The waxness

Roberta Abad was the heartthrob of my batch in high school. Everyone was in love with her. She never failed to come to school looking fresh as a daisy and, when the last bell rang, it looked like she was just showering all day, not toiling over calculus (which she excelled at… bitch) under 100-degree heat (there was no air-conditioning at that time). Meanwhile, I rolled out of class looking like I had just escaped Guantanamo and had enough time to dribble dirty ice cream on my uniform.

In our group Roberta was the one who had it together. Good grades, model student, modest, immaculate posture and a face that could launch a thousand lowered Honda Civics (the car du jour of our time). Yet what I remember the most about her was her charming obsessive-compulsive ways. It was before being OC was fashionable. She sanitized her hands and groomed herself like she was joining some sort of pageant. She always made me feel like a rugrat — after all, I was the naughty tomboy of the bunch.

Today, it all makes sense. Roberta, after a tenure in advertising, has put her OC ways to good use and for the benefit of mankind. She launched Strip, a waxing mecca that holds hygiene and platinum standard grooming as most sacred. As you begin your session you receive a hygiene pack (very Roberta) with 16 spatulas and your own pack of wet wipes. Unlike gross wax salons that double-dip spatulas or (as I heard from others) reuse the wax, they make sure that the process is done in the most sterile way.

Strip is not just your regular waxing salon. Being a veteran wax-ee, I have seen it all. I’ve lived with burned eyelids during a rogue waxing session in between class or the run-of-the-mill ant hill-esque trauma of bad waxing techniques using wax hot enough to melt lava itself.

Strip is a franchise from a Singapore-based company that has upped the standards in waxing. The wax they use is pumped with chamomile extracts, moisturizers and even a silicone-like formula that makes the wax harden to a flexible and non-breakable slab. Meaning less pain, less time on the table and less of every nightmare involved in waxing. The wax itself smells like white chocolate and vanilla, making the once archaic treatment actually seem like a treat.

I was a bit skeptical when it came to hearing Roberta’s claim that the waxing was painless. Seriously, how can you pull hair painlessly without a morphine drip? Yet, with all my cynicism, I left a convert. The combination of the cyborg wax and deft pulling techniques left a pain level of maybe three out of 10. (I have a very low pain threshold. I once passed out when a doctor injected me with medicine using a two-inch-long needle.)

Then the fun part comes. Since not much pain is involved and the highly trained staffers even give you tips on hair removal during your 15-minute treatment, you can choose to be creative and do “shapes.” I personally am not that cheeky but I can imagine it being a source of humor for many. The one thing you must do is the after wax “facial” treatment that treats the tender waxed area with moisture and cleans pores using a spearmint-infused mask.

I left a believer. Trust the OC heartthrob of my teenage years to come up with the most miraculous body treatment that was once eyed with an unsteady eye to become something to actually look forward to.

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Call Strip, located at Serendra Fort Bonifacio, at 856-9145.