Review : Royal Oak Nails, Royal Oak, MI, USA

You might have guessed that these aren't my actual nails ...

This post is probably only of interest to us girls - sorry, boys!

When we'd just moved to Michigan about 7 years ago, I asked around as to where I could get a good pedicure and a bunch of folks said to head to Royal Oak Nails in Royal Oak.  I went there for the whole time we were living in Michigan and they did great work.  It was a small salon, always busy, and the prices were good.

When we were last in Michigan, we were staying out at Novi, so it was a fair drive (about 45 minutes) into get my pedicure, but I decided it was worth it because they'd always done such a good job.  You don't need to make an appointment, so I lobbed in to find that they'd expanded, taking over the store next door and doubling the space available.

They could fit me in immediately, strangely there weren't a lot of other customers around, though I could see that the manager (owner?) was the same guy who'd always been there.  I asked if I could get a leg wax first because I remember them doing waxing (though I'd never had it done there).  They said that it was no problem and escorted me to a treatment room out the back.  The treatment room was actually a storage room with a broken treatment bed and the remnants of someone's lunch resting on the basin.

I precariously balanced myself on the broken bed and my waxer set about my legs.  Now, I'm not sure if she'd ever waxed before, but her long hair wasn't pulled back and was always in the way, and each rip of the wax hardly got any hair out.  I could see vast patches of untouched hair and I kept telling her to have another try.  Eventually she got most of it and I was worried that the bed was going to collapse by the time she said she was finished.

There was still quite a lot of hair left on my legs, but I could see that she didn't have much of a clue about how to do it.  It was a bit of an accident on my part, but I've had my legs waxed by six off duty Thai hookers in a Bangkok brothel and they did a better job of it than this girl - and that's saying something.  Another story for another day?

Then we moved onto the shellac pedicure.  She did the normal stuff in the usual big massage chair with the integral basin, but then moved to the front of the salon, to the manicure tables, to apply the shellac.  And to do this, she sat on the floor.  Yes, on the floor of the salon.  Not on a stool or anything.  Very weird indeed.  It took a while, and she didn't speak to me, just tapping my feet and pointing when they had to come in and out of the machine (I felt a bit like a horse being asked to pick up its feet!).

The shellac pedicure is fine.  I'm typing this nearly eight weeks after I had it done and everything still looks brand new.  I asked her to take the nails right back, which she did, but the whole experience just felt wrong.  The broken waxing bed in the grotty storage room, the sitting on the floor, the whole feel of the place has changed and it was very odd to see it with so few customers.

The half leg wax and the shellac pedicure came to $75 plus tip (20% is usual, I didn't do that).

Michigan is full of nail salons and I definitely won't be making the long drive back there next time.

Royal Oak Nails

106 E 5th Street

Royal Oak  MI  48067

Phone:- 248 542 1209