Bring Your Own Towel - Ecological Goals of a Beauty Salon!

 

Two years ago a lovely client suggested I ask my clients to bring their own towel for the waxing treatment - they pointed out the strong ecological case for this change so I was delighted to take this on board.

 

Although it made sense in many logical ways I was still hesitant because I was not aware of any other salons with the Bring Your Own Towel policy.

 

After further feedback from regular clients on the proposed BYOT it was clear my client had come up with a very popular change of salon procedure  and not only did my clients think it  was a great idea it also helped involve clients in the eco goals  at The Wax Factor

 

At the start many clients did forget to BYOT but my clients are super busy and this was a change that would take a little time 😛

 

So in January 2020 I started to heavily publicise this new way forward and future reward and incentives for clients to join in - all was going very well til Covid 19 appeared three months later and halted these plans.

 

When we reopened from subsequent lockdowns I reiterated the BYOT messaging which in a non planned way also played well in this new Covid era - aka used towels went back home with client eliminating risk to other clients and myself and family when washing and drying after body contact. I do believe in a roundabout way this helped mitigate a risk factor to clients, their families and myself  clients so keeping everyone safe.

 

Today I am delighted to say 80% of my clients take part in BYOT and as long as we stay lockdown free we will have incentives for clients in Christmas 2021 who have taken part as a reward for making this small business achieve it's eco goals and as 95% of my treatments require BYOT I believe even a small one person business like mine can make a difference each time a client participates.

 

As we get nearer to #COP26 (26th UN Climate Change Conference being hosted late October/ November in Glasgow) I am super proud my salon for the last 12 years has been as eco as possible and will be sharing our other eco changes and procedures in the salon on our Instagram and Facebook stories each day from tomorrow so please check them out 😊 As we chat so much in the salon about Covid I have never had a chance to explain what's in the room and the eco story behind it 😊

 

We are as an industry due to the nature of our role generators of waste for hygiene purposes but will also be sharing my practices with you that have ensured only necessary waste is generated so we are as environmentally considerate as possible

 

Isabel x

Hollywood & Brazilian Waxing - Should I take the plunge?

I have been qualified in Intimate Waxing for 12 years now and its by far my most popular treatment and in a very bizarre way my favourite treatment because how great my clients feel afterwards or maybe that is escaping me til we meet again in 4 weeks time for your next waxing appointment.

We only use hot wax in the salon for intimate areas more specifically Perron Rigot who are based in Paris who I  feel are the best wax on the market for clients. I only use quality products on my clients so they achieve a fabulous long lasting wax with minimal discomfort.

So Why have a Hollywood or Brazillian Wax instead of a Standard Bikini Wax?

There are many reasons why clients opt for a Hollywood or Brazilian wax - the majority is hygiene and also bottom underwear design has changed so much over the last decade there is not as much coverage! Also for sportier clients swimsuit design is much more high legged so less to worry about when in the pool in Scotland or abroad (when allowed!). Unfortunately the Standard Bikini wax has been superseded and now only accounts for 2 % of my wax treatments in the bikini area.

Shaving is a quick fix but consistent waxing appointments will slow hair growth down and eventually you will see blank patches where the hair does not grow anymore so another plus side to waxing versus shaving.

Waxing can be uncomfortable but I have plenty of pre waxing tips that can help alleviate a level of discomfort but a consistent waxing schedule decreases the level of uncomfortableness - sadly pain free waxing does not exist but I have lots of good advice that helps

I hope the above is helpful and hope to see you for your first Hollywood or Brazilian soon!

Isabel x

Bring Your Own Towel - A New Routine at The Wax Factor

Ladies and Gents,

Last year a client of The Wax Factor suggested clients bring their own fresh towel - it wasn't a cost saving exercise but an ecological one - it made sense that instead of a fresh towel being used once then washing in the salon laundry ;) that client could reuse at home - like a lot of suggestions with limited time this was not rolled out oops!

Forward a year and we have a different world we live in and it made total sense for this to be rolled out at The Wax Factor and in turn I felt it was a more hygienic option as well as ecological especially when PPE when used in a salon environment cannot be recycled.

I am pleased to say 95% of clients since we reopened on Wednesday last week have remembered their towel and going forward it will become second nature.

I am hoping for clients who take part every month with BYOT we have a special surprise in January 2021 hoping we are open then so pleased stay tuned!

Best wishes as always

Isabel x

When you have to start asking - when will we be back open?

