A London salon is going to start charging larger women more for waxing treatments under the guise that they have to use more product. Um, yeah, we don’t buy it.
The last time you got waxed you may have paid a little more to get a special scrub or a bottle of goop that you were told would magically erase the pain of having the hair ripped out of your body. If you’re a client of MM Bubbles in London, next time you might be charged more just because of how you look.
The salon is charging women who are a size 12 a surcharge of about $8 and women size 18 a surcharge of around $16. Huffington Post reports that a UK size 22 reporter who went into the salon to test the policy was told by the salon owner, “I know maybe for you it is not very nice but I use more stuff.”
At first glance it can sound reasonable — fat people are bigger, so they need more product, so it should be more expensive. But, let’s take a second glance. First of all, the average woman in the UK is a size 16 so this salon has created a policy that upcharges the majority of women. Also, if we’re talking about how much product is used, then let’s talk about that. Why aren’t taller women charged more? An esthetician friend of mine let me know that women with more hair, or more stubborn hair, can use twice or three times the time and material of a women of the same size. Why should a size 12 woman who is 5 feet tall with a long torso and short legs pay more than a size 10 woman who is 6 feet tall with a short torso and long legs?
Either people should pay for the amount of product that they actually use, or they should be given a flat fee — simply charging a fat tax based on a woman’s dress size is nothing more than a sleazy money grab at best, and thinly-veiled bigotry at worst. I hope women of all sizes walk their hairy legs somewhere else and show this salon that we won’t put up with bigotry disguised as good business tactic.
