Salons back N.J. OK for Brazilian wax

NEWARK, N.J. - There probably have been countless neighborhood meetings inside the East Side Community Center, an old firehouse in the middle of the Newark's Ironbound neighborhood.

Residents most likely talked passionately about education, local government, or various other developments in the neighborhood that's home to about 70,000 Brazilian and Portuguese.

Last night, a few dozen concerned business owners gathered there to wax passionately about Brazilian waxing, a painful procedure that removes hair from a woman's genitals. The wax is in danger of being permanently stripped from New Jersey statutes unless laws are altered to add it next month.

Some at the meeting spoke about the aesthetics of Brazilian wax, and others about the economics of a procedure that runs $50 to $80 a session and is performed in hundreds of salons, thousands of times each year in the state.

"Brazil is a tropical place; women don't want to expose themselves," said Alica Borges, a cosmetologist and esthetician in New Jersey and New York. "It's just ugly."

The Daily News reported March 13 that the state Board of Cosmetology and Hairstyling had drafted a proposal to ban genital waxing in New Jersey's spas and salons.

The board claimed that the procedure already was illegal because it was not among body areas where waxing was permitted, although the regulations did not specifically ban genital waxing.

Salon and spa owners across the state bristled, claiming the ban would drive women to wax themselves, cruise the black market, or cross state lines to seek the procedure. The issue was mentioned by Jay Leno and Rush Limbaugh and featured on NBC's "Saturday Night Live."

Members of the Brazilian community, particularly in the Newark area, took the proposal personally, claiming the state was denigrating their heritage.

"They call them Idaho Potatoes everywhere. They call them Philly cheesesteaks," said Francisco Sampa, a journalist with the Brazilian Press, a local newspaper. "Twenty years we had two salons. Now it's over 120 Brazilian and Portuguese salons in the city. Something has to be done."

New Jersey Consumer Affairs Director David Szuchman heard the complaints and rejected the board's proposal and asked the board to review the issue. He also recommended that the board not enforce the law banning Brazilian waxes, which seemed like the end to a hairy situation.

The Association of Salon and Spa Professionals in New Jersey has been trying to raise concerns amid the celebration that followed, however. Regardless of whether the ban is enforced or not, the ASSPNJ says salon owners will still be liable and could risk their insurance if Brazilian waxing is not specifically legalized.

"I called 79 salons in Newark," said Jaira Lima, owner of Jaira's Salon, in Middlesex County. "Most of them say they can't fight the state or that waxing is already legal. They're wrong."

A new petition, directed to Jay Malanga, cosmetology board executive director, requests that the board rectify the legislation at its April 14 meeting in Newark. If the board does not act, the law will takes effect on April 25. *