Ladies and Gents - I truly believe the Beauty Industry has been forgotten about in the relaxing of the lockdowns and received many messages from clients on why some sectors can open but beauty salons cannot got me thinking - what is the science behind this decision?  So I took the bull by the horns and wrote to senior members of the Scottish Government, Health professionals, my local MSP  and the opposition leader in Scotland unfortunately I got the first minister email wrong lol but now corrected and sent

Its an emotive email, from the heart and all true  :) but I'm only one voice

From: Isabel McRobbie <isabelmcrobbie@hotmail.com>
Sent: 25 June 2020 17:58
To: firstminister@gov.scott <firstminister@gov.scott>; CabSecHS@gov.scot <CabSecHS@gov.scot>; Jackson.carlaw.msp@parliament.scot <Jackson.carlaw.msp@parliament.scot>; gregor.smith@gov.scot <gregor.smith@gov.scot>; alex.neil.msp@parliament.scot <alex.neil.msp@parliament.scot>; Jason.Leitch@gov.scot <Jason.Leitch@gov.scot>
Subject: Beauty - where is the science?

 

I am Isabel McRobbie – Owner of The Wax Factor - a home business since 2009. I’m super busy with many loyal clients who have become friends. Over the last 11 years I have built up a thriving business based on hard work and dedication to providing an excellent personal service.

On 22^nd March I felt like Alice going down the rabbit hole when I closed my business – to say I was devasted was an understatement. However I recognised that the health of my clients, my family and myself was paramount.

 I have a Salon insurance policy with business disruption cover included  but it appears the insurers are unwilling to pay.

 Mr Rishi Sunak gave me hope til I found out I didn’t qualify for government assistance because my (non-related) part time job took me over the 50% of month's earnings threshold making me ineligible for any government assistance – no furlough scheme, small business grants or bounce back loans for me. Since lockdown I have survived on savings which are now depleted. 

Hairdressers have now been told they can return on 15^th July – if this is scientifically based can you please provide me the evidence? I do not remember any hairdressers with long enough arms to be over a meter away from me and still cut hair. So why no mention of the beauty industry? Beauty salons have extremely high hygiene factors -higher in fact than hairdressers. For example, my premises have been inspected by the local council as I have a skin piercing license.  In fact I would argue that because I am a home salon (one in and one out) my footfall is lower and therefore hygiene is much more manageable. 

I would be absolutely delighted for you to visit my salon socially distancing or virtually and would be happy to go through the hygiene routine we have always had in place for contact with clients– I am always gloved up. Pre-covid I always put on a mask if I had a cold and I clean and disinfect the work area in between appointments. I can easily adapt to any new protocols. My clients can wear masks through most treatments and very often treatments are often not face to face i.e. leg waxing.  If some treatments could create more of a risk, surely it is better to suspend those treatments rather than keep salons closed. (Eg when restaurants open they can't do buffets but can still operate).

Just now I sit and wait for someone to decide my businesses fate. Or maybe I could show you first-hand how this home salon operates? You would then see that I am a lesser threat of infection than the local barber.

However the stark reality is that if we are not open soon I will not be able to reopen my salon. Although  overheads are smaller than a separate business premises, they are still there. With a young family to bring up I have to put them first and try to find some other income.

The simple question is, how do the services I provide (with the appropriate protocols) form a higher risk to health than a hairdresser? And when can I welcome back my clients?

Isabel McRobbie

To Shave or Not to Shave - That is the question

Today (Sunday) marks three weeks that The Wax Factor closed. We will reopen but only when the UK Government give me the OK. I deliberately purchased a lot of wax in case there were supply issues post a potential lockdown so we have plenty of wax!

I'm receiving lots of enquiries on when the salon is reopening and what to do in the meantime so my advice, if it helps is as follows :)

We don't know how long we are in lock down for but through the years of waxing these observations on waxing, hair growth etc might help make up your mind:

For optimum hair length for waxing I recommend 4 weeks - shorten than this means shorte hair and repeat waxing which is uncomfortable, broken hairs and a few left behind. Long term waxers (several years of regular monthly appointments at The Wax Factor can get away with every 6 weeks)

Longer than 6 weeks all hair will likely be removed but after 6 weeks of non waxing the hair root started to enlarge because its been so long since waxing so this can be an uncomfortable appointment.

Shaving - shaving doesn't produce an even cut of hairs - some left longer and some shorter so when you are waxed after shaving its very likely some hairs will be shorter (under waxing length) than others which means despite my best effort to remove in waxing  they will be left unwaxed

What will make your waxing more comfortable is regular exfoliation and moisturising of the waxing area - I cannot emphasise this more - before we closed lots of clients had dry skin being waxed - this is not comfortable and also needs waxed several times (really uncomfortable and bad for your skin) as the dry skin covers the hair or grabs hair for moisturise so hard to wax - so if you do anything in the lock down moisturise!

Keep safe

Isabel

Goodbye Appointment Diary - Hello Ovatu!

