fish pedicure

i took the red eye on friday night (october 24) and arrived in dc around 8:30 am. my friend, lan, picked me up from the airport. the two of us, along with two of lan's friends, had a 10:15 fish pedicure appointment at yvonne hair and nails in suburban alexandria. but i was hungry, so we first had to stop for breakfast. we were supposed to eat on the way to the salon, but we took the wrong exit, so we had breakfast at steam cafe in dupont circle. the food was so-so.

lan, her friend, chang-i, and i headed off to alexandria. we were running very late and lan's other friend, anh, was already waiting for us. anh is actually the one who discovered this place. she'd seen it on tv, so she tried it. this was her third time here.

this salon is supposedly the only one in the country that has this service. the salon and this particular service have gotten a lot of press. you can search online for articles and videos.

according to chang-i, this service is popular in south korea. it's also popular in other asian countries. basically, you put your feet in a tank full of small, flesh-eating carp. they nibble or suck off the dead skin off your feet.



it's a very weird feeling. you'd think it might be ticklish but it actually isn't like that. but it is very strange. there were a lot of customers, including a few girls. they screamed and giggled when they first felt it. we were sort of giggling, too, actually.


after 15 minutes of the fish nibbling, then you can have your actual pedicure. two of us had a regular pedicure, and two of us had the ocean spa pedicure. the spa pedicure basically included a bunch of treatments, leg massage, hot towel wrap, etc. so here are the final products. i have the purple sparkly nail polish.



though i think the actual pedicure left something to be desired (i still like the normal pedicures i've gotten), the fish and the spa parts were an experience. the whole thing was pricey, but it's certainly worth doing once (or more times).