Growth for a small but mighty company such as dulcederm is often slightly painful, but ultimately rewarding. We have a few things to announce for this summer.

Team Update:

• Jenna joined our team in July. She brings experience and knowledge that benefits our entire team. She fits right into our culture and her skill set and voice are a welcome addition to our team.
• Chelsea has been promoted to Assistant Manager and will be assisting Trisha in behind the scenes admin as well as more Guest Services responsibility. Chelsea will be celebrating one year with dulcederm at the end of August.
• Maddie celebrated her one year anniversary with dulcederm in June. She's such a fantastic member of our team.
• Alison, who has been with us for just under two years will be leaving dulcederm in August. We sincerely wish her success with school and look forward to hearing what's next for her.
• Trisha has been promoted to Operations Manager. This is a big leap in responsibility. Trisha is covering staffing shortages and vacations while we recruit more Sugarists.
• Tamara has been gradually providing fewer service hours and will transition to remote support for the team. She is currently covering staffing shortages and vacations. 

Celebration:
Community is one of our company values. We are celebrating Wine Syndicate's 3rd anniversary with them at their block party on August 20th. We'll have a small booth and be telling our story. Come say hi. Enjoy the party. See our Events page for details.

Inflation:
We're all feeling it. At the pump. At the grocery store. In our supply chain. We've held out as long as we can hoping that pricing will adjust in our favor. It has not. Our team has met to determine where we can tighten up the expenses and adjust our operation costs. We have adjusted our time standards as a first step. Next step we will adjust our pricing. Some prices may be lower and some will go up a small percentage. Overall we expect a slight increase. Please remember we have a fund called Sugar Shares to assist if you need it. 

Sugar Shares:
The intention of the Sugar Shares program is to supplement a percentage of service cost to keep your on your regularly scheduled service routine. If you're feeling financially insecure due to loss/change of income, please fill out this application. We do not request justification of your situation.

The Sugar Shares Program is funded by both dulcederm, clients, and community members in order to make Sugaring services more accessible for clients who are experiencing financial insecurity. Many of us require hair removal to exist in our bodies comfortably, and we like to be able to provide those services regardless of income. We ask all clients to pay it forward when they can. This fund can pay for 25% to 50% of services. Sugar shares can be approved for up to 3 visits per application. If you find that your situation improves prior to your 3rd visit, please let us know so that we can share these funds with another applicant.

You can find a link to the application form on the home page. If you have questions about this form, or need phone assistance in filling it out, please email info@dulcederm.com and we will accommodate you as soon as possible.
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This year we have experienced an increase in last minute cancellations. The financial impact has been substantial to our business and to our service providers. After much deliberation we have decided to update our cancellation, late, and sick policies in order to continue providing the level of service you have come to expect from our team at dulcederm. Thank you for understanding.

Cancellation Policy 
The financial impact of cancellations is substantial. If you cancel your reserved time with less than 24 hours’ notice you will be billed 100% of the booked appointment amount. No-show/ No-Call appointments will also be billed the full amount of the booked service. If you no call, no show again you will be required to pre-pay for future services once your bill has been paid.
 
Late Policy
Services usually take the full time scheduled for you. Depending on how late you are, we may not be able to adjust your service, however, you will still be responsible for full payment of your scheduled services. 
 
Sick Policy
If you cancel because you have been exposed to or are sick with Covid-19 or are experiencing Flu like symptoms, please reschedule when you have been free of symptoms for at least 10 days. Please provide as much notice as possible. We will make a note in your file. Repetitive sick cancellations will be managed on a case by case basis and could result in a prepayment requirement.

Rest assured, we honor timestamps of voicemail or text messages to 503-482-9465. If you do not provide a minimum of 24 hours’ notice we will charge you for the service in order to recover some or all of our losses.

It's been quite a summer. As we roll into Fall we have some great updates for you.

Welcome Chiropractic First to the dulcederm building. Starting September 1st we'll be sharing our space with Dr. Huma and Dr. Christopher Pierce. They bring great energy to the building. Check them out at https://c1pdx.com/

Our team is expanding. We're hiring a new service provider starting in September. We will be looking for folks who are up for training sugaring services at 50% off. Once we've chosen our new team member we'll be introducing them to you with a blog post. Stay tuned.

Fall Hours. We sent out a marketing email asking what hours would best serve you. We've heard back from a handful of clients so far. Be sure to let us know so that we can take your needs into consideration as we adjust our hours for this upcoming Fall/Winter season.

Recovery. As you are all aware the shutdown was financially hard on our business. We're doing our best to recover financially. We're also doing our best to protect ourselves and our guests by practicing exceptional sanitation procedures. We ask that you continue to communicate and be honest with us about your exposure and risk as we move into this next season. That being said, these exceptional procedures have increased the cost of doing business. We are not changing our prices to reflect this, but would instead prefer if you upped your referral game and shared our business with your friends and consider adding on additional services to your own appointments if you can afford to. We truly appreciate it. 

Sugar Shares. Speaking of financial burdens. Many of our clients are stretched thin as their employment situation has changed and they are struggling to make ends meet. Everyone should be able to maintain their skin and body hair. We're setting up a gift card account to help cover a percentage of services for folks who need a little help. If you have extra to give or need a little support, please let us know. 

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We’ve written the following announcement from our Core Values of Integrity, Dependability, Community, Quality, Respect, and Profitability. 

We are so excited to inform you that our Grand Re-Opening is Saturday June 13th, 2020. Thank you for being so patient and waiting for us to be ready. Your loyalty and support over this period of uncertainty and closure has been reassuring. 

