A Brazilian wax at Strip! Ministry of Waxing Lot 10 Kuala Lumpur

Those who are familiar with waxing, or specifically Brazilian Waxing, would be familiar with Strip! Its a Singapore based company with salons worldwide specializing in… what else, waxing! They do waxing of all sorts from head to toe, for men and women, not just Brazilian waxing (although that’s the most popular choice).

I had my first ever Brazilian wax done at the new Strip! outlet in Lot 10 (there are 4 in Malaysia). You can read about what I think of Brazilian waxing and my tips in a previous post. This is strictly a salon review 🙂

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Strip! Waxing salon at Lot 10

The reception area is rather small but then most women I saw going in already knew what they wanted, and it was very quick for them. I mean you don’t go into a waxing salon to get a haircut right? Interestingly, I observed that most women sat there looking a bit furtive. It was like “I know what you’re here for, and you know what I’m here for so lets not let our eyes meet because its embarrassing to me” It was odd 😛

The Strip! outlet at Lot 10 is done up in a bright seaside theme. I suppose its to make you feel calmer? The room I was in had this interesting cottonwool thing on the wall that said “Breathe”. It is perhaps to remind you to breathe in between the waxing because you can forget 😛

If its your first time (a Brazilian Virgin as it were) tell the ladies at the counter. They’ll sit you down and talk you through the procedure and you can ask all the questions you want. This is a nice touch for first timers. You are assured that at Strip! they:-

• do not double dip the spatulas – you are given a sealed pack of spatulas for your use (part of the price) and each spatula is only used once and then thrown. I paid attention.
• are fully trained – Strip! does in-house training of their staff in Singapore

In the room, I was told to remove my underwear (of course!) and wipe myself down with a towelette, and then climb onto the bed while the waxer made herself scarce. I found the bed a bit too high for this shortie. Had to do a little jump to get on. A low stool might be useful. It is a good height for the person doing the waxing, but not for shorties like me.

You can cover yourself with a towel, which is a bit redundant since you’d be baring it all anyway. They offer you something called a Bach Flower essence which is dropped under your tongue ostensibly to help you relax.

The wax used is a Strawberry hard wax – an opaque pink strawberry scented wax which I was told is more gentle and less painful for first timers. All waxes and follow up creams are in house Strip! brands. She swipes it on with the spatula, gives it a few seconds to harden and then rips the wax off. This is as opposed to a soft wax, which is where they rip the wax off using a piece of cloth (apparently more painful).

Immediately upon ripping off the wax, the lady will place some cooling antiseptic on the raw spot. It helps kill the pain and smarting. After everything’s done, they apply a “Peace” serum to help cool down the area. The whole procedure took about 20 minutes for a full Brazilian wax i.e. everything off and then you’re good to go. Full recap on how and why here.

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You could actually just pop in during your lunch time and get it sorted and have lunch without anyone ever knowing!

Some observations of my experience at Strip! Lot 10 :-

• Each room is not fully partitioned from floor to ceiling so when a lady entered the room next door to do her waxing… of whatever she wanted waxed, I could hear every single word that was happening next door. It did not bug me but it felt weird because it was like we were in the same room. I could also hear conversations going on in the reception area. Might bug those who like their privacy. It irritated me more than anything.
• Bed is a bit too high as I have observed. Having a low stool on hand will help.
• The waxing was not as clean and even as I expected. I’m not sure if its to do with how experienced the waxer is. I went home and did some observation, and noted that around the bikini line, I could feel and see some bits of hair left on one side. The other side was clean. This was on the day of the wax itself so it was not newly grown hair.
• Hair regrowth happened quite quickly. Within 3 days I could see and feel new hair and there was breakouts. I’m not sure if that’s attributable to technique or just my body but battling breakouts down there is a new experience and not one I’d like to repeat. It went away when hair started growing back.
• The squeeze toy is a nice touch! You are given a squeeze toy to grip onto just in case you find the pain unbearable. I didn’t use it 🙂
• Partway through my session, another therapist knocked on the door to ask if my therapist was done and ready to do another to which mine replied that she would be a while more. I felt that to be quite uncomfortable. Once a therapist is working on a customer, I don’t think they should be disturbed, unless in an emergency. Like if the place was going to burn down or an evacuation was in process. Not otherwise.

It was, as I said, my first time having a wax and they do try to make you feel as comfortable as you can. The girl doing the waxing for me told me she’d been doing it for 6 months (that’s a lot of pubes shes been looking at, and she’s not even a gynae!) but she seemed to know what she was doing… -ish. Being my first time, I’m not sure how to rate her skill. That said, at the same outlet, Kahani was waxed by someone with 3 years experience so staff experience varies. Still, like I said, the waxer seemed to know what she was doing so I’d say it was on an overall basis, a good experience.

I was also given little sample tubs of X-Out cream and Ice-Cream to help prevent ingrown hair and soothe the waxed area, to be applied daily. I’m not sure for how long so I just applied them for a few days and then left it 😛 I stick to regular exfoliation and regular aloe vera gel or baby oil and it works fine for me, as those creams are pricey. I did notice that once hair grows the pubic area needs less attention. Or in my case, no attention. I got some zits (weird I know) but they went away when I scrubbed at it and when the hair started growing.

Have you tried the Strip! Ministry of Waxing salons? There are 4 outlets in Malaysia for now (Bangsar, The Curve, Sunway Pyramid and Lot 10) and there are tons in Singapore, and also in other countries. If you have been, do you want to share your experience there? Good or bad, I’d like to hear about it 🙂

Paris B

A full Brazilian Wax costs RM152 which includes a sealed spatula pack. There are promotions off and on and packages. Check at http://www.strip-my.com/ for latest updates.

From now until 28 February 2011 1st timers at any Strip! Ministry of Waxing salon gets a full Brazilian wax at RM88 (usual price RM152) It doesn’t have to be your first time doing the brazilian, just your first time at the salon.