Getting What You Pay For: Beauty Treatment in Saigon.

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So last night, after I got some dinner (the bruschetta pomodoro at Stella Cafe was the best I've ever had) and catching up in my blog last night, I decided to try out one of the beauty places that had girls on the street passing out flyers every night to anyone passing by.

Now, I generally pride myself on being a low maintenance girl when it comes to that stuff, but it's been a little while since I've done anything like that for myself, and since I was heading to the beach today, I figured a pedicure and little foot rub couldn't hurt. By the time I left it was a paraffin foot treatment, pedicure, manicure (which I haven't had in 4 years or more), and some "nail art". It was all about $15, which brought to mind what I was paying for and whether or not I was getting a good deal.

I would say these places have a great range in cleanliness and the skill of the workers, but don't expect a to find anything too impressive in a hole in the wall. The place I went was the upstairs of a painting shop, just a small spare room with two massage tables and two small chairs for foot stuff. The girl went to work straight away.
As she trimmed my cuticles, I couldn't help but notice the unclean instruments of her trade. Sanitation was non-existent, and I found myself wondering how many customers she used the same trimmers on before even giving them so much as a rinse with tap water. When it came time to file, I was immediately aware of the fact that she had no form of training. My fingertips and toes received more of a filing than my actual nails did, and the finished result was far from what I was going for. I thought she must not be done, until she reached for the nail polish, when I had to chime in and try to explain that my nails were more uneven than when I arrived (I had trimmed and filed my nails that morning, and even in my haste left them far more even than she had). He hasty back and forth filing across my nails left them a little shorter than desired, and I had to file most of them myself. After finished one, I tried to show and explain to her how she needed to use single strokes across the nail with the file (not rapid, back and forth with no control) to leave the nail even. She tried again with the same result. The nail was longer on the left or right side than the other, and waved in between. I finally just finished them all myself. While she started on my feet.

The 'tech' (is there a different name if they're untrained?) who started on me couldn't get the nail art down, so after several tries, she asked one of the other girls to do the detail work. That girl ended up needing multiple tries on each nail as well, end result still having minor blemishes in the detailing.

As the other girl did my lower legs in prep for the paraffin, she ended up rubbing around my knees in a most painful fashion, rolling my knee cap vigorously this way and that, then brushing paraffin (wax) SO hot on my legs, it was near scalding temperatures. I've never had something so hot on my body, and I've done the "burning stone massage" and had several waxes for hair removal purposes in the past. It was pretty intense; though I must say, having never had paraffin treatments, I don't know what temp it is supposed to be. Still...

Anyways, the girls were nice and they were trying. They took some of my pointers with appreciation, especially on how to detail the nail art better, as the difference in quality was immediately visible to them. Some of the other pointers, such as the importance of rubbing in or wiping off lotions before applying toenail polish to keep it from coming right off and other pointer on how things feel, were harder to get across.

I ended up tipping them 20,000dong (a few cents over $1 USD) because I ended up being there past closing time. and well, I appreciate anyone working for their money. Even though they are not properly trained, using proper facilities, or proper sanitation techniques, the girls are trying to earn their living and I respect that immensely.

SO... if in Vietnam, and considering such treatments, just keep these things in mind. You will get what you pay for. There are plenty of spas and places you can go with properly trained staff and facilities at a price probably not much higher, but if saving money is all that matters, then just be prepared for what you could get at a less established joint (I'm sure hepatitis isn't out of the question).

Also, at salons or ANYWHERE you are approached after a service and asked to write something like your name and the amount of tip you left where other people's information is clearly visible, do not pay attention. They ask for this and add zeros at the end of the numbers to serve as a social cue to you when determining how much of a tip you want to leave. It's supposed to make you feel like what you were going to leave is inadequate and pressure you to tip more. Don't fall for it. I've seen this done by temple palm-readers in China and they did it at the salon as well. Don't let someone else's 200,000 dong tip make you feel pressured, as it was likely mine- 20,000 with a zero added after the customer left. Always tip your satisfaction and comfort level. (Otherwise, it's less a tip, and more extortion.)


Anyways, in other new, for some completely bonkers reason someone has yet to explain to me, my bus ticket was canceled (without my request-or even speaking to staff after booking), which I did not realize until I was in the lobby asking how much longer til I got picked up and received confused looks from the receptionists. After my minor flipout, I think they called the girl who canceled me and told her not to come in today for fear of my strangling her (not literally, but sounds tempting). Losing a day on vacation due to someone else making a mistake is unbelievably frustrating... They got me on the 3pm bus, but I won't get to Mui Ne until nighttime now. At least they let me go back to my room and rest until whenever. I slept until noon, so hopefully I didn't throw my schedule off too badly.

So, back at Stella's Cafe now and about to return to my hotel to wait for the bus...

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