Parissa

Parissa is a Canadian personal-care company that makes natural, at-home hair-removal wax kits. Founded in 1983 and based in North Vancouver, British Columbia, it is family- and woman-owned, and formulates its waxes from plant- and tree-derived ingredients rather than the petrochemical-based products common in the category [1]. The company remains active: in 2023 it marked its fortieth year in business, reporting more than 30 million at-home waxing kits sold worldwide [10].

The business grew out of a home kitchen. Its founder, chemical engineer Azar Moayeri, immigrated from Iran to the Vancouver area and, finding only chemical-based lotions, bleaches and creams on the market, began making what the company describes as Canada's first all-natural hair-removal product. Her family joined the venture, and Parissa was born.

Azar Moayeri trained as a chemical engineer and, according to a profile by the Iranian American Women Foundation, was the first woman to graduate in the subject from the University of Edinburgh. She worked as a project manager at Iran's national petrochemical company before leaving the country after the revolution and settling in Canada, where she started a home-based business to support her family [11]. The same profile records that she founded the company with her husband, who had prior experience in the salon industry, and lists her role as founder and chief financial officer [11].

The company's founding date is given as 1983 across its homepage, its "Our Story" page and its 2023 anniversary press release [1][10]. A separate brand history dates the family's arrival in Vancouver to 1981; that year marks the move to Canada rather than the company's founding [9]. The waxes were first mixed in Moayeri's kitchen before the business established its own manufacturing.

Parissa's range centres on at-home waxing kits for women and men, organised by body area and by wax type: wax strips, sugar wax, hard (hot) wax and warm wax, alongside accessories, professional-size formats and post-waxing care. The company says it introduced the first ready-to-use wax strips on the market in North America [9]. Later additions have included an organic roll-on sugar wax and a brow waxing pen. A sibling line, Persian Cold Wax, is produced by the same company [11].

The waxes are built from simple natural materials — pine resin, cane sugar, beeswax, gum rosin, vegetable oils such as canola and castor seed, chamomile extract and vitamin E. The company contrasts this with conventional waxes that it says rely on plastics and petrochemicals, and describes its formulas as non-toxic for both professional and at-home use. Vegan and organic options are offered within the range.

Parissa frames hair removal around body positivity, stating that it wants to help people "feel positive in their own skin – whether they remove their hair or not." Its stated mission is to reinvent home hair removal and make it a routine part of self-care. The company markets its products under the tagline "Quick. Simple. Smooth." and describes itself as the "World's #1 Natural Wax," a self-applied positioning rather than an independently verified ranking.

The company holds Leaping Bunny certification, an internationally recognised cruelty-free standard covering the absence of animal testing across a company, its laboratories and suppliers [4]. It states that its containers and packaging are made to be recyclable or sustainably harvested, that its paper stock is certified by the FSC, SFI or PEFC schemes, and that its wax-strip backing uses a cellulose-based film rather than plastic.

Parissa manufactures, packages and ships its products from an eco-facility on the north shore of Vancouver, built to the LEED Gold standard. The building has received a Design Excellence Award from the District of North Vancouver and both a "Best New Industrial Building" and a "Green Building & Energy Efficient" award from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver [5].

Parissa is an active, independently owned company. As of its 2023 anniversary it reported distribution across North America, Europe and Asia — sold online and through drugstore and mass-market retailers including Walmart, Shoppers Drug Mart, Ulta Beauty and Whole Foods — with a live direct-to-consumer storefront [10].