Sydney wellness café issues apology after Melissa Leong slams them for cultural appropriation 

A Sydney wellness café has issued a lengthy apology after being called out by Melissa Leong over cultural appropriation.

On Monday, the MasterChef judge, 39, slammed Orchard St. over a video advertisement of a white model using their $45 gua sha skin massage tool – a move she said ‘feels like thousands of years of culture and technique turned into a prop’.

Soon after, Orchard St. ‘respectfully removed’ the post, before apologising publicly for ‘any disrespect’ caused. 

‘We respectfully acknowledge the cultural insensitivity and appropriation of our previous post on the gua sha, which was respectfully removed,’ the post read.

‘We apologise for any disrespect showing the use of this merely as a beauty tool may have shown to the Chinese and Asian cultures.

‘As we continue to inform ourselves and each other, we will endeavor to honour the traditional, medical and cultural significance of the gua sha.’ 

Prior to the post’s removal, Australian judge Melissa  – who has Chinese-Singaporean heritage – had raged in the comments section of the video, writing: ‘Sorry, but that’s not at all how you use it. 

‘As a Chinese person, this feels like thousands of years of culture and technique, turned into a prop.’

Orchard St. had written alongside the video: ‘Weave an ancient beauty tool into your daily skincare ritual with our nephrite jade Gua Sha.’

Many fans were quick to agree with Melissa’s comment, with one writing: ‘Spot on. Action and correction over performative bulls**t.’

Another added: ‘Lots of things they can do to correct themselves, the least an apology and offering their space to the experts, from the country of origin. Let’s wait and see, but time is ticking and it doesn’t look like they’re working on it.’ 

Daily Mail Australia have contacted the company and Melissa for further comment.

Gua sha is a tool used in traditional Chinese medicine, which has grown in popularity in the western beauty industry in recent years.

It’s used to scrape back the skin, with practitioners believing it helps to stimulate blood flow, promoting cell repair, regeneration, recovery and healing.

It involves repeatedly stroking the gua sha tool over moisturised skin while applying firm pressure.

Indeed, it’s not the first time that Melissa has slammed the beauty industry over their usage of the tool.

In January, she accused the industry of ‘whitewashing’ in a scathing post after a company advertised the same gua sha beauty tool online. 

While Melissa blacked out the company’s name, she was clearly furious in her comments about the post, which featured a white model.

‘Yep. It’s just a “skin fitness tool”. Let’s not talk about the cultural and medical significance of gua sha (in this case) in Chinese or Asian culture or how much we largely ignore appropriation in the beauty industry,’ she began.

In a second post on Instagram Stories, she included a link to an article which appeared on UK Glamour magazine titled ‘How wellness got whitewashed’.  

Melissa urged her followers to read it ‘if you want to know more about why us women of colour feel this way’.

‘Even though we’re all aware that appropriating cornrows, feathered headdresses and bindis is abjectly wrong, when appropriation veers into the wellness sphere, we just seem to care less,’ wrote author Anita Bhagwandas.

She added: ‘Don’t be that basic wellness b***h – you should care.’