The idea of a fish pedicures have always appealed to me, tiny toothless fish sucking the dead skin off of your feet. However there have been some bad press of late about how they’re unhygienic as you’re transferring one persons foot germs to the another in those essentially communal water tanks (nice), and also a few hints of cruelty over the fish in particular used, claiming they’re being overfed, diseases, etc. However, when Superdrug contacted me offering a treatment at their High Street Kensington store, boasting that their technique used UV light sterilization through filtered water which kills ALL bacteria, thus promising a more hygienic fish pedi (sorry, piscine pedi), I simply couldn’t resist.
Scary business..
I’m not gonna lie.. it took about 20 mins for me to work up enough guts to actually stick my feet in and let the fishes nibble and suck away. As soon as I’d inch it in they’d SWARM towards my feet and the whole thing massively freaked me out. Fish scrambling amongst each other to nibble away at you, that’s some seriously scary shit! No matter if it is just the dead skin on your feet they’re dying for a piece off.
Luckily, the staff on hand were amazing and very patient, eventually I was coaxed into putting my feet in there and keeping them in there. After a few seconds of uncomfortable tickling-ness (and this is solely due to the concept of what is happening rather than the process itself!), it actually started to feel.. really nice. Similar in fact to the sensation of being in a Jacuzzi.
A treatment of 20 minutes costs only £15, and my feet did feel a lot more smoother. However it is worth mentioning that it’s not quite as effective in ridding dead skin as a traditional pedicure might be, but it does feel very relaxing whilst doing it (which I’ve discovered is the main reason peeps get it done, rather than exfoliation). Having said that, if I was to do this regularly it will definitely be more effective as a form of removing dead skin.
So this is another treatment Superdrug have added to their roster of salon treatments, showcasing their foray in luxury niche treatments at affordable prices. I commend them hugely for making a treatment like this so accessible, and if in High Street Kensington I can really see myself popping in for a quick fish pedi! Seriously, it felt good! Just don’t chicken out and go for it. I know I was a total scaredy cat and possibly freaked out more than the average person initially (Vex in the City has some funny footage on her blog of this), but the moral of the story is once I forced myself to stand it and got over the ‘one minute’ hurdle, I was loving it! Incredibly relaxing and lovely. Definitely something I would like to do again. I mean, those fish gotta eat, right?
Lx
