More wax the Western way, thanks to Edison Chen sex photos scandal

The Edison Chen Koon-hei sex-photos saga is long dead, but its impact lingers. Almost two years after the explosive showbiz scandal that shocked the whole of Asia (and the Chinese-speaking community around the world), some Hong Kong women admit they have been inspired by those racy pictures - not in the bedroom, but in the grooming department.

Beauty salons have observed a mild increase in local Chinese women going for hair removal treatments - including traditional waxing, laser and intense pulsed light - for their private parts.

Such treatments are common in the West, but to the relatively conservative local Chinese women, the idea of a Brazilian wax, which removes almost all the hair in the pelvic area except for a thin strip, is still alien - and in some cases unknown.

Beauty salon operators said more local customers are seeking a clean bikini line, and some are opting for the almost all-gone Brazilian style popular in the West.

Some were apparently motivated by the sex photos, which featured a string of well-known female celebrities, including award-winning actress Cecilia Cheung Pak-chi, as well as Gillian Chung Yan-tung, of girl duo Twins, with whom Chen was rumoured to have been romantically linked. The revealing photos sparked discussion, among other things, of hair removal habits - or lack thereof.

'We have had more customers [turning up] after their husbands or boyfriends [mentioned] those Edison Chen photos,' said a veteran Brazilian wax therapist at a beauty salon in Admiralty.