The Ten Spot – Annex

I’m here to say I don’t know anything about nails or facials or any of that stuff, but I do know about getting hair off my body and Tracy is my go-​to for that and she is amazing. 10 stars. Would recommend to anyone. The gem in this place. Seriously. Never even one hair left. Never rushes me. Never phones it in. It doesn’t even hurt. She is lightning fast, clean, professional, charming, and skilled. I wouldn’t f*ck with anyone else in this city now. Perfect, every damn time.

I went to The Ten Spot in the Annex last Sunday after being disappointed with my first experience to The Ten Spot’s West Queen West location. I went in open-​minded and decided to give the Ten Spot another shot, as I know a lot of my friends like these spas. Unfortunately though, my experience at this Ten Spot was just as disappointing and I will not be returning anytime soon.
My friend and I were walking around the Annex and thought we would stop in to see if they could squeeze us in for manicures & eyebrow waxes. We walked in and the place was completely empty and fully-​staffed, so we were pretty hopeful that they would be able to fit us in. Despite this though, we were told that unfortunately they would only be able to do the eyebrow waxes, because someone had just booked an appt for 2pm (it was 1pm at this time).
We were a little confused because there were so many staff members milling around that weren’t attending people, but decided to go for the eyebrow waxes anyway, assuming that maybe it was a wedding party or birthday party that had been reserved. When we walked downstairs, we were even more confused to see one of the staff was just sitting on a reclined chair, relaxing. She got up to help the girl who was doing our eyebrows, but was told it wasn’t necessary and she plodded off.
The girl who waxed our eyebrows did a good job, but I did notice the wax wasn’t hot, which is not the norm. After mentioning this in a polite way, her response was «Oh yeah, I guess it’s just not hot» without moving to turn up the heat. I’m now wondering if this is the reason why a week after I still 2 patches where skin was pulled off near my eyebrows.
The icing on the cake of our experience at Ten Spot was that as we were leaving (at 2pm), there was one girl getting a pedicure… Literally fully staffed not doing anything and they couldn’t take us because one person booked an appt.
Whoever manages these spas should be really keeping a closer watch on how their staff is running them… Pretty weird stuff.

I’ve been here twice for a pedicure and both times I was very happy. They are very detail oriented, friendly and it seems like everyone is just happy to be there. A wonderful environment to be in! They have a nespresso machine too so that’s a bonus for me :) I highly recommend!

The girl didn’t paint all my toes completely. Didn’t do enough coats. It took way too long. Too expensive for an awful pedicure.

The best treatment I have had in a long time! I had a mani and a pedi both amazing. Even tried a new colour for me!

I think this place is great for pedicures — I’m honeatky surprised at the negative reviews. It’s CLEAN, great music and movies playing with subtitles (not crap tele), staff are pleasant and the location is great.
Yes, it is a little pricier but worth it.
The only critism I have is that it is annoying to see the gal behind the cash read magazines while the other staff are working with clients. Makes me think I’m paying too much and hope she doesn’t get a %age of the tipping.

I’m in sticky LOVE with The Ten Spot.
The place is extremely clean, comfortable, the service is great and it’s worth the extra $$. I’ve been to cheaper places for waxes, where I’ve been left patchy and burned by the products they use. Here I had the most thorough wax of my life (she went in with tweezers to finish the job), while watching The Mindy Project. And the wax was great quality and didn’t damage my delicate flower-​child vulva. Pay real money for your waxes, your labia will thank you.
I’ve always left my pedicure appointments feeling drunk. I hope it’s because they are $ 50 purchasable chunks of ecstasy, but I also slightly hope that they saw my need and spiked the tea. Either way, I’m happy.

I got a gel manicure here a few weeks ago. I was going on a trip and I wanted something that would last a little longer than usual.
The plus is this place is very nice looking, clean and a good selection of colors. The staff is friendly and courteous and movies or TV will be playing on a flat screen.
The ten spot advertises that they do nail art. When I got there, the ladies told me they could only do half moons. Hardly nail art! Furthermore, when the woman was painting my nails she was trying to talk me out of even doing half moons. Eventually I gave in and went for a plain gel color.
The manicure was good, nothing special. On par with any fifteen dollar manicure… However, it started chipping the next day. Not worth 50+ dollars at all.

I’ve stopped by The Ten Spot on two separate occasions, with no appointment, to see if they had room for a walk in shellac mani and regular pedi. Both times the place was more than half empty, and I was told that they could not accommodate me.
On my most recent drop in, there was literally one other customer there who was getting ready to leave, and I was told they could do only one or the other, if I wanted. I declined because I needed both done to leave on vacation, and it didn’t make sense to on have to go to two separate salons to get the two done.
I had high hopes for this place because it looks nice and clean, but I will never return because they refuse to accept walk-​ins, it seems, no matter how empty their salon is. I’d rather take my chances at one of the salons in Koreatown just down the street, as they are always willing to accommodate walk-​ins, no matter how busy they may be, and at a fraction of the price.

This place is AWESOME for manis and pedis. The music is trendy and indie. The aestheticians are detail-​oriented (and pretty). Plus they offer complimentary toe waxing with pedis.
It’s just too steep, especially for the Annex. For a regular mani and pedi, I paid $ 94, not including tip. I shudder to think how much it would have been had I requested shellac or french.

