Newcomer aims to tear strips off wax business

Bernadette Soares

The woman behind a new sugar-based hair removal product is hoping she will find success by tapping into New Zealand's $40 million waxing industry.

Bernadette Soares, who was born in India but has spent the last 20 years in New Zealand, will begin selling "Pharo" into New Zealand and Australian salons this month.

Pharo is one of three beauty care brands owned by Brand Value - an intellectual property and brand management company formed by Soares and former Kim Crawford Wines finance director John Williams two years ago.

Soares said the new product, which is made from sugar, lemon juice, water, aloe vera, kiwifruit and manuka honey, was being sold directly to salons through distributors in Wellington and Sydney.

The waxing industry in New Zealand was worth $40 million with around 1000 salons throughout the country.

"In our first year we are aiming to get into 300 salons in New Zealand and 600 in Australia."

Soares said the economic down-turn was making the new product more attractive as it appealed to salons who wanted an alternative to waxing or laser hair removal.

Soares believes a lot of salons had lost business over the years because of women having a bad waxing experience.

She claims Pharo is less painful than waxing because it does not stick to the skin and does not need to be heated as much as wax or removed through chemical solutions.

Soares did not believe there were any similar products in New Zealand although sugar-based hair removal was used widely in Europe.

The product was also designed to be attractive for those looking for an ecological solution as the cartridges it came in would be collected by the manufacturer for sterilising and re-using which was only possible because it was water soluble.

Soares said the product had proved popular with spas in India and Dubai.