Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Stacey Laricchia. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Stacey thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

How I came up with the idea of The Birthday Suit Body Waxing…
I feel like this is a pull up a blanket next to the fire sort of story, all the characters from the evil with (previous manager) to the fairy godmother (my publicist) and every cast of characters you could imagine inbetween!
I guess the phrase when one door slams in your face, another one needs to be kicked down… that is how it goes, right? I feel for sure that is how it is for me!
I have been in the esthetics/skincare/make-up industry since before I could stay up past 8pm.
I have a Southern mother who had me double cleansing, using serum, night cream & spf in first grade. I will never forget coming home to bottles and jars and boxes in my bathroom from Clinque, Estee Lauder & Chanel. All the samples they would give her, she would pass along to me. I think that is where it started. She also never left her bedroom “without her face on!” Yes, this is a thing…
While in college, I used to have an open door policy for my apartment until 10pm. Girls would come over to get just their eyes done. I would do a quick smokey eye and they were out the door. It is how I paid for my books & the other things college kids in Boston get in to! While in college I was going to “beauty school” (such a random outdated term which has come full circle and now is not a negative stigma to say) at night while college during the day.
Moving to Las Vegas for more make-up opportunities, I was able to secure an artistry position with a major high end brand. That position led me to trainig new artists as well as becoming the educational director. I would host amazing facial and skincare events and high end retailers and brand boutiques along with training staff at those establishments how our brand wanted the product executed on the skin, how to explain to a client and how to retail. Eventually that led to more of a desk position than the artistry side, which was never where I wanted to be so I left the company and went back to the esthetics side full time.
I fully credit Samantha from Sex in the City for the normalization of the brazilian wax! It was becomming a high demand personal servcie and to be honest, I am fantastic at facials but I am way to chatty to be a good facialist. And having a fierce social game is essential when you are waxing someone with their pants off. (insert heftly nod)
So after working for a year at a major waxing franchise, about 15 years ago, I knew I could do it better. This franchise was more worried about churning clients through and selling them something than the actual client experience. So, yup, you guessed it… The Birthday Suit was born!
The name came to me in the middle of the night. I sat up like I was possessed and yelled out “The Birthday Suit! A girl jumping out of a cake, but she has to be brunette!” And there she was.
Three months later, we opened our doors.
The demand for high quality, affordable body waxing was insane! At the time, the market was not nearly as saturated as it is now. We were sold out from day three. Our business model was to have a high end servcie, with top of the line products with an affordable luxury price! I am a mom, at the time my daughter was not even two years old. We understood the demands of both working parents and stay at home parents. Moms & Dads.
We built a “Children’s Lounge” in all of our locations. A comfortable room with pillows, streaming movies, toys and coloring pages. Our walls look like a gallery. Kids are so excited to hang their creations in the playroom.
We priced ourselves where I was comfortable with, not what the market was dictating.
We made sure there was no hard selling of our products. We educated, informed but that was it.
Our main focus was encouraging our ridiculously talented team of waxers to create those relationships with their guests. Not hard sell them something they may not need.
And that secret sauce of all the things I would want as a client came together to create a Chef’s Kiss type of establishment! We have guests who have been loyal to us for the entire 13 years we have been open and operating. We have waxers that have been too!
I think the unique & special branding that The Birthday Suit offers also makes it comfortable for mothers to bring their tweens in for that first brow wax. Or for our male guests to not feel awkward walking into someplase with a female genitalia type of name. Our locations are all unique in their appearance. They look like a living room. Big couches, fun decor. Nothing sterile or “clinic” feeling. Which for sure is something that sets The Birthday Suit apart from the rest.
We have worked really hard over the past 13+ years to create a reputable business. You know you are going to receive a top notch service, with an affordable price, with no hard sales, where you can bring your kiddos and who knows, if you walk in on National Dad Joke Day & tell my desk team a funny Dad Joke we may reward you with a promotion or a freebie!!
So no, I didn’t really reinvent the wheel or anything super awesome like that but I feel I have made my mark in normalizing both body and intimate waxing, for everyone. Regardless of Age, Size, Gender, all of it. If you have hair, we have the wax for it!

Stacey, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Stacey Lariccia, and I am the chief creative director and founder of The Birthday Suit waxing spa & franchise.

