After arriving in Edmonton 11 years ago, Sina Zere set about finding the services she needed for her new life — like a new dentist, gas station and grocery store. But after searching online and asking around, she could not, for the life of her, find a wax bar.
“In all major cities in Canada, there are wax bars — and this is a pretty big city,” says Zere, who hails from Toronto. Instead of wax bars — beauty salons exclusively focused on hair-removal via waxing — Edmonton offered waxing services as add-ons to other esthetics businesses, like hair and nail salons. “Everybody offers it,” she says. “But just because you offer waxing doesn’t mean you’re great at waxing.”
After trying out a couple of these establishments, she was sorely disappointed. She continued to look around, but a year later, she still had not found an establishment offering excellent services, good pricing, and a consistently positive experience — what she calls the “holy trinity” of waxing.
“I don’t know why it bothered me so much, but it did,” says Zere, who saw a business opportunity. Although a recent MBA graduate, entrepreneurship had never been her goal. Post graduation, she started working in pharmaceutical sales, but actually starting a business had not been the plan.
Reluctant as she was to become an entrepreneur, Zere couldn’t resist the urge to create a better body waxing experience. In 2017, she opened Edmonton’s first wax bar — Buff Wax Spot — and set out to offer a good experience for everyone who crossed the threshold. “As a BIPOC business owner, it was very important that Buff Wax Spot includes and welcomes all people, and all bodies.”
A few years ago, Zere’s chain of wax bars (she has two locations in Edmonton and one in Sherwood Park) became the first in Canada to offer gender-neutral pricing after learning about the experiences of transgender clients in transition. “We sat down as a team and said, ‘What are we waxing? Are we waxing a guy or are we waxing a back?”
Transgender and nonbinary clients make up a very small portion of the business’ clientele, but Zere wants everyone to feel safe and welcome in her establishments. “If part of their journey includes a stop at Buff Wax Spot, I want that experience to be as safe and non-judgemental as possible,” she says.
In addition to creating Buff Wax Spot, Zere created a skincare product company called Buff Experts. She launched her line of retail products a year after she opened her first wax bar, as she felt existing aftercare products — those designed to prevent ingrown hairs, treat hyperpigmentation and access hard-to-reach acne — weren’t up to snuff. With a background in science — Zere also has degrees in genetics and biotechnology — she had fun formulating recipes for her products, which now address a wide range of skin concerns.
Seven years after launching her businesses, Zere is grateful that she took the leap and for the clients who’ve shared important parts of their lives with her and her staff — like weddings, pregnancies, and gender transitions. “I’m trying my very best to leave a positive impact on this community, my staff, and our clients,” she says. “I take that really seriously, that my business needs to make a positive contribution to this city.”
This award is a partnership between Edmonton Chamber of Commerce and Edify magazine.
This article appears in the Jan/Feb 2025 issue of Edify
