European Wax Center

I stopped by this location while visiting from out of town. This place is extremely clean. The girls at the front desk were friendly and answered all of my questions. I had the best Brazilian experience ever! My wax specialist was Kristi. She was very nice, efficient and she made me feel very comfortable. The services and products are very reasonably priced. I love their concept and the packages offered. Great place to go!

Hm… some kinks to be worked out, definitely.
European Wax Center is this chain that’s been exploding all over the United States these past few years; they do waxing… everywhere. Prices are pretty reasonable (it’s $ 47 for a Brazilian when other places are charging $ 55-​$ 75). They also have a lot of heavy marketing pressure going on so just be prepared… every time I go, they ask me about purchasing future wax passes or their anti ingrown hair serum or making another appointment so I can get «points». And for first timers, girls can get a free brow, underarm or bikini line wax and guys can get a free ear, nose or brow wax. Yes, that is what sucked me in in the first place.
I noticed awhile back while making an appointment for the Ladue location that this Glen Carbon place was going to open. So I signed up for their mailing list and last week, I got a phone call promoting their «Première Week». What the heck… I’ll be a guinea pig… everyone has to be once in awhile, right?
This location is located literally in the strip mall between Walmart and Sam’s Club. It looks deceptively small from the front, but it opens up and is sized the same way as other locations. I walk in, and there are literally 8 girls clad in white chatting while getting trained for the front. They all have a manuscript to read from: from the checking in to the spiel about prescription meds and waxing to the would you like to sign up for a wax pass. Soon after, I was ushered in for my waxing: eyebrows, lip, and underarms. Now, usually, I get this all done up in Chicago at an Indian beauty parlor where it literally takes 10 minutes. This took… an hour.
So my esthetician also had a manuscript to read from: the usual spiel of the four step process (something about cleaning, then some oiling, then the wax, then some rejuvenation — does it work? The jury’s still out on that one.) and their special products. I’m not sure what’s in the cleaning and oiling agents, but it was enough to make my eyes smart a little. The wax is a hard wax, and then they pull it off without using any cloth strips. I’m still not sure how I feel about the wax: it doesn’t really hurt when they pull it off, and I don’t know if it’s the wax or all the pre-​applications, but sometimes 1) it’s hard to get off; they really have to pick at it sometimes. 2) sometimes a second application is necessary (which doesn’t happen anywhere else), and 3) I feel it always grows back faster than other occasions.
My esthetician was really nice about everything, and she really did take the time out to make sure that everything looked okay and that she got all the strays. It was easy to tell that she’s still learning, which gave me some moments of anxiety, but it turned out all right at the end. One of the things that really bothers me sometimes is that the esthetician gets buzzed by pager when their next client is here, and they actually have to go out and acknowledge that and say they’ll be a few minutes. It’s a waste of time, I think. I mean, the front desk should know that the esthetician is in with someone because obviously, the client hasn’t checked out… so why should the esthetician have to leave the room in the middle of a procedure to check in with the front desk, leaving the client in various forms of undress? I don’t get it.
My face and underarms were a lot more red and splotchy than usual after the waxing. Again, I’m not sure if it’s the waxing or if it’s all the other «products» that they use. I just know I don’t get this red at other places. When I checked out, they tried again to sell me their products and passes, but they weren’t pushy about it.
I’d give them time to grow and then maybe come in again. I’m not sold on the eyebrow waxing at all; I love my threading. But some of their other waxing prices can’t be beat. This place is going to be popular for sure with the SIUE crowd.