I thought I'd treat myself to my first pedicure in a long while. I've regretted it since the moment I sat in the chair. I probably should have just walked out, but I thought I'd give it a try. Let me outline what went wrong - starting first with our appointment and moving on to my conclusion that Spa Botanica does not hire experienced staff - at least for their salon. My tech's name was Emily.
Anyway, I have to get going so I can cut my toenails, thus ruining the only thing that turned out halfway decently from the whole experience - the polish job. I now have a few toenails that are LITERALLY half white growth.
To start, their foot bath is mobile, so it sort of sloshed until Emily remembered to put the brake on. Then, much to my surprise, Emily informed me that she "couldn't" cut my toenails at all because they'd get ingrown and she just couldn't risk it. Now, I have very short nail beds and I've been getting ingrown nails my whole life; it's not a big deal to me because I know how to manage them. So she just didn't cut them. Then she jabbed at my cuticles with all the force of the great typhoon (there's a little chunk of skin missing from just below my left big toenail). She was very apologetic that massage and callus filing caused me to laugh a bit, as it tickled - so she just didn't do it much, though I assured her I didn't mind and wanted it done well. The final part of the spa pedicure treatment involved a scrub, a mask, and a lotion. She barely scrubbed - again because she knew I was ticklish. The mask barely went on before it was washed off. And she was very nervous about lotions of any kind because I noted on the form that I'm allergic to a lot of florals.
Then she realized that maybe they weren't dry and the epic search for pedicure flip flops ensued over. I kid you not, she wanted me to walk out of there up the hill to MY hotel five minutes later. No freakin' way. After all that, I was going to have dry toenails.
Anyway, she THEN asked if I had any other shoes than the ones I'd walked in wearing. I looked at my wristlet purse and answered in the negative. "Oh, do those sandals hit your pinky toe?" They, in fact, do. "Well, that's okay, I'm going to use a quick dry base and top coat, so it should only take fifteen minutes or so to dry." Then she painted them. I hated the color, but at this point, I just wanted to get out as fast as I could. She ASKED if I wanted a second coat of color. After she'd done it, she got the bright idea to use a long-lasting top coat with hardening agents in it. Five minutes later, she decided I was done drying and went to put my sandal on my foot. "Are you sure it's dry? They usually take a lot longer." "Oh, no, with shimmer in it, they dry fast." She smudged my big toenail ALL to heck. We had to redo.
My husband treated me to a spa day for our anniversary. This place was perfect! Small but very relaxing. All the people that were involved were terrific and so nice!
Although Emily, is leaving within the next two weeks, I believe this lack of professionalism and expertise shows a fundamental problem with Spa Botanica's hiring salon staff. She was a nice enough person, but I don't go for a pedicure to chat.
Finally, came "the fun part." I'd been forced to pick a color the moment I walked into the room; no relaxation, no suggestions, nothing. Just "There are the colors." "Oh, do you want me to pick one now?" "Yeah." Now, as a person who takes ten minutes to pick out lunch at a diner and who hasn't gotten a professional pedicure in five years and was really excited, this was the beginning of my discomfort. But again, I gave it a shot.
So the point of this is that I'm definitely not an expert, but I dabble in nail art and do my own mani/pedis at home most of the time. I knew that my polish wasn't dry - she should have, too. If I can "take the risk" of cutting my nails - she could have, too. If someone tells you you're hurting them, don't keep doing things the way you're doing them - ask what you're doing wrong and take some direction.
Spa Botanica is a US Spa based in Concord, North Carolina. Spa Botanica is located at 5400 John Q. Hammons Dr NW, Concord, NC 28027, USA.
Please contact with Spa Botanica using information above: Address, Phone number, Fax, Postal code, Website address, E-mail, Facebook. Find Spa Botanica opening hours and driving directions or map. Find real customer reviews and ratings or write your own review.