What I Thought About My First Time At A Beauty Salon | Neeltje’s Thoughts: Self-Care

Is it weird that I have never been to a beauty salon? I thought it kind of was as a twenty something year old. On social media I constantly see people get their nails done, get a facial and even a full body massage. That’s not something that comes to my mind when I want to have a self-care day. When Elba invited me to be a model for her internship, I was interested and of course said yes. I was very curious what it’s like getting different treatments at a beauty salon and maybe understand why people like it so much.

As I have been getting older (this literally sounds like I am 100 years old), interests change and I have discovered new things I am into. The past year I have been getting more and more into beauty products and skincare in general. It’s so important to take good care of your skin. I’d rather people think I am 18 than people thinking I am 42 by looking at my skin. Therefore I do a lot of research before I buy certain beauty products. And lucky for me, Claudia knows a lot about the ingredients of products and Elba is studying right now to be a beautician.

When you’re studying, you also have to intern. As for me, I love my internships because that was when I would learn the most. Elba is now doing her internship at Babassu. Babassu is a beauty salon located in the city centre of Leiden, The Hague, Wassenaar and Amsterdam. As soon as you walk in, you feel a relaxed vibe because of their ‘spa-like’ interior. Pastel colors and beautiful products catch your eye when walking in. Since Elba is doing her internship here, I was able to come with her and be her model for a couple of hours.

I have to be honest, at first I was kind of nervous because I had never been to a beauty salon. I always pluck my own eyebrows and never had a facial. So weird to think about. But because of this, I didn’t know what to expect. Since Elba would be doing the treatments and I’ve known her for 10 years, it would be fine. In my mind I was like: After a full day working, how great is it to relax a little while Elba getting her practice hours in and me getting the treatments?

Elba set everything up in a room at the back of the salon. It’s her internship so I told her that if she needed to practice specific things, now is the time. I didn’t have any treatments in mind I really wanted, because I had never done anything like this. In the end I got a back massage, a facial and, for the first time ever, I got my eyebrows dyed! At first I didn’t want to dye my eyebrows because I was convinced they would turn orange. Of course, they didn’t and I love the way they look know without filling them in. I actually have eyebrows haha. For the facial Elba used products from Natura Bissé, which felt great on my skin. After everything, my skin was glowing, my eyebrows were thriving and I felt very relaxed.

Will I ever do this again? Definitely! Self-care is so important and I didn’t realize how relaxing it is to get a facial and how good it makes you feel. You don’t have to do anything, just lay there and enjoy the treatments. For some reason it was hard to let go of control. I am not the one doing the treatments, so I don’t have any control over them. This is why I felt kind of restless in the beginning during my back massage. As soon as Elba started with the facial, I got into it and let go. So, next time, I know I have to relax because everyone deserves something like this every once in awhile. Have you ever been to a beauty salon? What’s your favorite treatment?

Love,

Neeltje