Eyelash perming is one of my absolute favourite beauty treatments. It's relatively quick, taking about 40 minutes from start to finish, there's minimal therapist interaction so you can get a snooze in while the curl takes, it's never caused my lashes to fall out (unlike some treatments I could mention), and as it's not too pricey it gives good bang for your buck since the eye-opening effect lasts 6-8 weeks. With the obvious exception of the awful rotten egg stench that accompanies it, there is nothing I don't like about eyelash perming.
Correction: there was nothing I didn't like about eyelash perming up until about a fortnight ago, when the therapist in the new-to-me salon I'd decided to try made a complete and utter hash of the job. She doused my right eyeball in perming solution which had to be rinsed out, gave me a completely different curl on each set of lashes (tight, kinked, bent back on the left; natural looking on the right), made clumps of my lashes point in different directions, and missed the outer corner lashes altogether (but somehow managed to include several of my lower lashes instead.) My right eyelid was left bruised and swollen and my eye was bloodshot; my right eyelid still feels weirdly heavy.
Now, I didn't quite realise how bad things were until I met Himself for lunch and completely freaked out at the state of my poor right eye, but obviously I'd a fair idea that the treatment hadn't been a stellar one. The sensation that a jellyfish was attacking my eyeball had been kind of a giveaway.
So did I kick up a huge fuss in the middle of the salon? Did I refuse to pay for what I suspected was a sub-par treatment? Did I at least quietly mention that I wasn't completely happy?
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No. Like a true gobshite, I said thanks very much to the girl who had attempted to blind me, handed over my Laser card, and scuttled out of the place as fast as the slightly blurry vision in my right eye would allow.
I've since made a complaint to the manager of the salon so we'll see (ho ho) what comes of that, but the whole episode has me wondering how comfortable the rest of you feel voicing your comments, concerns or complaints about treatments that go awry or simply aren't up to scratch.
- Do you say it on the spot to the therapist who provided the treatment?
- Ask to speak to the manager before heading off or handing over any cash?
- Fume quietly about it until you get home and then call the salon to make your feelings known and get some satisfaction?
- Or say nothing, never give them your business again, and just tell everyone you know about your bad experience to warn them off the place?
I'd love to know how you deal with the bad side of beauty, so please do tell me your complaining style in the comments!
