Nail Salons - A rip off?

I needed a BASIC manicure. My cuticles were beginning to look at bit ragged and I am very busy right now, so I thought I would just get a manicure. 

Remember those?

So I picked the nail salon closest to my office and wandered over.

Oh my goodness. What an experience!!

First woman handed me a basket of sample nails to look through. It was full of these types of nails pasted on little sticks.

YAK!!

I declined and then none of the women wanted to do my nails once I declined. I explained I had a work event and needed a simple manicure and neutral polish.  

It was obviously unless, I wanted something remotely like this...

...no one wanted to wait on me.

Finally, a woman came from the back and started my manicure. She looked somewhat put out, (a little huffing and puffing)  but did a good job. 

When it came time for the polish, I had picked an OPI polish in a nice neural shade.

She tried to up-sale me on a gel polish. She said it was shinier, faster drying, and doesn't chip. When I asked how much, she said $30! yes, you heard me -- $30 in addition to the basic manicure fee!

No, thank you.

Afterward, I did a little research on gel polish and found this interesting article, "Does gel or regular nails polish last longer? 

Check it out, she has some interesting things to say about it all.

As I sat in the salon, I noticed that several women had a huge Starbucks or some other kind of expensive energy drink.

They were getting manicures and pedicures.

The woman next to me was getting a fancy nail job. And when it came time for her to pay, it was

OVER $80!!

That just got all over my frugal self. What a waste of money. And for what? 

$80 will:

fill my car 2 1/2 times with gas;

pay for an oil change and have some left over;

buy quite a bit of groceries;

or dog food & treats;

or make an extra credit card payment.

My imagination wandered all over. I bet these women have HUGE credit card debt.

Some may even be behind in their mortgage.

But their priority is obviously their nails.

The Frugal Beauty blog has a great post about "doing it yourself" with suggested supplies that work for her. It is a good read.

My conclusion is that I will not be going back to that salon. Nor will I frequent nail salons often in the future. They really just don't fit in to my frugal plan.

End of rant.

Pat