Monday, May 19, 2008

Weekend with the girls

My friends and I have finally found a lovely nail salon! Several times last year we made appointments and tried to get a pampering session in at different locations here in Maadi, and we had no luck whatsoever. One woman who came to us, was too annoying to our hosts - asked about getting things from the commissary, brought her son along (which would have been ok, had he been behaved or had she kept him in line), etc. That was a pain. The places we visited were either never open when they said they'd be, or were completely scummy. We made appointments at one place, but they overbooked, had too few technicians.. and the place was nasty. Grey, crowded, dingy - TV was on too loud. The women were smoking. It was like a bar. We left. We had about given up hope and had determined that our next try would be downtown at one of the nice hotels - although that was disappointing. Not only is the commute a waste of our time, we really want to support a local business. We live in Maadi, not downtown.

Anyway, the place we went to this Friday belongs to the mother of one of Honor's classmates and she invited us to try it out. What a difference! This place was bright, CLEAN, professional. They actually kept our appointment. The ladies were all very, very sweet and friendly - two we recognized from the scummy, smokey place - looks like they were looking for a good salon too! It was nicely decorated in white, pink, and crystal - very girly. They offered tea, and wonderful cappaccinos. And the prices were very reasonable too. They also have 'Princess' manicures (polish, no clipping) for little girls. As soon as Honor saw the pretty pink flyer for the business, she asked to go too. Maybe next time. It was nice to be spoiled!

Saturday, I decided to treat my hair. It was feeling very harsh and dry - probably too much pool water, but it could just be the dry air and the tap water - or a combo of it all. I find that putting a temporary hair dye in my hair is like a deep conditioner. It doesn't have peroxide to dry it, and the color seems to plump up the hair. It's fun to play with the colors too. They last a good month or two - not sure how they hold up with frequent swimming! Every 3-4 months or so, I use one and it always makes my hair feel soft again. Honor came in as I was trying to decide between two colors, and she wanted to help. She chose the color, then, armed with her own set of gloves, she helped me apply the color (told you I was a brave mom!). She did so good, listened and followed my instructions very well, that I let her have a streak of red in her hair. We only left it in a few minutes, so it was really only a streak of very pale pink! Maybe next time I'll let her have a bit deeper color - leave it in longer - as this wasn't as much of a prize. But, with her newly polished nails (yes, after my manicure, I had to do one for her!) and with her pinkish bit of hair, she was feeling very much the 'big girl' this weekend. She paid me back with lots of attention and good help too.

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