Please be aware that we are diligently following state guidelines and putting our trust in all clients to be honest about their exposure. We do not have backup employees or incomes. If we are exposed to Covid-19 and are required to quarantine for 14 days, we do not have a financial cushion to cover the loss in income. We also do not want to create a health crisis or financial burden for any of our treasured clients.

As you may have noticed, we’ve temporarily turned off online booking in order to help accommodate existing clients first and manage our time well.  Beginning June 8th, we will be reaching out individually to reschedule each one of you.  No need to rush to reschedule, we will be adjusting hours to accommodate you! Please email us with questions/concerns at info@dulcederm.com. This will free up the phone for contacting you.

dulcederm is required to contact each client prior to making an appointment and ask: 
▪ Have you had a cough? 
▪ Have you had a fever? 
▪ Have you had shortness of breath? 
▪ Have you been in close contact with anyone with these symptoms or anyone who has been diagnosed with COVID-19 in the past 14 days? 
 
Please do not commit to an appointment time if your honest answer is “yes” to any of the questions above. It is imperative that you do not make an appointment with dulcederm until your symptoms (cough, fever and shortness of breath) have been resolved, and fever has been resolved without medication for at least 72 hours, or at least 14 days after contact with any person sick with cough, fever, or diagnosed COVID-19. 

A couple of reasons for this. We do not want to have to share client information with contact tracers. Help us maintain client privacy.  We also don’t want to be quarantined or required to close again. 

Trisha and Tamara will work slightly overlapping shifts as service providers. Haylei will be working extra hours at the front desk to ensure our team is well supported. Tamara and Trisha will take turns working the front desk when Haylei is not available.  

ARRIVING AT YOUR APPOINTMENT
We are asking you to wait in your car*. Please CALL 503-482-9465 when you arrive in order to answer specific questions we are mandated to ask and record. Be honest. You will not be penalized for having to reschedule due to illness. As always, no show/no call appointments will be charged for the time.  (*Alternate transportation – please call before you leave your house to answer questions and give us an ETA and be sure to call when you arrive before you come into the spa.)

We will meet you outside when the lobby is empty to take your temperature. Please be wearing your mask. If you don’t have one let us know. We will provide one. If your temperature is over 99 degrees Fahrenheit, you will be asked to leave and reschedule for a period at a minimum of 14 days from your originally scheduled date.

If your temperature is acceptable and you have not knowingly been exposed to Covid-19, we will ask you to come in. We request that you bring only essential personal items into the spa. You will attend your appointment alone. Other adults must wait in the car or outside the spa. Please be advised that children are not permitted in the spa until further notice.
A staff member will hold the door for you as you enter. Do not remove your mask at any time while in the spa. You will put your shoes and belongings into a clean tote when you enter the spa. You can retrieve them as you leave.

If you need to use the restroom, you will do so. We will wait in the hall for you. We will require you to wash your hands prior to your service. We will do the same.
After washing your hands, you will be ushered to a thoroughly disinfected treatment room to prepare for your service.

Your service provider will wash her hands and don a clean smock before entering the treatment room, and the front desk staff will wipe down the lobby to ensure that anything you may have touched is disinfected.

• We will not be offering beverages at this time.
• All surfaces, implements and tweezers will have been washed, disinfected, and sanitized using a product that is Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-registered and labeled as bactericidal, viricidal and fungicidal.
• We will not be offering services other than brow services and body sugaring.

At checkout, you will meet your service provider at the front. We ask that you maintain a distance of 6 feet from anyone in our lobby. She will recommend products and a date for your return appointment, at which point she will leave to clean the room, dispose of her smock and wash her hands. You will be directed to make payment using the terminal placed away from the front desk. 
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When you leave, we will thoroughly disinfect surfaces and equipment before allowing another client to enter the spa following the same protocol.
Before and after closing, our staff will be thoroughly disinfecting every inch of the spa. Our entire focus is on keeping you and our staff safe. Although we have always operated with care and expertise, we ask for your patience, understanding, honesty, and hygiene.

Prepare for your appointment: 

•  STOP SHAVING NOW (if you’ve been shaving)
•  DON’T TRIM! (we are completely capable of removing your hair safely and gently even with long hair.)
•  Hydrate, Moisturize, and Exfoliate as usual and make sure to exfoliate 2-3 days prior to appt. 

I think that most of you have gotten the opportunity to meet Haylei. She is in charge of the front desk and helping to elevate the client experience through a fast and thorough check in & check out! Haylei graciously accepted our job offer at the beginning of 2020. Her presence has been absolutely wonderful to have at the spa. She provides us with the ‘tea’ at every staff meeting, keeping us older and less social media savvy folks up to date with all the current events.  Probably one of my favorite things about her is that she always has something hilarious to show me or tell me every day. She also says that she loves working here, so hopefully she’ll be with us for quite a while! 

Haylei is a busy lady; recently graduating from high school with an honors cord from the National Arts Honor Society.  She is currently pursuing a college transfer degree. One of the other things keeping her so busy is her 2 cats and 3 dogs. Almost all of which are rescues. :) I absolutely love hearing about all of the hilarious things her pets and/or her siblings are up to.  In our virtual (for now) staff meetings her pets, much like mine & Tamara’s, are making their presence known and lodging complaints about either the lack of treats, working conditions, new dress codes, ‘coworkers’ falling asleep on the job and how upset they are when it's time for those life saving meds. 

Haylei is constantly cracking Tamara and I up! Want to know why humor is a core value at dulcederm, Haylei’s why. She has taken on such an important role in how we continue to build our business and strive to create a workplace that we all want to be at. Constantly contributing with new ideas on advertising, simplifying systems and all things front desk, she is simply a delightful addition to our growing business. And I personally cannot wait for every single one of you to get to know Haylei as she brings lots of belly laughs to all! ​