Going to the beauty parlour is serious business. A lot of thought has to go into it. It is always a better experience if one takes a friend along. Not many will come as mere spectators. So one has to pick a friend who could use some beauty parlour therapy. And remember I stress on the word friend. To venture into a beauty parlour with an enemy, known or otherwise, is like shooting yourself in the leg, face or head depending which portion of your person has been worked on. Anyway there is always a well-intentioned friend who will also be looking to visit the parlour with a person similarly disposed towards her.

Then comes the difficult part. With beauty parlours springing up in every bylane of the city, choosing one is an exercise. Of course there are some unmentionable persons who will latch themselves to a particular beauty parlour like insecure limpets. Then there are the brave, like me, whom I will call the freelance beauty parlour goers. Us freelancers have to do a keen SWOT analysis on the various parlours we have visited. Strengths would be good for pedicure, facials; weaknesses would be bad music, beauty therapists of questionable hygiene; threats would be moody beauty care giver who on a bad day has the proclivity to shape your eyebrows such that you look perpetually surprised; and opportunities would be great magazines like Cosmo and Stardust so that one can take a quiz to discover one's goddess potential and glean useful knowledge on film stars.

One generally steps into the parlour with firm belief that one will somehow be improved in appearance when one steps out. Keeping such true faith you first blithely tell the person at the reception what you require. Then comes the scary part. One of the 'beauty care' persons will come to appraise you. In case you have asked for a facial she will peer at your face. You will hold your breath and hope you are not doomed by her perchance assuming an expression of disappointment. She just might look at your skin first with horror and then pity and then launch into a soliloquy reciting all that is wrong with your skin and then she will bravely take on the challenge of transforming your face and thus your life. If you are lucky she will suggest that you have a 'mini' facial. This misleadingly happy-sounding facial is for persons with decent skin. It comprises the painful aspects of the facial such as the dreaded dark art of 'black removal' and excludes the pleasurable, soothing massage. But you will smile and take on the 'mini' because you have been certified to have healthy, young skin.

Haircuts and colouring can also keep you in a state of perpetual anxiety. A haircut could in extreme cases lead to you looking like a shorn sheep and the hair colour could just be a shade more bold than you! Pedicures and manicures do not require much thought except when it comes to choosing nail enamel colour. A few minutes of consultation with you friend and the impartial judgment of the person doing the pedicure or manicure should solve the problem.

Anyway, after having spent a considerable amount of time and money at the beauty parlour you will either feel like a new person or at least look like one.