Her wax was the least jarring part of the experience.
A New York woman says she was shocked by what her esthetician brought into the room when she went in for a Brazilian wax. Influencer Aniessa Navarro shared her unsettling story in a now-viral TikTok video.
The Big Apple resident explained that she went into a European Wax Center in Manhattan for a routine procedure before a vacation when she noticed that the waxer was wearing a pair of Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses.
The sleek, $350 AI-enabled frames are designed for hands-free recording. The glasses also come with a bluetooth speaker, and allow their wearers to make calls and dictate texts by using voice commands.
The device is made to have a small light on when recording like a camcorder, but people have posted tutorials explaining how to cover up the warning light and still allow you to record.
When Navarro eventually asked her esthetician about the glasses, she said they were prescription lenses and weren’t charged, but the client still didn’t feel comfortable with it.
Though the worker seemed unbothered in her response, Navarro certainly was.
Navarro had been having a friendly chat with the woman, but once she noticed the glasses, she became very freaked out — especially given the intimate nature of the Brazilian wax.
She couldn’t stop thinking about the possibility that the glasses, with their built-in cameras, could have been recording her during such a private moment.
The scenario continued to haunt Navarro, so she decided to post a TikTok video explaining the situation to get advice on what to do from her followers.
Many suggested that she contact a lawyer or escalate the matter with the European Wax Center’s corporate office.
In a follow-up video, Navarro chose to start small and emailed the waxing chain’s customer service. She initially received a generic response and then was told that the customer service representative would contact the location to get more information about the situation.
Seeking further advice, Navarro consulted two law firms. Both attorneys informed her that she likely had grounds to pursue legal action. Yet, despite the professional advice, she hesitated as she didn’t want to get anyone fired if the worker hadn’t done anything wrong.
Instead, she was more interested in raising awareness about the potential risks of smart glasses in intimate settings and pushing for clearer policies that would ban recording devices in places where privacy should be a given.
The incident soon began to attract media attention and “overwhelmed” Navarro.
In response, European Wax Center issued a statement to The Washington Post, claiming that the glasses had been powered down during the procedure.
This incident is far from an isolated one. Google Glass first introduced smart glasses over a decade ago, but the technology wasn’t widely used until recently.
The wearable technology has been met with mixed reactions, but Gen Z in particular is leading a backlash against these devices’ growing presence in everyday life.
“It feels to young people like there’s nothing they can do to protect their privacy. Like the only solution is just stay off the internet, which really isn’t possible,” Alice Marwick, director at nonprofit research institute Data & Society, told The Washington Post.
While these devices are designed to make life more convenient, they also raise significant questions about the future of personal privacy.
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