It had been a good 5 years since I had visited a professional nail salon. Mostly due to my bad experiences in every other salon in my entire life. Most salons have people working there that do not respect the customer and tend to talk about them in a language I cannot understand. I only say this because the workers will stare at you and then laugh and snicker to each other, thinking I'm dumb enough to ignore that they are talking about me. I've been disrespected my whole life due to my size, so I tend to know when I'm being talked about and when not. With the terrible vibe combined with sub-par customer service and service on the nails, I quit spending my money at salons and did home pedicures for years. Even my elder mother stopped going to salons because she was afraid of how she would be treated.
This was NOT the case with #1 Nails.
I had an important event to attend over this past weekend and I wanted a professional pedicure for once since it had been so long. As anxious and nervous as I was to go in, I stopped by as a walk-in in the afternoon on a Friday. There were 3 ladies working, 2 of which were helping customers already. I was helped immediately by one lady who greeted me upon entering. I would like to share that I am quite a large woman, beyond the regular big lady. I have a hard time fitting in chairs so I was nervous about fitting in their pedicure chairs. However, after I noticed the chair arm lifted so I could easily slide into the seat, my nerves calmed down. The arm of the chair came back down to my side and I was nice and snug in the seat. Not uncomfortable at all. The chair had a heavy duty back massage and from the control panel, I could adjust my seat forward or back or adjust the back of the chair to lay down or to come forward. I was really excited about this!
My feet and I enjoyed a hot foot bath, which was a little too hot at first but I got used to it after a minute. She could tell my feet needed a good soak. For only $23, this woman gently scrubbed my legs, cared for my toes like they were her own, removed ingrowns, dug out the dirt under the nail (which I've only seen done twice in my experience), used clean unused files on my toes, didn't cut me, didn't snip me, and when she used the razor for the callous, (in which I usually decline because I find most don't understand that you can't shave off a bucket of dead skin on my type of feet because I can't walk without pain afterwards), she was gentle and only took off a top layer without me even asking. When she finished, I didn't cry, although I wanted to because I was just so happy, I tipped her instead.
During my pedicure, I listened to her and her coworkers chat but they didn't go on and on and on. They weren't loud or obnoxious. There was no cackling. Although they spoke in another language, I didn't feel as if they were being rude or talking rudely about anyone. They could have been talking about dinner for the evening or their children for all I know. I just know they didn't talk then look at me and snicker and then ask me 'What I do for work' ... I know the game. These ladies didn't play it. They engaged with each client genuinely. And I was so impressed with the quality of the pedicure, the quality of the chair and the quality of the customer service that I called my mother immediately to tell her about the place. She has actually agreed to come and pay for a pedicure after 15 years of refusal! I am so grateful to have stumbled upon this salon and the very sweet ladies that work there. Bonus: It's within walking distance from my home. Not that I would actually walk there, but I could if need be. read more