As previously communicated weeks ago, the company that provided The Appointment Diary for The Wax Factor for the last 6-7 years is no longer continuing the business so we had the task of finding an equally as user friendly Online Diary!

After looking at many online diaries we have settled on Ovatu - it's a much more extensive diary than we previously had so some options are not the same as the old diary which I preferred but Ovatu was the nearest we could find to the original diary so have opted for that.

In the last few weeks we have ported over all existing clients details so hopefully you should be able to log into your account via Ovatu but if that doesn't work registering as a one off only takes a few minutes.

All future bookings have been placed in the Ovatu Diary so if you need to cancel or amend from this day forward please go to the Ovatu site to tweak or cancel. The original  diary and new diary dont talk to each other and we dont want to end up double booked :(

Also Ovatu is much more time efficient so you may find you future booking has altered slightly by 5-10 minutes so please check your confirmation - on the plus side we should have more space for treatments instead of having several 5 min gaps between some appointments!

Another plus is Ovatu has an App that you can download onto your phone so much quicker to book on the app if you are not near a PC/laptop.

I am hoping everything will go smoothly as we migrate to Ovatu but expect some teething problems so any feedback please text so we can resolve for all the other clients.

I dropped out of social media recently simply so we limited the amount of future bookings that would require to be manually transferred (purely selfish!) but my sister and I nearly ended up with our childhood squints back as it was a lot of work! So please feel free to make future bookings and feedback any niggles to me and I will sort - better doing it now than in the middle of the summer rush!

The only drawback I have is that Ovatu asks everyone for a 50% deposit at time of booking- its unavoidable (have asked Ovatu and not possible) unless I dont ask anyone including new clients to pay however when the deposit request was not working properly recently I had several new clients as  no shows so its clear the requirement for deposit ensures that clients will turn up - I have tweaked the booking settings  manually and ticked a box to try and get round this so if any regular clients can book and say no to paying deposit - let me know if this is successful and I know my workaround has worked :)

Link for the online diary is now https://ovatu.com/sites/the-wax-factor/17224  

and in  Google Play or Itunes this is the app you can download - happy booking!

Say goodbye to ingrown hairs! Hello Merben Bikini Brush!

I know it's caught a few clients eye when they have been in the salon recently so I thought it was about time I formally introduced the Merben Bikini Brush after having it on display in the salon for the last six weeks and with no welcome fanfare!

The Merben Bikini Brush I stumbled upon by accident when looking at a Las Vegas waxing salon - when I googled I realised lots of waxing salons in the US stocked the bikini brush, but when I looked at the UK no one stocked the Bikini Brush:( so I contacted Merben International Inc in Canada and ordered up my first batch! 

As well as looking good the bikini brush, with regular dry brushing, will help prevent ingrown hairs as it removes dead skin, improve the appearance of cellulite, stimulates lymphatic drainage with exfoliation increasing blood flow that can help with skin tightening - this is a really nice product and one of the few nice things about waxing!

We are stocking the two different  levels of bikini brushes - sensitive and medium (slightly rougher!) the sensitive brush is so soft you can use this easily on your face to exfoliate with the medium being a little more courser so not suitable for your face but both suitable for body - remember the brushes can be used dry or wet but as this is a natural organic product using wet will not last as long compared to dry brushing so I would recommend dry only ! 

Remember when using the brush dont use up and down movements it should be circular to be exfoliate effectively ;)

I love this product - although I have now discovered the only salon bar from The Wax Factor to stock in in the UK is in London - this product is fab, doesnt take up much room and very eco friendly!

We are retailing the BIkin brush at £14.oo each - we have brought in a sample supply to gauge interest and once that stock is used we plan to increase our stock for future orders

Another reason I love this Bikini Brush is who and where its made -  Sri Lanka! 

Below are details of its orgins exracted from the Merben INternational Inc website and details how its is supporting a local community in the Capital City! It a really interesting story as not only is the BIkini Brush an eco product its also provided employment  in the city and rural areas.

Body brushes.

Sri Lanka and it’s main city of Kerawalapitiya is where we discovered our body brushes. There, only sustainable biodegradable raw  materials are used and are all products are handmade. Timber used for our products  are timber off cuts. Timber is abundantly grown in Sri Lanka. The sealer we use on our timber is a toy paint sealer which is non-toxic. About 25 people are employed from their main factory , and only those 18 or older. There is no discrimination in gender, religion, language or cast. Most of the women employed are with children and are allowed flexible working hours. Work is provided for women around the vicinity who work from their  homes  and are unable to come to the factory ( taking care of their sick parents, babies, etc) as well as several subcontractors in rural areas (families with children) who are unable to come to work at on premises.

#Merbenbikinibrush

#BikiniBrush

#thewaxfactor