Beauty on the Outside

I just sent this to some of my NYC besties, but I wanted to share with y’all how incredibly excited I am about an appointment I have on Friday.

Since I am a champion of the affordable beauty indulgence, tomorrow I’m getting an hour and a half facial for $27 at the Christine Valmy International School.

Originally, I found it through a NY Magazine listing of New York Cheap Spa Deals guide, and sadly, it took me nearly a year to book something. But I have an appointment tomorrow, and my poor skin is more than ready for some TLC and a few good extractions. I was also looking through the NY Mag Best of Beauty picks for 2008, and I saw their listing for a $35 facial in Chinatown. Brilliant!

I totally get that paying for premium beauty services can feel like a huge waste of money, and I often agree with that assessment. I paint my nails really well – as a teenager, I used to spend hours on end painting little designs on my nails by dipping thumbtacks into nail polish – so I don’t get weekly mani-pedis, even though the place that I go to is a shockingly low $12 for a pedicure. I’ve also never gotten a bikini wax, because I can’t imagine paying that much for hair removal.

But, I have to say that getting a facial is a treat that I firmly believe people of all genders can and should do if they can, especially when you find great deals like the ones that I did.

I think that especially for us fat folks, who often find the majority of the beauty industry to be a maddening, alienating world full of constant reminders that you and your business are not wanted or welcome, something weight neutral like a facial can be really rejuvenating. Now, I will say that the last time I got a facial (at a different spa than the one I’ll be at tomorrow), they had me put on a robe which was entirely too small for my bodacious ass and hips, but once I was in the room and under the blanket, the robe was crumpled in the corner anyway, and I was able to relax into the treatment. If I had thought ahead further in advance, I would have brought my own robe, but I pushed through the embarrassment and willed myself to enjoy the experience, especially because I was paying to have it.

For me, I have always found that when things like clothes shopping have utterly failed me as a fat girl, I have always been able to find joy in other beauty rituals, like putting on makeup, doing facials, doing my nails, and other sorts of restorative self-care.

So, I encourage all you fabulous fat folks to pamper your pretty faces (heh), and consider occasional (or frequent) beauty rituals either at home or on the town as a way to thank your body for all that it does for you.

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