Today we’d like to introduce you to Germana Torres.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Germana. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I moved from Fortaleza, Brazil, 18 years ago straight to Los Angeles. My business was born from my own necessity to have a natural way to wax due to my very sensitive skin and my pain tolerance being close to zero. So, I tried to find natural wax, like the one that I used to have in Brazil and I couldn’t find it. I tried some places, but I couldn’t take the pain. Then I decided to make my own wax using 100% Pure Honey from my dad’s Bee Farm in Brazil. I used to bring a lot of honey from his farm. In the beginning I was making it just to wax myself, my roommates and friends, just for fun, then soon enough lots of girls from the Brazilian community started to contact me for the service, and then they started telling their friends and like that my clientele grew so much! I got very popular among them because they also didn’t like the wax from the salons in LA and they were looking for a natural and less painful waxing experience
Has it been a smooth road?
Oh boy, it was not easy… been from another country, not having English as the first language was very challenging, that’s why I tried to grow organically. I am not in a hurry to open lots of locations… my business is growing slowly and with quality. Is not easy to find great people to work, people that we can count on, that has passion about waxing, beauty. But thank god I was able to find some great ones over the years that are growing with me and helping me a lot on this journey. Also, is very hard to find the balance between work, family, kids and friends. I am still having a hard time with this balance. But I will get there!
For 10 years I was one girl show. I was the only one making the Honey Wax, booking clients, confirming appointments, doing the waxing service, doing the checkout, sending reminders, promoting the business, etc.. and only 6 years ago, I started training some friends that were also Estheticians to work with me at my location in Santa Monica. That was the best thing I had done, I trained them to do my way, my technique, with my honey wax. It was a little hard on the beginning because clients were used to me only, but soon they started to be getting used to them and I was able to grow even more our Honey Waxing Business
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Our business is 98% about waxing, but I also have some estheticians that loves facials and microblading, so we also offer those great services at our business as well.
We specialize in Brazilian Bikini for female and male clients. We do it really good, actually, we are great on Brazilian Bikinis and clients love to have their service done by authentic Brazilian girls. But of course, we also have some amazing estheticians from USA and Ukraine that learned our technique and do an excellent job as well and they are even learning some Portuguese.
We are so proud of our honey wax, because is 100% natural, made in house by myself and my family, it is eatable, great for all skin and hair types. Great for face and full body waxing. And that is the main thing that sets us apart from other spas and salons, we don’t need to have a wax for each part of the body, or for different skin types, our Honey Wax is for everybody and any area.
Over those 18 years our clientele grew exponentially. We now have not only Brazilians clients but clients from all over the word that live in LA or visitors.
We opened our 2nd location in 2014 in Beverly Hills for the happiness of our east side clients. And last September, we opened our 3rd location in Agoura Hills partnering with my great and beautiful friend and also a wonderful Esthetician Patricia Diamond to serve the valley area. My team of estheticians grew a lot but with quality, I have the best ones and I am so lucky to have 2 cousins that are part of the team Jessica Lima and Andrea Gomes, they are my hands and feet. They help me a lot not only doing waxing but also at the administration of the business and manufacturing of the Honey Wax. But we couldn’t do much without our great team of Estheticians: Fernanda, Debora, Kris, Viktoria, Elaine and Denise, they all do a great job and are wonderful with clients and our great administrative staff Val and Beatriz, they make the booking and checkout process so easy and make sure clients leave our salon very happy with everything.
We are about to open another location in Hermosa Beach and another one in Brentwood to serve the demand of clients that look for a natural way to wax, without the chemicals of regular wax. We have clients from all over the world. They love the Honey Wax because is natural, less painful, gentle on the skin and causes less irritation and less ingrown hairs and it is eatable!
The waxing experience that we provide to clients is also unique. Our waxing room is beautiful, good size, super clean and with a TV playing music videos to make the experience even more fun and enjoyable! And the service is not only for girls anymore. Men are also enjoying our Honey Waxing Service, we provide a full menu of waxing services for men and women at our beautiful locations.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Our Santa Monica is our oldest and busiest location. Next to the beach, next to 3rd street Promenade, next to great Hotels, close to the freeway 10, couldn’t be better because we serve not only locals but lots of tourist and also clients from all over LA that doesn’t mind driving extra miles to experience the best waxing available in LA.
The Beverly Hills location for the last 4 years serve Beverly Hills, Hollywood and all the east side area. And our newest location in Agoura Hills that serve the whole valley area all the way to Santa Barbara.
Los Angeles is a great place for waxing Business for sure and I think LA can still handle a lot of more waxing business around.
Pricing:
- Female Brazilian – is $65 if you come once in a while.
- Female Brazilian Bikini Monthly- $55 if you come every month.
- Female Brazilian Bikini Package of 3 or 6 – $50 Each (pay in advance)
- Female Brazilian Bikini Membership – $45 – Auto pay monthly
Contact Info:
- Address: Brazilian Honey Waxing
1333 2nd Street, Suite 100 room 20, inside the Salon Republic
Santa Monica, CA 90401 - Website: www.brazilianhoneywaxing.com
- Phone: 310-403-8026
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/brazilianhoneywaxing
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/honeywaxing
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/honeywaxing
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/brazilian-honey-waxing-santa-monica-santa-monica
- Other: https://www.yelp.com/biz/brazilian-honey-waxing-beverly-hills-beverly-hills
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