliculitis, skin irritation – these new products will help with all them.

I will of course let you know when these new products are available to buy at your next appointment or online.

Any clients who have been for a treatment in the past year will know that I am currently planning on moving the treatment room. It has been a long process, but I am very excited to say I have finally started it! The first stage is clearing everything out, and you can see the start of that on my Facebook page. But what afterwards, well below is a sketch giving an idea of what I am thinking for one side of the room.

No ideas on colours yet, though I have some really cool lighting planned for the room! So keep an eye on Facebook and I’ll post the occasional update here too.

I’ve been browsing through image libraries and photographer sites over the past few weeks keeping an eye out for interesting images. I see so many adverts for male grooming and waxing salons that feature the same stock photographs. Indeed I have the three most popular on my own male waxing site.

One of my regular clients is a professional photographer who specialises in weddings. We’ve spoken several times about his work and how he gets the right photographs. He isn’t doing catwalk photography; his subjects are just people getting married – not professional models.

Most people who have been to a wedding have taken their own photographs. Compare these to those of the professional who was their taking pictures too. Notice the difference? I have a nice camera, a Canon S90 compact. It’s very easy to use and has lots of modes that do the adjustments for you to get the best out of the conditions you are shooting in. But I rarely get an image that makes me think wow!

This isn’t usually down to the quality of the camera and lens, though that helps, it is about having an eye for it. It is about knowing when to take the picture, framing and positioning the subject, the stuff that the camera doesn’t help you out with. Yes a £4,000 camera helps, and understanding f-stops, exposure, apertures etc also helps. But that isn’t the key to successful photography, whether doing a model portfolio or taking some snaps while out for a Sunday afternoon walk.

The subject of this post is a quote from Edward Steichen, another excellent quote when thinking about photography is from Ansel Adams:

There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.

While we use digital cameras today, taking pictures isn’t a digital step by step process. You don’t follow a set flow-chart that shows you how to take a picture which results in a good photograph. If there were we would have a portrait photographer on every street corner.

While looking for images and through various portfolios I remembered some good friends had some amazing photos done of their wedding. They were done by the professional London photographer Paul Reiffer. Paul has some images on his blog that are currently entered into a competition to feature on the Bing search engine which were the inspiration for this rather unusual blog post.

Portland Bill lighthouse is famous, and has been photographed millions of times by thousands of photographers I’m sure. In Paul’s landscape portfolio he has photographed it himself, but if you compare it to most of the others … it is something very special. It’s the same building, but the image is fantastic.

Another example of how important the eye of the photographer is can be seen in some of the gig photographs. Here the photographer is given a set amount of time to take the pictures from the front of the stage – where the acts will be ignoring them. They are performing for the crowds, not the professionals. Paul was invited to get some shots of Olly Murs during his latest tour. The great thing I love about the main image here is the lighting and energy; it would take a photographer / designer a lot of time and effort to get that in a studio.

I mentioned my camera earlier, the Canon compact. As an example of how a professional photographer can make the difference, even without all the gear. Paul has submitted a photo to the International Photography Awards 2011 that was taken with a Canon S95 (slightly updated version of mine).

So if you are looking at taking photos to use in your own salon or to promote your salon or treatments really think about the photographs. Take your time and do what the professionals do – take hundreds! Only then will you get the one or two you can use.

Last week I received an updated price list from my wax supplier. It is never the kind of price list you want to receive, prices are going up in just over a months time. I’ve been having a look into this a little further, and it turns out this is going to be happening a lot for wax products across the board. In January Strip Distribution (responsible for the Lycon range of waxes) announced that Depileve have been forced to increase their prices.

The majority of waxes on the market today use Rosin (sometimes referred to as Colophony) as one of the main ingredients. There are some waxes, such as the Perron Rigot Hypoallergenic line, that use a synthetic version of this key ingredient.

Over the past year or so there have been some significant increases into the costs of these products. With China being one of the largest sources of this raw ingredient the increase in oil and fuel prices has only added to this pressure. A lot of the wax manufacturers have tried to maintain their prices, but they can only do that for so long before they need to pass on the increase to us as therapists.

Over the next year it is going to be interesting to see how this affects the professional market and which products therapists use, and then how it affects consumers. As a general rule cheaper products work on tighter margins, and so it is harder for manufacturers when their raw ingredient prices increase. If they haven’t already then the prices of all waxes will be increasing over the coming months.

But how about for clients, are salons going to be putting their prices up? We can’t escape the fact that we are in the midst of a huge downturn in the market, in most markets, and consumers are being much more careful with their money. This doesn’t mean they are being solely driven by price, but that they are being more fussy about where they spend their money. This will only put therapists in the difficult position of deciding whether or not to increase their treatment prices, or risk loosing clients.

For example most salons charge approximately £10 for an Underarm wax, I know of salons that are charging as little as £6! It is hard to make profit on this treatment at the best of times! And these salons that go for the lowest possible prices are the ones who will unfortunately suffer the most.

If you are a Salon, you need to be constantly reviewing your product costs, treatment prices, retail prices and also what you offer your clients. You need to be looking at ensuring they feel they are getting value for money. This is a tough market that is only going to get tougher this year.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending a Perron Rigot Discovery Day in London at the Thalgo Head Office (the UK distributors) with Andy Rouillard of Axiom Bodywords in Basingstoke.

