What Price Beauty?

I spent the morning at a salon ... where priorities are different and clearly expressed.

For instance, I learned that it takes three hours for toenail polish to "cure" and I needed to remain immobile for most of that time OR SHE WOULD NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RESULTS.

Speaking of products, it was necessary to spend an additional $50 (!) for the special foot callus slougher ("It will last forever IF YOU TAKE CARE OF IT," said the authoritarian pedicurist) and footcream ("By the time you get back in here, I WANT TO KNOW YOU HAVE USED THIS EVERY NIGHT FOR THE PAST MONTH" because "IF YOU DON'T, I DON'T WANT TO TELL YOU WHAT WILL HAPPEN WITH THOSE HEEL CALLUSES. SERIOUSLY.")

I was suitably cowed by the time I was handed off to the stylist who would cut my hair. I learned that my hair, left to its own devices, has a woefully strong cowlick (cowlick, hm. Cow Lick. hm) and must be beaten into submission with no less than three products and two instruments of torture.

One of which is a ceramic flatiron which will require an additional investment of approximately $200. I didn't have the guts to nonchalantly slip that into the house. I must prepare Jim for that one.

Also: one must think in terms of Standing Appointments. Because you can't just waltz in there and expect one of these artistes to be at your beck and call. No, these slots fill up fast and if you want those toenails to stay in their current bloodred polished state, You Must Make Six Appointments So They Will Always Be There For You.

So, armed with my new slougher, footcream, knowledge of ceramic flatirons and standing appointments, toenails buffed and polished, hair trimmed and straightened, I emerged a New Woman.

I feel pretty! And poverty-stricken!

Today's fragrance: Penhaligon's Ellenisia, the name derived from the Celtic 'Elen,' meaning nymph. Gardenia and rose with Moroccan jasmine. Three of my favorite things AND there's musk and vanilla. I really like this, C.