Thing 122: Fish Pedicure!

You've seen it on The View. You've read about it on the AP. And DC365 is there, at the cutting edge of trend and beauty, to bring you a first hand account of a fish pedicure.

Yes, yesterday I booked a zipcar and brought our intern to Yvonne's Salon, in Alexandria, VA to experience for ourselves the sensation of tiny carp nibbling the dead skin off our feet.

No, I'm being serious. See:


Those are tiny carp, ravenously eating my feet and ankles until only the soft, smooth skin remains.

It feels even weirder than you think.

Somewhere between a pin prick and a gentle massage, alternating between wildly ticklish, calm relaxation, and slightly painful, this is a pedicure unlike any other. Upon arriving, you are escorted to one of four fish tanks, and are instructed to step into it. Immediately, these little fish swarm, going to town on your dead skin, which seems to congregate around the nails and on the heels and ankles. The worst is when one nibbles on the sole, by the arch, which made me squeal it tickled so much.

Each fish pedicure allows for 15 minutes in the fish tank, though by the time I was able to relax enough to enjoy it I wish there could have been more time. The fish were still hungrily eating, and I still had plenty of rough skin for them to take care of. However, most of that was taken care of during the actual pedicure part of the appointment, in which a woman pumiced off the rest of the skin, trimmed my nails, and painted them pale, shiny pink.

If you are a guy and you're looking for a pedicure, this might be for you! More men were getting pedicures than women when I was there. I guess the introduction of flesh-eating wildlife to the pedicure process makes it manly enough for them. They just skipped the color at the end.

A basic fish pedicure costs $45, which is steeper than normal, but worth it at least once just for the crazy experience of having done it. If it were a bit closer to me and didn't require a car to reach, I could see how it would be addicting. Just watching the fish attack your feed provides for endless entertainment. And my soft, smooth feet are a nice end product.