I was assigned a story on the “vajazzling” trend for a February 2012 Valentine’s Day story in a women’s magazine published for a conservative audience in North Iowa. The obvious hurdles are probably clear, but I distinctly remember some unexpected ones too: my boxy, heaving computer froze during research on the (now defunct) vajazzling.com.
After calling a tech from the newspaper’s headquarters 30 miles away, I was forbidden from forcing a restart on the behemoth. The screen was absolutely stuck on a headless woman’s sparkling crotch.
I can still feel the embarrassment of that day, choosing silence instead of rationalizing to IT Mike and his bolo tie.
So, that’s the behind-the-scenes peek of the story excerpted below, originally published here on February 26, 2012. And RIP to Vajazzling.com—its memory lives forever in me.
Wax it … dye it … bling it
A surprise after a couple’s long separation. Something to spice up a marriage. The last touch for a tropical vacation.
Waxing in North Iowa has become a necessity for the many clients that visit salons in the area, despite tightened personal budgets and the initial hesitation.
Kristen Schoon, who owns The Beehive Waxing and Skincare Studio in Forest City and a new salon location in Clear Lake, has offered spa services in Forest City since 2006 and has recently seen waxing “take over,” she said.
“My services used to be 80 percent facials, 20 percent waxing,” Schoon said. “Now it has totally flip-flopped.”
The Beehive offers a full range of waxing services for women and men of all sizes and ages including facial, underarm and three different kinds of bikini waxing, including the provocative and ever-popular Brazilian bikini wax.
The demand for bikini waxes, which run the spectrum of a basic wax of only the hair visible outside of the bikini line to a gradual inching inward to a Brazilian, which removes all hair or could leave a strip or shape depending on the client’s wishes, has surprised Schoon.
“I didn’t think it (waxing services) would take off in the area because people are more conservative,” said Schoon, a Chicago native. “It’s become really mainstream.”
Schoon often does four or five Brazilians a day. The day before the Fourth of July last year, she performed 12 of the waxes. The Brazilian costs $40-$50.
Schoon also offers other services for the bikini line, like stenciling a shape that is then waxed around, at-home dye kits and possibly the newest up- and-coming trend: glitter. Those services cost an additional $15.
The Beehive has offered Vajazzling for a while with positive results. Vajazzling is defined as, “The act of applying glitter and jewels to a woman’s nether regions for aesthetic purposes” by vajazzling.com. Initials, shapes and symbols and lace for a “French look” all are available. The decorations can last for two to 10 days.
“We have had customers get Vajazzled in this area,” Schoon said. “A local girl had her boyfriend’s initials put on after a long separation. It looked really nice.”
