So just to be clear these photos are from the summer, they were not all from the past week. While here in China i have experimented with some hair cuts, nails, hair conditioning, cupping, scraping (posted in our first year), foot massages and detox. It has been an interesting experience every time i have done these things and not only battled with the language barrier to understand what they want to do, but to understand the benefit of the way they are doing these things compared to at home. I would say the most similar experience is getting my nails done, although a lot of places aren't setup with the massage chairs and basins to do a pedicure, it seems most common to get your polish only done on your nails. Some people have crazy nails with lots of jewels glued on and lots of gel polish. Recently i was told at my nail shop that regular nail polish in unhealthy for me, just like cold water, so I had better use gel polish and that is now all they offer.....really? It is nail polish, I am sure it isn't "healthy" for me but I want it. When i was pregnant they thought i was crazy here doing nail polish on my nails....and i just kept doing it.
This set of photos is from the hair salon, every time i go they are trying to get me to do something different. The last time i was there for a deep conditioner ($5) and they asked me at least 3 times if i wanted my hair cut too, they think it is getting too long. The photos below are from the cold deep conditioning treatment, the second are from a steam deep conditioning treatment done on separate occasions. I get the feeling that the environment we are living in also takes a toll on your hair/skin as well as your breathing of course. My hair gets a lot more dry here, and i live in AZ, i swim in chlorine pools in the summer and it is dryer here in China. So the cold conditioning treatment is done by brushing in the conditioner and then using a device with a flat iron attached that is ice cold and they press your hair in the flat iron over and over. It was an interesting process and with cold steam coming from the machine i was a little concerned but my hair turned out nice and soft. The second time was the heated steam, they brush the conditioner in, then wrap your head in saran wrap and then pull a cloak type thing over your head and you start to smoke. Again, after rinsing my hair was soft and nice.
The next place i have ventured is to a "spa" that offers TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) as well as facials, treatments such as body slimming, breast massage, and some treatments i have seen photos of and have no idea....Every time i show up they offer me tea, it is always hot tea and often times they offer a hot sweet soup after my treatment. They frequently send me messages (I am sure they go to all their customers) that i should remember to drink hot beverages because it is good for my health....and delete. Who wants hot tea when it is 95 degrees outside and i just walked to the spa??? Anyway, I have gone there for facials quite a few times, they usually do a similar treatment each time, this time i had a bit of sun on my skin from our trip to Qingdao and they didn't like that so they wanted to whiten me up, I had some kind of peppermint mask. When they do the facials they like to put a paper mask on top of the treatment, so that is the photo below, my face covered up from the mask. So do I look any whiter??? lol The next thing i tried just two weeks ago was cupping, this is traditional Chinese medicine that is good for blood flow and muscle tension. From what i have read, in the US it is typical for 5-10 cups to be places on....i believe i had around 27 cups on my back. The process includes having a flame lit, then placing that inside of the cups one at a time and then using the heat to create suction to your back. It doesn't hurt, it is not hot, it is a weird feeling, after a few minutes you get a bit of a numbness from them all over your back. I think they were on for 20 minutes before they were removed. The first photo is of my back right after, the second is 2 days later. I would say by day 8 or 9 my back was back to normal. This is super common to see, when you go out in China you see these marks on a lot of people. For me the benefit was less than a traditional massage, i still had tension in my neck and back and for that reason i probably wouldn't try it again but i know for some people especially with some nerve issues it can be wonderful. Brian told the kids i was a leopard..... Blake said he didn't like my spots.....
Still not sure what this is for but it was in the room i was in for my facial....Guesses? The spa offers breast massages, they claim to be able to tighten your breast and they offer you a very full push up bra with purchase. They tried to get me and my friends to buy a package.....we were very uninterested....lol They also have machines to massage your body for a liposuction type feel to reduce fat cells from what i can tell translating their postings. The beauty industry in China is just like the US, huge! There are tons of eyelash and eyebrow places here in China, for fake lashes and for tattooed eyebrows but they are literally like 7-11 they are everywhere, cheap to expensive. In China the ideal look is white skin so there are masks and beauty products everywhere to achieve this while i am trying to get a tan.... China has beauty medical hospitals, hair salons, makeup shops everywhere and you walk through the mall and see these tiny little shops and people are having their hair braided, a facial done, eye brows threaded right there for everyone to see. I did also, no photos, try eye brow threading. This was an interesting experience since I have seen it at home and never tried it there, here it was about $5 to have it done and it was amazing, they put a little power on my eye brows and very quickly plucked all those little hairs with the thread, grabbed the tweezers for a few stray hairs and i was out of there! Something i would definitely do again.
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| torture device? |
Another thing I have enjoyed while here in China is the oriental foot massage. I have written about this before and actually didn't take photos the past two times so I am using some older photos that have been on the blog before. When you go to these massages they are $15-$20 for 80 minutes. They are willing to cut your toe nails if you like, they will put on a hat with a light on the forehead and then use a scalpel in order to cut the nails. I did this one time and the guy made me super nervous, but in the end he did a good job. Another time they did cupping on the bottom of my foot, that was a surprise and an interesting experience to have that on your foot. Typically they will soak your feet in herbs, then while you are soaking they will go ahead and do a head and neck massage. Once this is over they will massage your knee down to your toes with oil, they usually have a little packet of oil to use. Once time I went I had mud packed on the feet, once it was dried and cracked they peeled it off. Another time i had these detox packets that were SOOO HOT placed on my knees and then saran wrapped on to me for the entire massage. I have to say that this is one of my favorite things here, it is so nice and affordable, especially if you got for a pedicure and don't have the option for a massage this is a really nice treat! When in Rome.....
This is the last new healthy addition, there are lots of create your own salad places popping up in our city. While i think many Chinese people eat a lot of vegetables they are raw for a snack or they are cooked. This is a new option and it is available for on-the-go and eat in but the interesting thing with this restaurant is that you walk through the line and grab poker chips with the items on them in Chinese and English, anything from greens, watermelon, avocado, cucumber, pickles, beans, carrots, cheese (not common in China), croutons, chicken, tuna, dressing etc. can be found. On my first trip here I had 10 poker chips and was told 7 was the max so I had to put some back. Once you get to the register they actually scan the poker chips and it creates your receipt/order and then you pay while they build the salad for you. It was really nice, you didn't have to yell over a counter and tell them what you wanted and you could completely construct your own salad....up to 7 items :)
I will see what else I can come up with...let me know if you have any questions!
Until Next Time.......
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