Trans-Owned Beauty & Laser Salons Open Across Australia

Live More, a trans-owned and operated beauty business, will open clinics in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth from July.

Its mission: to make gender-affirming cosmetic treatments cheaper, safer and more accessible to the trans community.

Business founded in reaction to unfair beauty services

“When I first started socially transitioning, I hated that there were so few options available for me to go where I could not only feel safe, but be seen as the person I was and was dreaming of becoming,” said founder Liv in a social media post.

“Instead I found myself having to navigate the gauntlet of awkward and personal questions from curious cis people who just didn’t get it. Or face shit offhand excuses by clinics that were not comfortable providing treatment for bigoted reasons, but were too afraid to admit it.”

Live More’s Ethical Beauty’s services include laser and electrolysis hair removal, PRP (or ‘vampire facials’) for scar fading and skin rejuvenation, tattoo removal and microneedling for hair growth – all delivered by trans practitioners, with plans to expand into nail art and hair extensions in the near future.

Challenging mainstream beauty services through radical transparency

“Much of the cosmetics industry is franchised and monopolised in this country” says Liv. “It is an industry that is heavily incentivised to under-explain, under-deliver and overcharge for services.”

“These practices can be an unpleasant and distasteful practice for cis-people, but can be devastatingly prohibitive for our trans siblings who need it not just for convenience or vanity, but as a matter of self-acceptance and literal survival. It is healthcare and it is vital and we deserve it.”

Her clinics operate on a transparent pay model. Technicians work as subcontractors with control over their own hours. Their proportion of the fee is listed on the website, and the clinic does not up-sell aftercare or offer package deals – instead developing individualised care plans with customers and recommending discount chemist brands.

Located in LGBTQIA+ business hubs or allied health clinics, Live More also collaborates with speech pathologists, psychologists, occupational therapists, STI clinics and NDIS providers, with plans to expand this network nationally. 

Bookings open today through Live More’s website, with in-clinic treatments beginning next month.