If so many women are comfortable enough to strip off in front of our beauticians, why are we still too embarrassed to take a potentially life-saving test?

Two lives are lost to cervical cancer every day. Cervical screening can stop cancer before it starts, yet the number of eligible women attending cervical screening is at a 20-year low. ‘Feeling embarrassed’ is one of the main reasons why women are not attending yet at the same time, 1.2 million women aged 25-35 go to salons for intimate waxing.

Utilising compelling insight which revealed 74% of women said they would listen to advice given by a beauty therapist, the Life Saving Wax initiative harnessed Treatwell’s network of salons and mobilised their beauty therapists across the UK to change the conversation around cervical screening.

Armed with key facts and a supportive attitude, beauty therapists were trained to help women see screening as a potentially life-saving part of their routine.

During the initial roll out, over 1,500 beauty therapists signed up and the campaign received significant national media coverage and a total social reach of 11.5 million for #lifesavingwax.

The campaign resulted in 100,000 additional cervical screening samples recorded over the 3-month campaign period, compared to the same period in the previous year demonstrating significant behaviour change, as noted by the UK’s Nudge Unit.