My story is pretty unique in that I’ve always known that I have a deep passion for all things beauty and esthetics. Throughout college, my classmates would love to come to my apartment to get ready so that I could do their makeup before going out for the night. By the time I was getting ready to graduate college, I knew with no uncertainty that I was meant to go into beauty and aesthetics. So, I finished up my college classes during the day and attended aesthetics and nail school at night.

After I graduated, I immediately began working in the beauty industry – I kept myself very busy doing nails, professional waxing, and still doing make-up at night. Although I was now a college graduate, I knew this was what I wanted to do.

I was offered a position as a makeup artist for Christian Dior several years later. However, I transitioned to the educational side of the beauty industry once my daughter was born, becoming their West Coast Education Director.

Although I loved working in the education realm of beauty, I missed the face-to-face interactions that I would have with my clients when I was doing their makeup and getting to see the client’s smile when I would reveal their makeup look to them. So, I made the decision to transition to waxing so that I could get that face-to-face interaction with clients. I worked for a big waxing franchise, where I held a waxing position for about a year before deciding to start my own waxing spa — The Birthday Suit. My husband Jason and I officially opened The Birthday Suit in June of 2011. This was one of my proudest accomplishments and the first of many opportunities!

The Birthday Suit waxing spa specializes in one thing – providing premium head-to-toe hard waxing services as an affordable luxury to all of our clients. It’s important to us to maintain a small business, mom-and-pop feel while achieving national recognition. We also have a line of premium hand-crafted lab-tested (cruelty free) skincare products to assist with all the skin’s pre and post-waxing needs.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Like all things worthwhile, my path has not been easy! There have been many challenges along the way.

As the creative director and founder of The Birthday Suit, one of the biggest motivators throughout my journey has been being told, “No, that business idea is dumb. It’s sure to fail quickly.” Whenever I heard those words, I took them to mean, “I double dog dare you to start this business and be successful!” Proving those naysayers wrong and striving for my own success became my top priority.

In the beginning, when looking for any form of funding, we were legitimately laughed at. We were told no business solely offering body waxing would ever succeed

We had to get super creative and come up with a business plan, keep in mind neither my husband or I were business people, we were sort of making it up as we went along. We were colorful in our ideas and descriptions and never sat down. We were talking about this idea to anyone and everyone who was in earshot.

We went at it alone and looking back it is funny how people who were so quick to tell us no are now asking to invest in our expansion or open their own franchised location of The Birthday Suit.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I think for the rest of my life, aside from the episode of Friends, when I hear the word “PIVOT” it will always be attached to Covid in one way or another.

When Covid hit and Las Vegas shut down, it was terrifying, for so many reasons, not just business.
So suddenly I had a large staff, 2 kids who were suddenly “home schooled” and no outlook for the future!

Suddenly I was on social media full time. Skincare videos, the importance of maintaining your skincare during this time, how to navigate feeling like a 70’s disco chic, going from barely there to sweater weather vibes on the bikini area. We created these incredible Covid Skincare Relief Kits. And did our guests show up for us!!!!
We were dropping these bright pink bags all over the Las Vegas area. Hundreds of them!
We were able to find a hand sanitizer vendor who was more than willing to sell to us in bulk and we packaged and delivered those bottles as well.

When we finally reopened, it was funny, no one ever asked what protocols we were doing to keep clients safe before the virus but lawd!!! Did they want to know how many uv lights we had going at a time, what level hand sanitizer, etc. Jokingly we would tell them the exact same things we did prior to this. All of our cleaning supplies are hospital grade. So aside from changing to two pen cups (clean/dirty) not much changed. Guests wore masks, we wore them all the time (we often wear them during cold and flu season just as an added layer of protection for when a guest sneezes in your face during a lip wax).

Clients asking about vaccinations is another story for a different day… that was an entirely new hurdle we had to naviagate!!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://TheBirthdaySuit.com
• Instagram: @TheBdaySuit_Waxing
• Facebook: The Birthday Suit – Body Waxing
• Twitter: @thebdaysuitLV
• Yelp: The Birthday Suit (there are multiple locations, depends on the city)

Image Credits

Nicole Spangler
Adam Trujillo