Wrapped in Silk

[howeird]

Definitely the highlight of my day was having my fingernails silk wrapped. It took about 40 minutes at a nail care parlor I had passed by many times next to my favorite Pet Club.

I phoned at 10:30 asking for an 11:30 appointment, but they were booked till 3:30, which is when I went. The nail tech was a Vietnamese woman about my age, and she really knew what she was doing. It was fun to watch. It was also fun to be between two very pretty young blonde clients for most of that time.


The first step was an inspection, and she focused on the split nail first. She asked me how I heard about silk wrap, the tone being "what's a fat old man doing knowing about beautiful young lady stuff?" I told her the dermatologist recommended it to protect my nails, and she translated that into Vietnamese for the rest of the techs. And she did a 180° attitude shift to downright respectful.

She got out a dremel tool, and sanded down the ridges, then roughed up the surface. That tool was a major part of the process. Next she took out a roll of white silk trim, about 3/4" wide, and did a routine where she dabbed a spot of superglue near the center of the nail, cut a piece of silk to roughly match the nail size, and stuck it on. When all 10 fingers were decorated with a piece of silk, she trimmed the silk back a lot, a little smaller than the nail.

Out of her kit came a 1-inch wide loop of plastic, and the next 10 reps went like this: She would squeeze enough superglue on the edge of the silk for capillary action to completely dampen it, then she would use the plastic (it is very pliable and stretches some) to press the silk flat against the nail, holding it in place a few seconds while the glue made contact.

Then she looked at each nail and the ones which had ridges or splits got some white powder sprinkled on them, a drop of glue, and then some work with the dremel tools till they were all evened out. There followed several rounds of dabs of glue followed by dremel sanding, and then there was a round of glue dab with a dip into a small bowl of white powder.

A white nail board came out, she worked on each nail with it, and then used a dremel tool to get the excess from under the nails and past the tips. Finally she squirted a little bit of oil-like substance onto the edges of each nail where they met the finger, and had me wash my hands at a sink in the back.

I was out of there by 4:15. All this cost a grand total of $30, and I am to return in 2 weeks for a touch-up, for $20. I was expecting to pay maybe $45-50. The best news is from 3 feet away they look the same, very natural. But up close there are no surface ridges or splits to get caught on things, and the nails feel protected.

The other highlight of the day was lunch with She Who Must Not Be Named, who tells me the old place is falling apart. I got to introduce her to Shoreline Park and Lakeside Cafe, and show her where SF Bay was (she's new to this part of the geography).

Went to see the #1 choice apartment complex, they have nothing all next month. Foo. Visited one new place, they have two available but they are small and have 2 full bathrooms, which I don't want because it steals space. But it's a good location and very nice facilities, so it is down on my list. I have about 6 places to look at Saturday.

Tomorrow 9am pick up package at apartment office, then at 10 start new job in Santa Clara. See Gilligan's Island - The Musical.

Comments

[howeird]

Thanks - the speed of finding the new job was a function of how quickly I lost the previous one, and that it is only a 1-month contract. I expect to be going through this again way too soon.

The move is because they are raising my rent past what I can afford. Most other places have not jumped on the bandwagon to raise rents back to dot com boom levels.

[figmo.livejournal.com]

Ooof. Understood. That sucks; you've got a nice place.

I hope you re-land on your feet again soon.