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Permalink Reply by coldsalineplexus on July 4, 2013 at 10:51am

I can't imagine requiring an employee to receive an intimate service in order to stay on with me.

That said, I personally would never be comfortable offering a service I hadn't experienced.  

The balance of professionalism needed to come from both directions here - from the business owner in the form of allowing this esthetician to performing training services on consenting models, and from the esthetician in being clear on what services she was willing to perform when she interviewed for the job (since she also refused to wax a coworker during training, I assume that means she's uncomfortable performing brazilians overall, but that could be an incorrect assumption). 

Of course a business like Euro Wax which is built around brazilian waxing would be well within its rights to refrain from hiring someone unwilling to perform that part of the job requirement, but I do think it really is up to the professionalism of the individual service provider to determine how she or he feels about performing services they would not want to receive personally.

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Permalink Reply by Jodi on July 4, 2013 at 3:02pm

I personally haven't experienced every service I offer.  I can't imagine putting my skin through that, acne treatments when my skin is dry wouldn't be something I would do to my skin.  I also have experienced some of the peels I perform, but again, not every single one.   I've had bikini waxes, but would never put myself through getting a brazilian, but I perform them.  I was trained and practiced on volunteers who got them for free. 

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Permalink Reply by coldsalineplexus on July 4, 2013 at 8:32pm

I completely respect this position, but again, for me personally, nothing comes through the doors of my treatment room that I won't try/haven't tried on my own skin.  Even if it's not an ideal treatment for my skin or one I would want to experience on a regular basis (see: lash perm), I just feel too exposed when attempting to communicate with the client while performing something I have not been through.

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Permalink Reply by Cindy Greenwood on July 5, 2013 at 5:51am

I am in agreement with the esthetician. I don't know how they can defend forcing an employee to act as a training model. I think that it would be more professional to have others come in as models rather than have their staff do it.

I do my own bikini wax, but I have NO desire for a brazilian. AND I would not want people to "practice" this service on me. Like the litigant I am a bit older. Our skin can be thinner and looser - making this kind of service not just uncomfortable - but dangerous in that the delicate tissue bruises and tears more easily.

In that vein - I do facial waxing but I rarely wax myself - I tweeze my brows. That doesn't mean I can't or won't wax someone else.

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Permalink Reply by Crickett Enos on July 6, 2013 at 1:52pm

I get why she refused to have a wax herself, but she also refused to perform this service on the other models (or at least that is what one news reporter said). If you don't want to do them, why apply at a place where Brazilian waxing is their #1 service?  It's like a Vegan working at McDonald's and refusing to sell their #1 item, the hamburger.

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