Best of Boston

For bashful types, waxing rooms can seem like torture cells. Well, not here: Austen puts clients at ease with his affability, competence, and expertise. Bikini treatments are surprisingly painless, and eyebrows are executed with precision and finesse. The intimate, homey surroundings, accentuated with Japanese-style screens, rustic furniture, and guest slippers, are equally comforting and put the second-floor Newbury setting in a league of its own.