The Nose Wax Disaster

One of my NBU classmates displays her successful nose wax results.

 I blame Nashvegas Beauty U for finally having the heat fixed. 

The heat has always been jacked-up in the esthetics area at NBU. We’ve worn gloves while taking exams, huddled for warmth on the clinic floor, and given advanced warning to clients before getting undressed for facials. One thing you can rely on at NBU - -you'll always shivering - - unless you’re in the warmth of the wax room.

The private wax room is where we take clients for body waxes. Between the warmth of three wax pots, the small size of the room, and the intensity of having or giving a body wax, you’re guaranteed to be warm in the wax room. We even have an oscillating fan in the corner to help cool things off. 

On Monday, we came into school and our instructor proudly told us that the heat had been fixed, and that we could finally leave our winter coats at home. We were thrilled.

On Tuesday, one of our clients came in for a lip and chin wax. It was Ms. Smith, an attractive, professional business woman. Since a chin wax is much easier when someone is reclined, I showed Ms. Smith to the private wax room and laid her back in a facial chair. We engaged in the typical small talk, and she commented on how “nice and warm” the wax room was. I replied, “Yes, the wax room is always warmer than anywhere else. I guess it’s the heat from these wax pots.”

As I was finishing up her lip wax, Ms. Smith made a comment about a few bothersome hairs she had growing out of her nose. I took a look and said, “Oh that’s no big deal, we can wax those and you won’t have to worry about them for weeks.” Ms. Smith had the typical response, “You mean you can wax nose hair? How?”

“We use hard wax.” I said.

FYI - Hard wax is different than strip wax, in fact, it doesn’t use strips at all. It begins to set as soon as it is applied, and it becomes hard within seconds. To remove it, you just flick up a tiny piece at the end, grab it and give it a quick pull. It comes off in one nice hard piece, with the nasty hair in tow. The great thing about hard wax is that it’s easy to use in small places where you can’t get a wax strip. Hard wax is perfect for the nose…

After explaining things to Ms. Smith, she decided she’d try the nose wax. We talked briefly again about how warm the room was getting, so I walked over to the oscillating fan and turned it on high. Her first nostril wax went fabulous! When I removed the wax, we both briefly examined it and Ms. Smith let out a squeal of delight at how much hair was removed from the edge of her nostril. I gave her the mirror and she marveled, “That is amazing! Wait till I tell the girls at the office about this!”

Then came the second nostril. By this time, I was so warm that I could feel the perspiration starting to develop on my forehead. I knew Ms. Smith was uncomfortable too, because she told me it would be ok to crack the door.

I laid down the wax as I’ve done a hundred times before in that little room, and then I waited for it to set.  I grasped the edge of the hard wax and gave it a quick pull. Instead of a hard hairy wax glob, the wax pulled out in a string like a piece of chewed gum stuck to your shoe on a hot day. Yikes -half of the wax was still inside Ms. Smith’s nose.

I felt the heat creep up the back of my neck.

“Well, that’s something. The wax didn’t set. Let’s give it another minute and try again.” I said calmly. We waited another minute. I tried my best to grasp the wax with the tiny bit that was outside of her nose, but it was useless.  Every time I got a grip, it was the gum on the shoe incident all over again. Ms. Smith and I were both getting antsy.

They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, so I decided to try a different approach. “Ms. Smith, I’ve going to grab some tweezers and see if I can get a grip on the wax.” She nodded. I relentlessly tried to grab the wax with my tweezers. It was a careful balance between getting a grip on the wax and pushing it further up her nose. The tweezers didn’t work either.

By this time, we were both crazy hot. I knew what I had to do.  I handed Ms. Smith the hand mirror and said, “Ms. Smith, I think we’re going to need to pick it out. I’m happy to do it, or you can.” She looked at me and said, “You hold the mirror.”

So I did. It took about another three minutes before victory. And yes, victory was sweet. That was one funky wax ball by the time we got it out.

As we left the wax room, Ms. Smith and I laughed. We couldn’t help but find it all funny. It wasn’t until we felt the cooler air of the clinical floor that it dawned on us that her skin had finally gotten so warm that the wax wouldn’t set. It was the classic beauty school disaster. I didn’t charge her for the botched “nose job” - - and believe it or not, she actually rebooked with me in four weeks.  

I guess this is what NBU would call a “discovery”.

Gettin’ Beauty Schooled,

Rita