On 4/13, we found out late at night that the NJ Board meeting would be early in the morning the following day. We woke up and took my sons to the sitter and drove down to Newark. No coffee yet because we were pressed for time. We arrived by busy Broad Street filled with one way streets and we did not know where we could turn, we finally found Halsey Street but had passed the building and needed to go back again and go around, I could not believe we found parking on the street, I parked and we rushed in. Only to find a security check and that we were 10 minutes late. We ran to the elevator and arrived on the 6th floor where a big conference table held members of the NJ Board of Cosmetology and a small group sat on the side and they were already speaking on the issue of genital waxing.
They allowed for public comment and ASSP Director Rosemary Wiener, presented the board with documents with great illustrations on the different types of bikini cuts and once again the definition of Brazilian Waxing and she explained that the procedure and safety for genital waxing is the same of any other body waxing. They just thanked her and asked if anyone else would like to speak. A member from a beauty school asked when the new rules would be published and Assistant Attorney General, Ms. Sharon Joyce explained end of May and I was still unsure if the Brazilian Waxing would be approved with the new regs. The Board continued speaking on other matters, voting very formally. My Joyce left the room and I immediately followed. I asked her what was happening with the new law in regards to waxing. She dearly explained to me that the section which was stating that genital waxing would be prohibited will say reserved which means that section of the law is on hold. Now the NJ Board had to come up with a committee who would review all the protocols, safe guards, schooling in regards to genital waxing, they are no longer using the word Brazilian Wax since this varies from salon to salon.
So the doubt remained, can we offer or not offer the Brazilian Waxing. Ms. Wiener said we could not since insurance companies would not cover it. I went to greet Mr.Jay Malanga who had been the director of the NJ Board of Cosmetology and works as administrative staff. He is a very sweet man and he greeted me and asked me if I received his letter. I had no idea what he was speaking of and asked if he had sent it to Rosemary and he said no you are the only one who got this letter. He said we could offer the service and use the letter from Division of Consumer Affairs for insurance purposes. I was still not totally convinced. The Board was going into closed session and we drove home feeling good about the meeting but still unsure if we could offer the service and how long this committee would take. We did find out that we could ask to participate in the committee.
We get home and I immediately called Sherry Butler, our publicist (
http://www.slbcom.com/ ) and she thought we should call Jeff Lamm from the Division of Consumer affairs so we gave the media the right info since it was still a little grey. Mr. Lamm explained to us that we could offer and even advertise the service and use their letter for Insurance purposes and also told us we could write to the NJ Board to ask to be notified and be considered for the new committee that will be reviewing information on genital waxing. We got off the phone so thankful and a few minutes later. There it was, a letter on my kitchen counter top, from the Attorney Generals office. I opened the letter and there it said Dear Ms.Reis, on behalf of Governor Corzine. Wait a minute, a letter on behalf of the Governor of NJ on Genital Waxing??????? I was in awe but kept reading on, the one line that totally cleared things up was the following:
"During the Board's further review and reconsideration,genital waxing can continue to be performed"
It is Black and White now, we have the green light to offer Brazilian Waxing once again. We are happy to announce our second location it is now opened, route 9 South, South Amboy, NJ by the Dairy Queen. More info on our next blog post. We could not do this without of God first of all who helped us not panic and to do what was needed. Second of all our wonderful Publicist, third of all Social Media, Twitter and Facebook that helped us in our grassroots campaign. Also Jason Nark from the Philly Daily News who was the only reporter writing facts and not cookie cutter stories. And all of you clients who petitioned, wrote in, supported us, did not turn your backs on us. God Bless you all and now it is back to waxing. 10% off for all our blog readers, just call in and say Wax On and give me my discount :-).
