On Thursday had my feet gently hoovered by a shoal of little fish called Garra Rufa. They are a species of Turkish fish that seems to like nothing better than to nibble on human feet, for whatever reason.
The lady in the shop said they don’t actually eat the tiny particles of skin they remove, so the shop has to keep them fed on fish food as well. I suppose that means they won’t be tempted to take people’s toes off if they go too long between customers.
I had wanted to try a fish pedicure for a while, and then one came up on a KGB deal, together with an OPI polish (specially strong nail varnish) and not too far from the city centre. I wasn’t sure if I would like it, so the deal gave me the excuse to
go ahead; at least if I didn’t like the fish nibbling, I would still get pretty toenails out of it. As it transpired, I liked it very much. There’s a bit of a shock at first when they all descend on you at once, but after that it’s a really pleasant feeling, if a little bit tickly sometimes.
I had half an hour of fish hoovering, which I thought was very good value for £9. My feet felt a bit smoother afterwards, but there wasn’t really much effect. I think it’s more the novelty and the sensation which is the point. If you didn’t enjoy tiny fish swimming round your feet it wouldn’t be worth it even if it was free. The file and polish was a bit of an afterthough once the fish had done their stuff –
for the salon as well as for me, it felt like. Still, I now have lovely pale blue sparkly toenails. Not that I’ll be showing them off any time soon; I just got half drowned in a torrential rain laced with hailstones the size of jelly tots. Ah! Summer in Glasgow.
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