"Let's beat this together ladies!"

Thursday 05 September 2019

A local beauty salon has started offering women free bikini waxes ahead of their smear tests, to encourage more local ladies to attend their appointments.

Anyone who books an appointment at The Beauty Rooms, with confirmation of their cervical screening appointment, will be given the service free of charge.

The initiative will run "for the rest of the year and beyond".

"After watching the horrific documentary of Jade Goody's battle with cervical cancer and leaving two beautiful little boys behind, it really resonated with my own story of having to have a full colposcopy after a routine smear at the age of 21," explained Salon Owner, Ella Buddle. "Had I not been living in Guernsey, I would have had to wait four more years before my first smear and who knows what could have happened."

Pictured: The Beauty Rooms is encouraging women to go for their smear test.

Since the beginning of the year, Health and Social Care has been offering free cervical screenings to women in Guernsey aged between 25 and 65.

Those aged 25-49 should be screened every three years, while women between 50 and 65 should have an appointment every five years. Eligible women will be invited for their test by HSC and need to contact their GP surgery, Choices or the Orchard Clinic to book their appointment.

"As a company, we feel so strongly for women's health," continued Ms Buddle. "Smear testing year on year is drastically decreasing, yet we do hundreds of bikini waxes with legs akimbo!"

Each year in Guernsey and Alderney approximately five new cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed, with between one and two deaths recorded as a result.

"Let's beat this together ladies," added Ms Buddle. "Five minutes of time having that wax - not that you have to - and five minutes of being examined could potentially save your life."

 Pictured top: The Beauty Rooms. Image from salon's Facebook page.