A woman was left holding back tears after experiencing the ‘worst pedicure of her life’, saying she ‘cannot make this up’ after being stunned by how badly her appointment went.
Many of us like to treat ourselves to a manicure or pedicure if we're in the mood for some all-important pampering.
It’s never as expensive as a massage or full-body treatment, but can still leave us feeling nice and spoilt.
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TikToker Karina Irby, however, didn’t walk away from her recent appointment feeling particularly blissed-out – in fact, she found herself ‘trying not to cry’.
Karina, 33, decided to head to the salon to ‘finally’ get that pedicure she really wanted.
But when she turned up, she noticed an employee was staring at her legs as she waited in the chair for her beauty treatment.
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In a TikTok video, Karina explained how she has a number of skin conditions, including eczema and pityriasis, but that day she woke up ‘feeling good’ and didn’t ‘feel self-conscious'.
“I’m gonna sound like a brat, but hear me out,” she said.
“I just had the worst pedicure experience of my life."
Karina went on: ”My skin doesn’t look like everybody else’s skin. I’ve got lumps, bumps and scars. Like, I get it, I look different.
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“But this lady just looked at me like I was a pure disease.”
Karina said the woman came over to do her pedicure, taking ‘one look’ at her leg.
“She doesn’t even look at my face, she just looks down at what she’s about to deal with,” she said.
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“I kid you not, I just watched her for a good 20 seconds [pulling faces]. I literally cannot make this up.
“She then looks up to my face and she goes, ‘Is this okay to touch? Like, can I touch this?’”
A ‘mortified’ Karina told her it was totally fine to touch her skin, despite the woman’s reservations.
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“She’s putting on her gloves and she’s just staring at my legs with this... really concerned and confused face,” she continued.
“All in all, I’m honestly just trying not to cry. I feel like everybody is looking at me – they're probably not, but that’s just how I felt.”
Karina said she felt ‘uncomfortable’ for the entire duration of the pedicure, and was unable to relax.
“It was so awkward,” she said, adding that it’s likely ‘the last pedicure’ she gets ‘in a really long time’ as she simply felt ‘so insecure’.
Karina’s time at the salon also brought back painful memories from years ago.
“When I was a dancer, I was made to wear skin coloured stockings so my legs looked like everyone else’s,” she explained.
“At school camps, teachers wouldn’t allow other kids to borrow my sunscreen in case it was infected.
“It took me YEARS to overcome trauma like this.
“All to be bought back up to the surface because of a pedicure.”
Many TikTokers sympathised with her situation, with one commenting: “As a girl with eczema I can definitely relate.”
Another said: “Why wouldn’t you walk out??? Don’t let anyone treat you like that," while a third wrote: “This is me with psoriasis.”
A fourth added: “I am so sorry, I have severe eczema & there are days where I dread going out the house, but I do. Sending you so much love, you did not deserve that.”
Jess Hardiman