...Well, I'm not sure it can really be called being pampered when it also involves really bad pain.
Have you ever gone through a tough patch made worse by (or perhaps resulting in) feeling ugly and awful? Well I have. Putting on a few extra pounds over chistmas didn't help :-p. So today when there was finally a break in all the bank holidays, I went and had my eyebrows threaded and had a facial at a Nepalese beauty parlour that I frequent.
Even though I never had a facial in London, I've had loads of facials abroad in my home country and every beauty parlour does it differently. Even so, this was one of the strangest facials I ever had. It was also actually very comfortable. I had to undress and wear a towel wrap and then lay down and was tucked up under a blanket because it was quite cold. Apart from the blanket, this was all fairly normal.
I always feel weird during a facial. You're lying there with your eyes closed, while someone slathers God knows what on your face, something you can only guess at by it's smell and feel.
This time it started off with what I guessed was cotton wool soaked in rose water wiped over my face. Then, a herbal smelling lotion was massaged into my skin for what felt like hours but must have been around 20 minutes. Piles and piles of lotion was slathered over my face and neck, and although it might not sound it, it felt wonderful. Odd, but wonderful.
After that was wiped off with a warm wet towel, my face was gently coated in what felt and smelt like, sugar in sweet lemon juice. It probably wasn't though :-p my skin would have stung like hell. I thought it was a scrub but it wasn't massaged in or wiped off. Instead, a light muslin cloth was laid on my face and a steamer brought over to me. The cloth was an awesome idea. The last time I had a facial the steamer was insanely hot and directly on my skin and the beautician was a cow who wouldn't listen when I told her it was burning me. Anyway, not so this time. I was left for a while under the gentle steamer, all tucked up in the dark alone for quite a while. It was so cosy, even with the gritty lotion and light cloth on my face, I very nearly fell asleep.
But then the weird thing happened. My arms were gently brought out of the blanket and I thought maybe it was because the steamer would make me too warm. But no. My arms were then covered in cream and massaged all the way from my shoulders to my hands. Imagine having your hands massaged and someone sliding their fingers between your fingers while you're lying there unable to open your eyes. At first I was freaking out but once I relaxed, it was actually quite pleasant.
Well anyway, my arms were then put back under the covers and then began the torture part. Blackhead removal! Ahhhhh!!! One of the most painful things I've had done for beauty. Imagine your skin being scraped away by something sharp pressed hard into it. Because that's what blackhead removal is. I endured this for a few minutes and was then tucked up again while my face was thoroughly wiped clean.
When I got up and looked in the mirror I was astounded. My skin looked amazing! The dark patches on my cheeks had cleared up completely. I'm going to go again next month :-p it's so worth it.
My pampering was later ruined a bit when I went to the town centre and found everything closed! Even the doctor's surgery which is supposed to be open till 8pm today. What's more, they had no sign or anything to say when they would and wouldn't be open and I needed to put in my repeat prescription.
When I tried to leave the centre via the exit by the bus stop, it was locked. There was another exit at the bottom of the escalators near another bus stop so I walked there but that was closed too. I could also have gone through Matalan, gone down the stairs in the store and exited to the bus stop but even though Matalan was open, the upstairs entrance was closed.
So I went back to where I had come in by and there were huge gates closed across there too. I was trapped! Trapped and in a panic cos all the stores were closed so I couldn't ask anyone for help. I remember seeing a girl go into the beauty parlour on my way up there so I checked there and luckily a worker was still there hoovering. So I asked him and he told me about a fire exit I could use. I opened it cautiously but luckily, no alarm went off. It would have been nice if there was at least a sign somewhere with the timings for the things, with timings for when the gates would close or some sort of warning. Oh well, they call it a modern centre.
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