Ever dreamt of sticking your feet into a bowl of cold water and having little fish nibble the skin off your feet? Nope? Me neither. Especially when the practice has been outlawed in 14 US states.
So, it was with a little trepidation that I trundled along to High Street Ken (after a more cravenly soul at RoF Towers chickened out) to visit trendy Aqua Sheko for some foot nibbling of the definitively non-David Mellor kind.
The salon was set up by ridiculously young and accomplished couple - 25-year old Hong Kong entrepreneur To Chan and his wife Karen Ho, 24 - who met at Oxford, worked at Lehman Brothers and then packed it all in to make their money in fish.
The fishy foot therapy, which has been popular in Asia for a while, uses miniature carp (garra rufa) usually found in Turkish rivers. And apparently the little blighters love to nibble on skin. In the wild they feast on fish scales, in the tanks of High Street Ken they feast on the corns of commuters. Now, I'm making it sound even more appealing, right?
I started with a cold water foot wash by a very nice man with arms like tree trunks and an expression of steel in his eyes, quite at odds with the zen-like setting. Feet cleansed, I was led to a leather chair perched on a platform, at the foot of which was a clear plastic tank containing about 150 little fish all looking eagerly up at me with their little fishy eyes.
Miniature carp hungry for the hard skin on your feet
I held my breath and slowly lowered my feet into the pool - plunging them in is ill-advised as it may well lead to a scattering of fish about the salon floor which apparently does happen. The initial feeling is almost indescribable. Both horrendously ticklish and....well....horrendous at the same time.
The fish swarm in to nibble my feet. Leaning back the sensation is one of thousands of bubbles exploding on your feet, leaning in and it's fairly clear that the sensation is one of 150 fish eating your feet. However, after the ticklish feeling subsided, the whole experience became quite soothing. A cup of green tea in my hand and an ipad to entertain me and I found myself having a rather nice time.
Lunchtime
Having calmed down, I was able to check out my fellow customers. And there was quite a mix of people. Fish pedicure pros who didn't bat an eye when their feet were feasted upon, giggling couples trying it out for fun and a bloke who wandered in off the street, decided to have a go and then called every one of his mates to tell them about it. At one point two policeman even came in - not to bust the joint as I at first suspected - but rather to enquire about the prices.
And the verdict? My feet are definitely softer and smoother and I have more of a spring in my step after the lovely foot massage which followed. I think it might take a few sessions to give you baby soft feet but the results are definitely pleasing.
So it might look and sound a bit grim but in reality being eaten by fish can be really quite fun.
So, it was with a little trepidation that I trundled along to High Street Ken (after a more cravenly soul at RoF Towers chickened out) to visit trendy Aqua Sheko for some foot nibbling of the definitively non-David Mellor kind.
The salon was set up by ridiculously young and accomplished couple - 25-year old Hong Kong entrepreneur To Chan and his wife Karen Ho, 24 - who met at Oxford, worked at Lehman Brothers and then packed it all in to make their money in fish.
The fishy foot therapy, which has been popular in Asia for a while, uses miniature carp (garra rufa) usually found in Turkish rivers. And apparently the little blighters love to nibble on skin. In the wild they feast on fish scales, in the tanks of High Street Ken they feast on the corns of commuters. Now, I'm making it sound even more appealing, right?
I started with a cold water foot wash by a very nice man with arms like tree trunks and an expression of steel in his eyes, quite at odds with the zen-like setting. Feet cleansed, I was led to a leather chair perched on a platform, at the foot of which was a clear plastic tank containing about 150 little fish all looking eagerly up at me with their little fishy eyes.
Miniature carp hungry for the hard skin on your feet
I held my breath and slowly lowered my feet into the pool - plunging them in is ill-advised as it may well lead to a scattering of fish about the salon floor which apparently does happen. The initial feeling is almost indescribable. Both horrendously ticklish and....well....horrendous at the same time.
The fish swarm in to nibble my feet. Leaning back the sensation is one of thousands of bubbles exploding on your feet, leaning in and it's fairly clear that the sensation is one of 150 fish eating your feet. However, after the ticklish feeling subsided, the whole experience became quite soothing. A cup of green tea in my hand and an ipad to entertain me and I found myself having a rather nice time.
Lunchtime
Having calmed down, I was able to check out my fellow customers. And there was quite a mix of people. Fish pedicure pros who didn't bat an eye when their feet were feasted upon, giggling couples trying it out for fun and a bloke who wandered in off the street, decided to have a go and then called every one of his mates to tell them about it. At one point two policeman even came in - not to bust the joint as I at first suspected - but rather to enquire about the prices.
And the verdict? My feet are definitely softer and smoother and I have more of a spring in my step after the lovely foot massage which followed. I think it might take a few sessions to give you baby soft feet but the results are definitely pleasing.
So it might look and sound a bit grim but in reality being eaten by fish can be really quite fun.
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