Brazilian Waxing is still illegal in NJ

South River, NJ (March 25, 2009)…Feuza Reis, Business Development Director of Jaira’s Salon and Umbelina Santos, President of BAUA- Brazilian American United Association, and a hairdresser herself, to host a meeting of Brazilian salon owners and public regarding the brazilian waxing legalization issue. The meeting is Monday March 30th at 6pm, East Side Community Center, 296 Ferry Street, Newark, NJ (in the ironbound section of Newark which has a population of over 70,000 Brazilians). For more information contact Feuza Reis at 908-812-9650 or go to http://www.jairasbrazilianwax.com/.

Many feel no action is needed and is unnecessary based on new factors. On March 20, reacting to growing dissent from salon owners and customers, New Jersey Consumer Affairs Director David Szuchman rejected the board's proposal and asked it "to begin an immediate review of the training necessary to safely provide this service, and to establish appropriate protocols and safeguards."

However, the truth is that the ban is not lifted until the Board of Cosmetology decides and they could still say NO! It is still illegal until the law is changed by the Board of Cosmetology. Rosemary Weiner, chairwoman of the Association of Salon and Spa Professionals in New Jersey (ASSPNJ) recommends the grassroots campaign of signing and faxing the form letters requesting the legalization continue.
The ASSPNJ statement on this issue:

“This cannot be legally deemed as a lifting of the ban on removal of hair from the genital area until such time as the language in the rules & regulations is modified to permit this service to be performed. So long as the current language is in place, one must consider the Brazilian technique, and removal of hair from the back, chest and buttocks to be prohibited services as stated in the current rules & regulations and affirmed by the Board of Cosmetology.”

“The next meeting of the Board of Cosmetology is scheduled to be held on 04/14/09. All pressure must come to bear on the Board of Cosmetology to put this important issue on their agenda and to create language that would include removal of hair from the genital area, chest, back and buttocks, by waxing, as permissible services for a licensee to perform. That has not yet happened.”

Brazilian Wax Ban Craziness Part II

As I said in last post, we were freaking out when on 2/14 the NJ Board of Cosmetology told us we would need to take down our sign that read Brazilian Wax withing 30 days and that Brazilian Waxing was ILLEGAL in NJ. When Rosemary Weiner called me back, she explained what had happened. The NJ Board of Cosmetology has the right to interpret the rules and regulations and when the issue came up in regards to genital area waxing, they looked at the rules and regulations which stated waxing of arms, legs, abdomen and face only. So Brazilian Waxing was excluded and thus illegal. Rosemary introduce me to the ASSP, the Association of Salon and Spa Professionals and invited me to be present at their meeting on March 2 and that they would vote on a position to send to the NJ Board of Cosmetology. At the time I was taking a class on explosive P.R marketing with Maria Simone- http://passion2prosperity.com ( business coach) and Sherry Butler, a publicist from Butler Communications (www.slbcom.com ). I was learning how to write Press Release and how to pitch to the media but we knew that this would need a bigger team since we would be waking up the lion and did not know what could happen to our business. After many calls, hours and talks with Sherry, Rosemary and myself, I talked with my mother owner of Jaira' Salon and said you have to options- you either hide or your fight head on. And oh what a hard decision it was, we were so frightened but one thing helped me was my mom's reaction to this adversity. Her first reaction was not one of panicking but she turned to me and said, All things work in favor of those who serve God and as a God fearing woman, her words had power. And Sherry and I felt a whole lot better after we spoke with Rosemary who then confirmed that the ASSP supported the Brazilian Waxing and they voted to send a position paper to the NJ Board for their next meeting which would be held on March 10th, 2009. For that meeting the ASSP put together a wonderful position paper with justifications to permit the service and socio-economic impact of the loss of revenue as well as definitions of the service actually consisted of. We both felt there was an adverse perception of the Brazilian Wax and the proposal paper explained it so well. In a closed session to our sup rise the NJ board of cosmetology voted NO to the inclusion of the Brazilian Wax and agreed to uphold their current language which excluded it. Oh oh again. We than began an bilingual international grass roots campaign on twitter, Face book as well as sent Press Releases to the local American papers, Brazilian press, as well as Latino Radio Station and T.V stations. I do not think Sherry knew what she was in for. With a three hour time differance, as well as Portuguese speaking press, we started a ride that would be talked about world wide. Stay tuned for Part III of how I helped ban and helping legalize Brazilian Waxing in NJ.

Brazilian Bikini Wax Ban Issue- in NJ- How this All started? Part I

It has been a crazy ride these last two weeks. As you might have hear NJ Board of Cosmetology was pressing for a Ban on Brazilian Bikini Waxing. It is important to know the facts and since I have been the culprit in bringing out this issue, I decided to face it head on! How did this crazy idea of banning it get started? Well actually back in June 2007 I sent an email to the NJ Board of Cosmetology asking about information on licensing of waxologists for the Brazilian Waxing. I mentioned that my mom was always training new staff and always received praises on her work and some complaints about old places they had gone too. The NJ Board met in June 2007 and stated that since it was not listed in their rules and regulations and based on three points, one being that it had to do with mucous membrane, two that it was hard to investigate and three that they were concerned about hot wax on such a sensitive area. For the minutes of the meeting please see their website-

I then received a letter just to me, not to my moms salon that we should desist from doing such a practice and that it was illegal since it was not included in the rules and regulations, all that was included was Face, Legs, Arms, Abdomen. It was like receiving an April fool's letter, I thought it was a joke, got scared, did not tell my mom right away and we went about our business waiting to see if any other salons had stopped doing it. We saw no change and almost two years later in a major economic recession, my mom finally leases a second place she is about to open. She purchased a huge sign up and was inspected by the NJ Board of Cosmetology as protocol. She was then called by the NJ Board on 2/14/09 and was told that Brazilian Waxing was illegal and that she could do Bikini Waxing. OH OH!

The has in the past done a google search with my name, and found an article in Day Spa Magazine where they discussed how my email inquiry let to a ban of a well know service. I then saw Rosemary Weiner's name and saw she was for it. I looked up the Spa she owned at the time and was told she no longer worked there but I could leave a message. I did and she called back the next day saying how other salons were upset but no one had stepped up to the plate.

Stay tune for how this ride has been.

www.jairasbrazilianwax.com