I am really proud to say that many of my clients belong to this community. When I first trained, I expected that most of my clients would be cis-women, but how uneducated I was! I now see many lovely people across the entire gender spectrum and have been on a journey of education as a result. While I don’t profess to be in any way an expert on LGBTQIA+ issues, I do consider myself an ally and indeed am lucky enough to call some of my clients, friends. I have learned about so many trailblazers and influential people, such as Marsha P Johnson and Loren Rex Cameron and have been lucky enough to attend workshops held by Born UK.
As Joshua Collins, owner of the wonderfully named LunchBox Wax says, “[The] sad truth is the body waxing industry… generally will not service our trans community, or men from the waist down.… People are judged for being [fat], judged for being too skinny, judged for being part of the LGBTQ community, judged for the color of their skin. Enough is enough!” I have definitely found, the longer I’m in the industry the more horrified I am by some of the off-the-cuff comments I hear. It’s not easy to find a salon that is inclusive of everyone, and sadly there are too many who bar service to others from genuine ignorance. My aim has always been to welcome absolutely everyone to my salon. I am trained to wax pretty much anything on anyone, having undertaken my intimate wax training from Wax Daddy, Andy Rouillard at Axiom and I am proud to be able to treat people across the whole spectrum.
As an intimate waxer, it can be challenging to inform clients and price my services in a streamlined and user friendly way. For this reason I have been obliged to genderise my website to a degree, simply due to anatomy. This is a decision that I will admit leaves me slightly uncomfortable as I don’t feel it’s inclusive. Any comments or suggests of a better way of getting this information across to accommodate EVERYBODY equally is always welcome and will be considered. We embrace individuality and acceptance – we love that we are all different and have no expectations on how someone “should” look.
My only sadness with this part of my role is how many secrets I keep. I look forward to a day when I’m not a confidante because my client doesn’t feel they can let anyone else know that they are gay or CD or any other defining letter, and can simply be who they are, fearlessly.
Love is love.