They are the first of these events that I have attended and are so brilliant. The afternoon started off with an introduction to the brand and it’s history, and then the range of products available. With the Signature, Aromatherapy, Hypoallergenic and Natural lines there are a lot of products to choose from! Each range has its own strip / warm wax selection and non-strip / hot wax products. You work with them all in the same way, they just have slightly different formulations depending on which line they are in.

And then the real fun starts – playing with the waxes! Plenty of each type of wax to choose from, and the opportunity to try them out on both male waxing and female waxing clients. Ear and nostril demonstrations are always popular at these events.

If you haven’t tried the new generation style of hot non-strip waxes then you should get in touch with Thalgo and book onto the next days course! They charge £20, but this is then a credit against any product you purchase on the day.

These are the products I use everyday in my practice on all clients, and they will travel further and pay more for the experience because it is so much better!

I believe this may be the first course of its kind, and one that many in the health and beauty industry have been calling out for. It is a one day workshop that shows therapists how to make the most of our the Internet and their websites for building their client base.

Traditionally, in the days before the Internet clients would rely on word of mouth referrals, local listings such as Yellow Pages, or even newspaper adverts. As technology moved on so did how clients find therapists. For example when was the last time you were looking for a local business and the first place you turned was a telephone directory? It is more likely to be Google or another internet search engine.

A lot of therapists and salons will set up their own website, and that is great! But it is only a small part of the task – you need to get your website out there. Clients, and most importantly, potential clients need to be able to easily find your website when looking for a treatment.

But before you get onto that you need to spend some time looking at your website. They come in many styles, many layouts, and many colours and as with everything in life – many levels of quality. Your site must reflect your business and what you are trying to portray. If it doesn’t clients will be put off and won’t come to you for an appointment. Never underestimate the importance of a good website. And this is where the workshop starts, looking at your own website and doing a peer review so that you can get some independent feedback on the design and content.

The workshop aims to demystify the world of online advertising and Search Engine Optimisation. It is structured and designed to be taught without jargon and techno-babble, topics covered include:

• Website design – How to ensure a salons website appeals and gives a professional image
• Google Advertising – How to setup and run AdWords campaigns
• Facebook – Setting up a salon business page, how to use it to communicate with clients, including using Google Places
• Facebook Advertising – Paid advertising and how to get the best value for money
• How to use sites such as Groupon and Living Social to your advantage.
• Twitter, Blogs, YouTube Videos and online articles – how to use these to promote your salon

The workshop was developed after hearing too many stories of salon owners who had paid companies to run SEO or advertising campaigns. These companies often charging hundreds of pounds for work that a salon owner could do in a few hours a week at a fraction of the cost.

You can find out more about it within the Training section.

I am building up a library of articles relating to waxing and other treatments I offer. The first of these such articles to highlight here is that of Why New Non Strip Waxes Are Better Then Hot Wax.

The majority of waxes used in salons are warm strip waxes. Quite a few therapists have been trained in the use of Hot Wax. This is excellent for tough hairs or sensitive area, but in recent years there have been some revolutionary developments in products. And the new style non-strip wax offers the therapist many significant advantages.

Read full article.

For anyone who waxes or shaves, ingrown hairs are always a concern. And I am often asked about ways to avoid them. But first, what actually is an ingrown hair?

Sometimes when a new hair grows it doesn’t quite break through the skin properly for a variety of reasons. So it will usually either curl back on itself or grow sideways under the skin.

Ingrown Hairs can be painful to remove, but usually better being removed. And as with so many things prevention is better then cure! A few days after your waxing appointment gently exfoliate the skin every other day. Using our Tea Tree Skin Wash and Body Lotion is excellent for this with a gently scrubbing mitt or puff.

Also if you do suffer from ingrowing hairs using a product such as IngrownZone can help release them from the skin making them a lot easier and less painful to remove on your next appoinment.

Everything seems to be going digital now, music, video, cinemas, TV and radio! And the world of waxing isn’t being left behind.

For years I have used and recommended to therapists the Hive 1000cc heater and the many equivalents manufactured by other companies,

Well now they have developed a digital heater! I picked up one of these heaters, again by Hive, at the Professional Beauty show this weekend. The offer on them was too good to miss. And I have to say I love it! First of all it looks good, but most of all it works well. You set the temp and that’s what it stays at!

I would only say two things against it. First of all it doesn’t match my other heaters – so I need to get two more so that my trolley looks all lovely and tidy. And the only other bugbear is that you can’t use it with a timer plug. The power will come on, but until you press the button it doesn’t heat up.

Other then that a lovely heater that is worth investing in.

On the DLR line on the way home I was having a chat with Jack who I had spent a lovely but manic two days working with on the Perron Rigot waxing stand at Professional Beauty. And we were talking about nostril waxing, as I had my very first nose hair wax on stage at the show in front of everyone to prove that it really doesn’t hurt … and it doesn’t!

I was then given the brilliant idea of using Nose waxing as a fundraiser for Comic Relief this year! So for the month of March I am offering a free nose waxing to each client with any other waxing treatment. And if you take up the waxing I will donate 5% of the cost of your treatment to Comic Relief.

So come on guys, why not do something painless for money and raise some cash for Comic Relief!

This is being organised in support of Comic Relief, registered charity 326568 (England/Wales); SC039730 (Scotland).