Zapping away the stigma of excess body hair removal
Hannah aiming to ’normalise’ imbalances
AN INCLUSIVE laser hair clinic removes hairs but also hopes to zap away the stigma surrounding excess body hair.
Southsea Laser Clinic, in The Friary, Southsea, opened in its new location in April and offers a range of laser hair removal services.
Owner Hannah Hooper, 25, from Southsea, said she is thrilled with the response to her business, through referrals, reviews and on social media.
She said: ‘We’re pretty much back to back with clients. The growth has been insane and we’ve also got people travelling quite far to see us. I think the furthest we’ve got people travelling down is from Cheltenham and Crawley.’
The main reason that Hannah trained in laser was because she was dealing with excessive hair herself from PCOS, and now wants to help others with hormonal imbalances who are in the same position, offering an affordable solution.
She said: ‘It’s been quite refreshing how many people who have come through the door and had the same problems as me. We just want to normalise it because it’s not really spoken about.’
As a hair removal clinic, she also acknowledges the stigma around body hair and the pressures to be hair free, and wants to make sure the clinic does everything it can to change the narrative.
She said: ‘We want to normalise that it’s okay to have body hair. What we want to do is help people that have hormonal imbalances or excessive hair growth that becomes a problem for them.’
‘A lot of other clinics push the “ditch the razor, get laser” and put the pressure on people to be hair free, but we focus on the main problem areas just to make you that bit more confident but still normalising that you don’t have to be completely hair free.’
Hannah said she loves working with other independent businesses in Southsea, and is currently running a charity raffle to raise awareness for the Butterfly Thyroid Cancer Trust.
Hannah says that the clinic is welcoming to everyone and is inclusive to LGBTQ+ and transgender clients. She was ‘honoured’ to be approached by charity TransFriendly to be listed on its directory for transgender friendly businesses. The clinic is affiliated with QA Hospital to offer patients and staff their hair removal services, and QA staff can receive 10% off treatments with a valid staff ID card. Visit southsealaserclinic.co.uk and Southsea Laser Clinic on Instagram and Facebook.