Waxing business moving beyond hair removal

“WE’VE removed so much hair, there’s no more hair!” said Strip: Ministry of Waxing and Browhaus founder Cynthia Chua during a press conference in Makati City on March 1.

As they’ve already removed so much hair, the companies, under the Spa Esprit Group, are now moving on to new directions. Of course, the hair removal treatments are still in place, but, “Now it’s about intimate care. We’re just looking at the area as a whole, not just about the hair, but the skin, about rejuvenation, about making it perfect.”

For example, for this year, Ms. Chua is releasing a line of “Brazilian” perfumes, meaning perfume for where you get a Brazilian wax.

Ms. Chua is also coming out with other skincare products, such as sunblock. “I think a lot of our products are developed [ based on] the needs that we see the customer has.”

Ms. Chua founded her company in the early 2000s, motivated by gaps she saw in the market in Singapore. “There was no grooming culture for Asian women, and the Asian girls are very often laughed at by the Western people, that the Asian culture wasn’t there for grooming. That was my vision, that I wanted to bring a platform for Asian girls, where they’re educated about what grooming is.”

Providing an outlook on the grooming industry, she points out that Asian women are always looking for new things. “What is the new mask; what can we do?” She also points out the latest obsession on eyebrow maintenance, and that semi- permanent makeup is now a popular option. “A while ago, people would not tattoo their brows because their brows are turning blue!”

The Singapore- based company has also moved on to other fields unrelated to beauty: the company has about 17 brands under its portfolio, several of them related to food. As of March 1, Ms. Chua was in talks to bring one of her coffee shops to the Philippines.

“I think to me, I’m passionate about life. It wasn’t just about beauty.” —