The Garden State may be extra lush this summer.
New Jersey officials have proposed a ban on “Brazilian” bikini waxes, claiming the extreme grooming risky as well as risqué.
Two women were recently hospitalized for infections stemming from no-follicle-left-behind procedure, and one of them has filed a lawsuit, according to Jeff Lamm, a spokesman for New Jersey’s Division of Consumer Affairs, which oversees the cosmetology board.
But New Jersey spa owners say officials have no business legislating what women do with their Pine Barrens.
“Our customers have never had any problems – all this is going to do is send our customers across the river to New York,” said Kathleen Ho, owner of the Spa at Port Liberte in Jersey City.
Brazilians account for 85 percent of all bikini waxes, said Rita Gitelman, owner of La Femme in Hoboken.
“We’ve never had a single complaint,” she said. “Our clients are extremely upset.”
Technically, genital waxing has never been allowed only the face, neck, abdomen, legs and arms are permitted but because bare-it-all “Brazilians” weren’t specifically banned, state regulators haven’t enforced the law.
“The genital area is not part of the abdomen or legs as some might assume,” Lamm said
Officials with the National Cosmetology Association and National-Interstate Council of State Boards of Cosmetology said they were unaware of another state that has banned genital waxing.
Regular bikini waxes would still be allowed.
With AP
