Brian and Libby's Blog

A funny thing happened on the way to the nail salon...

Yesterday my mom, or "Mimi" as she is now affectionately called, treated her three daughters to pedicures at the nail salon down the street from her house. I was already on my way out the door when she surprised me with the good news and we planned to meet at 2. My sisters and my mom all get pedicures once in a while, but I have actually only had one pedicure...ever (I know, perish the thought). Although I'm pretty girly, I am also extremely cheap when it comes to things I can do well myself. My only pedicure was a couple of days before my wedding, and this was long before you could find a quick, cheap, in and out nail salon in every shopping plaza. My only pedicure was at a hair salon, and there was no massaging chair or salt scrub involved. In short, I had no idea what I was in for.

Sometime before 2pm I became keenly aware of the fact that I don't shave my legs every day in the winter. I know, perish the thought. Hey, life's been busy. All of a sudden I realized that my neglected legs were going to be handled and stared at by someone who would surely judge me for my lack of upkeep. I forced Brian to take me to the drug store so I could shave my legs really quick before we went. It seemed like a good idea...at the time.

Au contraire. Apparently this is the well-known cardinal rule of pedicures (in this world that I am clearly not a part of). "Do not shave 24 hours before." This also includes "Do not shave dry 20 minutes before." I had no idea. Everything was going nicely, until the nailpolish remover.

The water was nice and warm and the jets felt great on my feet. The nice lady doing my pedicure put gloves on before using nailpolish remover to remove the old polish. The nailpolish remover got all over her gloves, and then it happened. She reached for my other leg as I unsuspectingly chatted with my mom and sisters. She grabbed my ankle to switch legs and it was a shocking, stinging, home alone moment (minus the scream). It was pretty much downhill from there. She used like 19 chemicals in all, pushing each one a few more inches above my ankle until my whole leg was on FIRE. The salt scrub was the worst. I'd rather not relive the experience, but just imagine salt on open wounds. You get the idea.

Anyways, once the soothing pedicure had ended and the onslaught of chemicals on my battered (but hair-free) legs had calmed, it was smooth sailing. We went shopping, went about our day, and went home. Then, around 8pm, they started to sting again! I pulled up my jeans to find horribly blotchy burning skin underneath! It looked like I had red socks on. I spent the remainder of the night sitting as still as possible so as not to disturb the raging fire between my ankles and my knees, using icepacks whenever necessary. Case in point: It is better to let the nice lady at VS nails see that you haven't shaved in a few days than to have chemical burns all over your legs.

PS - don't try to put Vaseline on to soothe the burning...it only makes it burn worse.

posted by Libby @ 10:35 AM