Treatwell launch ‘Life Saving Wax’ initiative in salons across the country to raise awareness for importance of cervical screening
- New initiative is in partnership with Public Health England’s ‘Cervical Screening Saves Lives’ campaign
- Cervical screening attendance is at 20 year low and continuing to decline. Reasons for this include embarrassment, lack of knowledge and fear of pain
- However, intimate waxing is on the increase and new research from Treatwell reveals around 1.2 million* young women in England head to salons for intimate waxing
- Up to 500 partner salons across England are opening up the conversation on cervical screening to help break down barriers to cancer prevention and encourage women to attend screening when invited
Today, the UK’s largest online marketplace for booking hair and beauty treatments, Treatwell, has launched ‘Life Saving Wax’ in partnership with Public Health England’s (PHE) ‘Cervical Screening Saves Lives’ campaign.
Around 2,600 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer in England each year and around 690 women die from the disease. It is estimated that if everyone attended screening regularly, 83% of cervical cancer cases could be prevented. However, attendance at screening is declining year on year; currently one in four (28.6%) women aren’t attending when invited. This is even higher in the 25 – 34 age group despite them having more abnormalities detected compared to others (38.9% for women aged 25 – 29 and 31.2% for women aged 30 – 34).
Research amongst younger women indicates there are a number of barriers to attending, including lack of knowledge about the purpose of the test, fear that it might be painful, feeling embarrassed and not being able to find the time.
While the number of women attending the potentially life-saving test year-on-year is decreasing, the number of women engaging in intimate waxing treatments in England is going up. New research released today from Treatwell has found that nine in 10 (90%) women aged 25 – 34 maintain their pubic hair in some way and approximately 1.2 million women in this age group are heading to beauty salons to do so.
With Treatwell seeing a year on year increase in the number of bookings for intimate waxing (bikini waxing +84%, Hollywood waxing +52% and Brazilian +32% in 2017-18), the ‘Life Saving Wax’ initiative aims to leverage the unique dynamic between a beauty therapist and customers visiting salons for intimate waxing treatments by enabling beauty therapists to open up the conversations on the importance of cervical screening. ONS population data shows there are currently 4,151,400 women aged 25-34 in England and 28% of those in the survey visit salons for pubic hair maintenance When looking at the relationship between women and beauty therapists, almost half (47%) of those surveyed said they would be comfortable talking about personal topics with them and six in 10 (59%) see beauty therapists as a trusted person to talk to. In addition, three quarters said that they listen to the advice given by beauty therapists (74%) and find they’re sensitive and understanding of their needs (75%).
The ‘Life Saving Wax’ initiative aims to break down the barriers to cervical cancer prevention by encouraging women to talk openly about cervical screening, feel confident to choose whether to accept their invitation to be screened when invited or, if they’ve missed previous invites, to book an appointment at their GP practice. Up to 500+ Treatwell partner salons across the country are getting involved in the initiative, placing information throughout their salons and having conversations with their customers to highlight that cervical screening can stop cancer before it starts. Salons will be directing women to where they can find further information, support, tips and advice on how to make screening more comfortable as well as offering information to take away to share with friends and family.