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INTRO – WHO AM I?

Hello Caronlab fam! My name is Chanel Mak, your Master Educator for Caronlab North America. I am very excited and so happy for you to read my first post for “Waxperience with Chanel.”

If you don’t know who I am; my name is Chanel Mak, a Chinese Canadian born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I reside in Calgary, and I am a mother to 2 small daughters. I currently run a home-based salon and spa business with my husband called On The Q.T. Salon and Spa. My mother was an esthetician and growing up, I was always fascinated by how much positivity she brought to her clients and how beautiful people felt after a facial service. I decided to follow in her footsteps when I was 19 and joined the beautiful world of esthetics. I’ve been a licensed esthetician for 11 years and have ventured into every form of hair removal available. I am a Certified Laser Technician and Electrologist. I have also dabbled in sugaring and am a full-time wax technician. I have been with Caronlab for the last 2 years as an educator, but have been actively using Caronlab for the last 3 years. Caronlab changed my views on wax and has taken my waxing services to another level.

IT’S STORY TIME! – HOW DID I GET INTRODUCED TO CARONLAB

I got a job immediately after I received my certification as a Laser Technician. I instantly became the girl who lasered everyone’s privates! I felt I needed a change after doing only Brazilians for 2 years. When my husband and I opened up our home-based salon and spa in 2018, I decided to not do laser hair removal since it is a costly investment and focused on waxing. At the time, I also decided “no more Brazilians, only bikinis.”

A year into the business, my husband asked me why I wouldn’t offer Brazilians and I honestly didn’t have a good answer. I started asking myself the same question. Why had I decided not to offer a service that I was so familiar with? Was I tired of getting up in everyone’s business? Was I not confident to provide a good Brazilian with wax? That was it!! I simply just wasn’t confident in the wax I was using.

I really disliked a lot of waxes on the market, so I decided to ONLY use hard wax for all my waxing. I tried a lot of different hard waxes and they all seemed to be costly, and I still wasn’t satisfied with the result.

Imagine doing a full set of legs with hard wax that would go brittle and break and the time to do a good service was too long.

I couldn’t find a soft wax that I liked to use either. I didn’t like any waxes that required pre-oil or were too sticky or left too much hair behind. None of the soft waxes I tried did a sufficient job of hair removal without compromising my client’s skin and hard waxes that were difficult to work with that weren’t producing results. Majority of all the waxes were reeking of chemical or artificial fragrance. I was starting to question my skills and abilities.

At the beginning of 2020, I decided to take a Brazilian Wax “refresher class.” I needed to see if there was something new and better on the market and maybe a few new wax techniques too. I came across 2 brands to use for hands-on in the class – one of them was Caronlab Australia.

I hadn’t had a Brazilian wax for about 2 years. I was hairy and I shaved to get by after having my first child. My hairs were dark, coarse, and stubborn. I was definitely not excited about having Brazilian Wax pain, but I decided to be the first one to hop up on the bed and let my class partner work on me.

The first wax she used on me was Caronlab’s Brilliance Hard Wax. She applied and removed it and I thought to myself, “Oh! Ok, that wasn’t bad at all or is it because I experienced the pain of natural labour that my pain tolerance has reached a whole new level?” Then she applied the 2nd brand of hard wax available in the class. This was a brand that I’ve used before. She went for the rip and I flinched and was reminded that Brazilian waxing sucks. I let her do another few applications with the other brand then I finally stopped her and said, “Please use the white wax again.” I was completely blown away. It was a night and day difference. I was shocked by how comfortable waxing was with the white wax. I inquired about the brand of wax from the instructor.

I picked up my first batch of Brilliance Hard Wax Beads 800g immediately after the class along with their After Wax Oil & Moisturizer 250ml. I’ve used many different products to remove wax residue and was blown away by how little I used to remove the wax so easily from the skin.