Halifax welcomes LGBTQ-friendly dedicated sugar-waxing studio

A new LGBTQ-friendlywaxing studio has opened in the Halifax area.

Fauna Sugaring Studio on Agricola Street is a dedicated full-service sugar-waxing shop.Sugaring involves removingbody hair by quickly pulling it from the root using a paste thatconsists of lemon, waterand sugar.

The studio, established by Faith Lamoureux, had already received multiple booking requests even before it opened on Tuesday.

Lamoureux, asugar practitioner, says she became interested in sugaring at a young age after having herown struggles with hair removal.

"My mom actually went to school to become a sugar practitioner, and I was the one there every day while she practised on me and the results were just so impeccably amazing," saysLamoureux, who has been practising sugar waxing for six years.

"As I got older, realizing that this wasn't something that everyone had easyaccess to, I wanted to change that."

The ingredients for the sugary paste are heated together until it reaches a candy-like consistency. Once it cools it's applied directly to the skin, similar to other waxing methods.

"It's a natural form of hair removal," says Lamoureux. "It's all applied against the natural hair growth, so that when you remove the sugar pasteit's all removed with the natural hair growth, which takes it out of the pore in a way that's smoother and easier for the skin to release so then you don't get ingrown hairs."

One ofLamoureux's core business valuesismaking sure her shop isLGBTQwelcoming. Although many shops do a great job making people feel comfortable, she says, it's not uncommon for waxing services to be targeted towardspecific gender representations.

"In the hair-removal industry, currently right now and in the past,everything has been very gender-basedeither female services or male servicesand there are so many people that don't identify with either of those labels."

Lamoureuxsays having gendered services can be exclusionary or exclusive to certain people, so she wants to change how services are typically offered.

"We want to approach things differently and offer services we can modify to fit each individualpersonsneeds based on theirlifestyle and situation that they're in moving forward."

'Keeping an open mind to the community'

Lamoureuxsays she has heard of situations wheremembers of the LGBTQcommunity don't feel like their personal needs arebeing met orthat certain gendered verbiage is being used that isn't inclusive for everyone something she hopes to change with her shop.

"I think that it's really great that we have an opportunity to make the website that we have and the space that we have more approachable for everyone that exists, not just certain people."

Lamoureuxsays the process of sugaring tends to be less harsh, which can help avoid waxing after-effects such as red skin and ingrown hairs something that may benefit those wishing to make their hair removal less noticeable.

The cost of services will be comparable to other shops but will refrain from using gendered services names.

"The biggest thing is keeping an open mind to the community. We are all human beings and we're not all always going to get it right every time, but we just want to make sure we are having open arms and open minds to any types of different types of services that we need to add or include that we haven't thought of."