Pescicure

When I first got to Brighton, I saw an ad online for a daily coupon website, and being a poor student, I figured it'd be a good idea to join. It hasn't given me much I can work with so far--it's not like a two-pounds-off kind of deal; it's more like give us a bunch of money and have twice as much money to spend at this particular establishment, most of which I have no need for. But I did get a deal on one of those fishy pedicures, so I thought that would be quite a lot of fun.

I went yesterday to the spa--it's called Asase Garra Rufa, and it's very new and cute. First  my feet got rinsed and dried in a little foot shower, to keep the doctor fish healthy, then I got some little paper slippers to walk over to the tank.

I think the lady was trying to tell me to sit on the bench, then slowly lower my feet into the tank, but sliding onto a bench is kind of hard when there's a tank in front of it, so I kind of slipped and my feet splashed quickly into the water. I almost fell in and squashed some little fishies. Typical. Anyway, they didn't seem to mind too much, as they swarmed my feet immediately and started nibbling away.

It's kind of an interesting sensation, as you'd expect. It feels like a bunch of little toothpicks are gently prodding at your skin, then it starts to kind of tingle, because there are so many bitey fish down there. I'm not sure if very ticklish people would be able to tolerate it. I was a little afraid that since my snow boots have been kind of cutting into the back of my ankle lately that it would start to sting a bit when they found that part, and it did, but not much. Towards the end I was lifting my ankle out of the water every time one of the fish got to it, though. If you do this, I recommend not having any scrapes, scratches, or cuts on you, since it wouldn't be pleasant to have those eaten.  Do remember to spread your toes for a while, though. I tried that out and felt them get right in there for fresh skin. I considered sticking a finger or two in the water to see if they'd eat my hand skin, but I figured the owner wouldn't like that too much, so I didn't. I'm sure they would, though. They were eating my legs as far as they were in the tank.

For 30 minutes I sat and watched the fish, drank a cup of coffee, and did some reading for one of my papers. The ad was kind of misleading, as it seemed to be saying that I would get a proper pedicure afterwards, with filing and polish, etc., but that was not the intention of the establishment--fish only. I'm inclined to think that's more a mistake on the part of the website's (awful) writers than the spa itself. At the end, I could notice a major difference in the quality of my skin--this is much better than those things you scrape your feet with, and it feels like a massage, too.