MORE THAN BEAUTY

“Put yourself on the top of your to-do lists.” 

One of my friends is a professional beautician, and first of all, you know the saying, “Don’t bring work home with you?”That phrase never works on her. Secondly, and worse, from the moment she steps into my house, she becomes an X-ray- face scanning robot:

“How often do you use enzyme peeling?” 

“Hi, how are you Jess? Nice to see you too.” 

“Yes, yes, hello, and how does the peeling I gave you suit you?”  

I’m really bad at cheating, so I continued without answering: 

“Would you like coffee or tea?” 

“Chamomile tea, please. Did you know that caffeine causes dark circles under the eyes? 

“Really, I thought it was because my kids didn’t sleep well at night, and last night, and last night, and… ” 

“Enjoy your sense of humour, but it won’t help your skin.” 

“Why? Did you hear the quote: “Wrinkles will only go where the smiles have been.” 

 “Seriously, Marta? You are my friend, so promise me you’ll use it today.”

“If I promise, will we change the subject?” 

“Yes, we will change.” 

     And I promised. But after were again plenty of different tasks during the day. And a busy evening with my children’s bedtime routine and overtired to remember about bloody peeling. 

The next morning, I dropped the kids off at Nursery and did a magical face scrub. I felt great, so proud of myself, I even called Jess, but her phone was busy. A few minutes later, an Amazon delivery arrived with new cleaning supplies, which, of course, I had to use immediately. The laundry was ready, so I hung it up. It looked like 3:00 p.m., so it was time to pick up the kids. And guess what, evening arrived, one of the hardest parts of the day: supper, bath, and bedtime. Jess called:

“Hi Marta, sorry I didn’t answer earlier. Marta, are you there?”

“Oh crap!! I’ve had an enzyme peel on my face since 7 a.m.”

“You mean 7 p.m.?”

“Nooooo! 7 a.m.!”

I hung up and ran to the bathroom with tears in my eyes. I was terrified of the consequences of not washing off the scrubbing all day. But nothing happened. In the mirror, my face looked the same as it did this morning, only shinier and fresher, but nothing more. I cleansed my face. Still fine, no burning or itching. Thank goodness. The side effects didn’t burn my face. 

I called Jess right away, but I couldn’t say anything. Laughing and crying at the same time: 

“Marta,  I’m on my way to your house. Are you okay?”

After a while, I spoke: 

“It’s alright. Don’t worry, I’ll be happy to see you, but I feel ok.” 

“Are you crying or laughing?” 

“Both.” 

“Did you finally wash off the peeling? 

“Yes” 

“AND?” 

“Do you ask me if I feel younger? 

“Don’t make fun of it now! Any irritation, rash, burning, itching? 

“Nothing, really nothing. I was shocked, which made me laugh and cry.” 

“Write it down and stick it in the fridge. Next time, around 3 weeks, I will put this shit on your face and wash it off, after a glass of wine.”

“What about the rest of the bottle?  

And what does your beauty care look like, Dear Ladies? Better than mine?