Mary Miljan opened Aroma Waxing & Laser Clinic in Toronto in 2008 and today the brand has three locations in Toronto and Mississauga.
She’s spent about 18 years working with clients and watching this business change from the ground up.
What she finds interesting isn’t only which treatments people choose, but how the way they spend has changed too. Years ago most of the conversation was waxing. Now the business gets so many questions about sugaring, men’s grooming, laser, hormonal hair growth and PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome), darker skin tones, and whether it makes financial sense to keep paying for temporary hair removal for years.
The business has even built a little calculator that gives people an estimate of what shaving, waxing or sugaring may cost over time compared with a laser package.
In an interview with Retail Insider, Miljan talks about the business and trends she is seeing.
How have customer preferences and spending habits in the hair-removal market changed since you opened Aroma in 2008?
When I opened Aroma in 2008, waxing was really the main conversation. People came in for their wax, came back five weeks later, and that was how it all began. From there we expanded our hair removal to Sugaring services then laser hair removal.
Today clients know a lot more before they even walk through the door. They ask about waxing versus sugaring, sensitive skin, ingrown hairs, laser, different machines, skin tones, hormones and how many treatments they may need.
I also think people are more careful about how they spend their money. They are not only asking what the appointment costs today. They are thinking about how often they have to come back and what they are going to spend over the next five or ten years.
But one thing hasn’t really changed. People still want to feel comfortable, they want somebody experienced taking care of them, and they want the service done properly.
What trends are you seeing in demand for waxing, sugaring, laser hair removal and men’s grooming, and what do those trends tell you about how consumers are making decisions?
Waxing is still a very big part of our business, especially Brazilian waxing. We have clients who love waxing and have been doing it for years.
Sugaring has definitely become much more popular. Years ago a lot of people didn’t even know what it was. Now clients come in specifically asking for it, especially people with sensitive skin or people who prefer a more natural form of hair removal.
Laser has grown because people are looking more at the long term. They get tired of shaving, ingrowns or repeating the same waxing appointment over and over, and eventually they start asking whether laser makes more sense for them.
Men’s grooming has changed a lot too. Men are much more comfortable coming in for back, chest, Brazilian, beard and laser services. It is not unusual anymore.
What I see is that clients want choices. They want us to explain the difference between the services and then let them decide what works best for their skin, lifestyle and budget.
How have conversations around hormonal hair growth, PCOS and hair removal for people with darker skin tones changed the services customers are seeking and the questions they are asking?
People talk about these things much more openly now.
We see women who tell us they have PCOS or hormonal hair growth on the chin, face or other areas. They want to know why the hair keeps coming back and whether laser is still worth doing.
I always explain that hormonal hair can behave differently. Laser can help a lot, but somebody with PCOS may need more treatments or more maintenance because the hormones can continue producing new hair. I think it is important to explain that before starting instead of promising everybody the exact same result.
Clients with darker skin tones are also asking much better questions now. They want to know what machine we use and whether it is appropriate for their skin.
For lighter skin we can use Alexandrite, and for darker skin we use YAG. The wavelength and the settings have to be right for the person’s skin. That is where having an experienced technician really matters.
The questions today are much more educated. Clients want to understand what you are doing and why, and I think that’s a good thing.
Are customers becoming more focused on the long-term cost of temporary hair-removal methods such as shaving, waxing and sugaring compared with investing in laser hair removal?
Yes, I think people are looking at the long-term cost much more now.
We have clients who have been waxing for years, sometimes the same areas every four or five weeks. At some point they start thinking about how much time and money they are putting into temporary hair removal and whether laser would make more sense for them.
I don’t tell everybody they should switch to laser because that’s not true. Some people love waxing, some prefer sugaring, and others are ready to start their laser journey.
But people want to understand the difference in cost over five or ten years, not just what today’s appointment costs. That’s why we put the calculator on our website. It gives people a simple way to compare what they may spend over time on shaving, waxing or sugaring versus a laser package and then decide for themselves.
What do you see as the biggest opportunities and challenges for independent hair-removal businesses in Toronto and the broader Canadian market over the next few years?
I think one of the biggest opportunities is specialization.
Hair removal looks simple until you have been doing it for almost 20 years. Then you realize how different every person’s skin and hair can be. You have different skin types, hair types, hormonal growth, sensitive skin, ingrowns, different waxes and different laser settings.
Independent businesses have an advantage because we can really get to know our clients instead of treating every appointment exactly the same.
I also think having good staff is extremely important. You can have a hair removal clinic and the best machine, but if you don’t have experienced people doing the treatments and taking care of the clients, none of that matters.
Keeping good employees is a big part of running this kind of business. When technicians stay, they get to know the clients, the clients trust them, and that relationship is very hard to replace. Training somebody properly takes time. Experience takes even longer.
The challenge is that there is a lot of competition and sometimes everything gets compared by price. But hair removal is not just a product where the cheapest one is automatically the same. The technique matters. The person doing it matters. With laser, the machine and settings matter too.
For independent businesses, I think the future is going to be about experience, education and trust. Clients have more information than ever, so you have to be able to explain what you’re doing, be honest about what they can expect, and have a team that knows what they’re doing.
That is probably the biggest thing I’ve learned since 2008. The equipment changes and the trends change, but good people and good service are still what keep clients coming back.
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