Hah, they don’t do «back there». In other words, they don’t do a real wax.
Qualities I want in a waxing place: quick, clean and thorough.
Qualities I don’t want in a waxing place: squeamish, prudish and spouting policies that make me feel ashamed of my body hair.
Go somewhere real. This place belongs in a mall next to the ear piercing booth.

I’m torn about this review, because the atmosphere is very nice, and their sanitation practices are very obviously supreme. However, I was really disappointed at the very end of my pedicure.
I arrived with 3 friends as part of a bridal shower; two of us were getting pedicures and two were getting manis. We were served in sequence, so the pedicures were finished first, and then the manis were served.
Since the girls with pedis finished first, we wished to join our friends at the mani station to chat while they were getting treated.
I waited to receive disposable pedicure slippers so that I could make my way around the salon while my toes dried. I received no such thing, so I had to place my feet on top of my shoes and shuffle around the salon.
The way the salon is set up, the pedicure chairs are on a platform about 4 steps higher than street level, and the manis take place right at street level.
To get down the steps, I had to hop around on one foot, throw my shoe down the steps, and hop on top of the shoe, and repeat for the other foot.
My friend who also got a pedicure gave up and decided to walk barefoot, but changed her mind after the receptionist told her there was a risk of broken glass on the floor.
I understand that disposable spa slippers are a cost that you can avoid, but pedicures cost FIFTY DOLLARS here. And I wasn’t even afforded a pair of disposable slippers!?! Isn’t this a health risk? So much for sanitation practices.
I expected more from you.

Aaah, I so didn’t want to write this review, but here goes.
I came to Ten Spot because I got a bit annoyed with Fuzz. I found that booking online at Fuzz with a specific waxer did not mean you would actually get that person. This is despite selecting said waxer by name and booking your appointment around this waxer’s schedule! So, ticked off with it, I decided to try Ten Spot in the Annex.
I was really excited. I hadn’t had a leg wax in a long time, and I had never had a bikini wax of any kind. I booked full leg wax and Brazilian wax after my friends told me to stop being old fashioned and just get rid of it. I spent two months growing it all out. I was like a yeti. I was embarrassed going in but the experience itself was brilliant. The waxer (not naming names) was lovely and so nice. She made me feel so, so comfortable. Halfway through the appointment I was professing my love to her, telling her I wouldn’t go to anyone else. Had I loved the results, I would definitely go back to her time and time again.
Sadly, she left me with massive patches of hair on the back of my thighs (like the size of my hand!). She had told me «We don’t wax the bum,» while spreading wax… well, «back there,» so I got really embarrassed, thinking she was referring to hairy butt cheeks I never knew I had. I was mortified and responded, «No, of course not, I just want to wear a bikini! I totally understand!» As she ripped the hair off she replied «HA! You will definitely be able to wear a bikini.» Imagine my disappointment when I got home and showed my husband the giant hairy patches on the back of my thighs. These were way below my butt! I spent 90 minutes at Ten Spot getting a Brazilian and full leg wax! It should have been everything below the belt! He looked at me and said, «You can’t even wear shorts with that!» I threw on a pair of shorts I just bought at Joe Fresh (IE, not short shorts or hot pants, regular conservative shorts!) and no dice. I touched my legs up myself with Veet wax strips and it was fine. Four full strips later and I was hair-​free. This was annoying, but I managed to fix it myself.
Fast forward 24 hours, I develop massive welts on my legs. Like HUGE. These welts develop little pus filled heads. Doctor tells me it is folliculitis from the wax. How did this happen? She didn’t double dip once! I was watching, and Ten spot is so clean! This has never to me before! I am going on vacation! There will be beach! I am going to be that girl where everyone looks at and says, «Good for her, she has bug bites that are infected and doesn’t care, she is going with it!» Except I do care. I care so much! I am just wearing shorts because I didn’t expect to need jeans on vacation.
The bikini wax was mostly fine. There were some strays (which she warned me about) on the «front,» but the «undercarriage» (their words, not mine) was incomplete, too. Covered in dried on wax and not even trimmed. I ended up having to finish that myself, too. What’s the point? Paid over a hundred dollars for the two services only to find myself explaining to my husband, «No, parallel to the skin. As close as possible. You rip it back AGAINST the hair growth!» about a half hour later.
I am so sad. I had such high hopes for Ten Spot. That said, I won’t be back. As soon as my legs heal, I’m going back to Fuzz. I might not know who’s doing it, but at least I won’t have to finish it myself, get steroid cream, or wear pants to cover the damage.
Two stars are for the ease of booking and the fact that the waxer was so nice and personable. I want to say this isn’t her fault. I took a LONG time to wax (afterward I overheard them talking about how long it took and was a bit embarrassed… I am super hairy, okay?! That’s why I am here!). Maybe she just got fatigued at the sheer volume of hair removal on my legs and then my vag was just an innocent bystander. Who knows. Everyone else seems to love Ten Spot! Wish I could, too.

The Ten Spot Annex location has been open for five days, but it already fits into the neighbourhood perfectly. I had a manicure and pedicure today. The service was excellent. It’s squeaky clean, and the technician was very thorough and friendly. The receptionist was very warm and welcoming, and kept filling up my water when she noticed it was empty, a detail I very much appreciated. The only thing keeping me from giving five stars is the price — very steep! It’s too expensive to be a regular thing, but it’ll be a nice indulgence every once in a while.