Price of Vanity

September 13

"Cheryl, you are one of the 50 recipients of the complimentary vouchers from Bizzy Body whom we have selected to extend our promotion to. When would you like to come in?", asked Karen from the Uptown Bizzy Body outlet few days after the voucher had expired on August 31. The voucher came when I made some purchases from Edmundser 1Utama about two months back during sales. The voucher was for a facial or a body slimming session. I had totally forgotten about it. The call took me by surprise rather than delight. Oh well, I thought I might as well give it a try, and made an appointment.

As I was waiting to be attended to, I saw a few middle-aged ladies came through some doors after their facial treatments and realised I was the youngest. Of course the outlet service staffs, beauticians and consultants were much younger, well groomed, and good looking.

Before the session commenced, the outlet manager and beauty consultant, Hooi Ping sat down with me to run through some Q&A, a session done with each client and deemed necessary to understand clients' lifestyle, diet and beauty regime. My regime turned out to be the most basic and minimal - cleansing, toning, moisturising. No skin-whitening products, no day or night serum, no anti-wrinkle products, no hydrating cream or whatsoever, and no weekly or monthly facial treatments. Firstly I was just too lazy to do anything more than the necessary, secondly nothing that would escalate my cost of living, and thirdly, too impatient to spend hours in front of the mirror looking back at myself.

The other questions on body care and body slimming received affimative no from me. Never thought of slim wrapping, or any other body care and slimming therapies except for gym workouts. I could not really determine the expression on her face, whether it was contempt that I seemed to lack regards for body care, or sorry that I was ignorant to body care as part of personal grooming.

My weight and height was recorded before i was to be attended to by another body slimming therapist, Jeannie. In I went to a room for slim wrapping after changing into a satin-like robe. Measurements were taken, from my arms all the way down to my ankles. Ginseng essential oil was applied on my arms, mid torso and legs before three to four layers of tight string wraps went around. I could hardly walk, except to hobble a few steps and plopped myself onto the therapy bed, which had a thermal blanket-like wrap spread out. Soon after i was wrapped up like a cocoon and Jeannie turned on the heat, and adjusted the temperature. It lasted 30 minutes.

The subsequent 30 minutes were spent on what I would term as mild electrocution. Electrodes were selectively placed on areas that required slimming. Similar to the electrodes used when one does electrocardiogram (or ECG in short, a test to record electrical activity of the heart), except that they were slightly larger. While the ECG records the electrical waves, the machine for the slimming therapy was sending out the electrical current that resulted in the selected areas to vibrate. The higher the intensity, the higher the vibration. Measurements were taken again when the session ended.

The therapy session, had i to pay for it, would have cost RM520. Yes, it was an experience to know what slim wrap was like, especially Rosie Phua in Phua Chu Kang seemed to be obsessed with the treatment (haha). This is what I would term as an activity for the rich and famous. As for me, even if I turned a billionaire overnight, such therapy is not of any priority. I must say though that it is a fast-growing business as beauty trend takes on a new perspective, and spending power for such treatment is on the rise.

It is undeniable that beauty can be an asset for monetary gains, hence the price tag. Exceptionally beautiful people walk on fashion runways, appear on commercials, or on the covers of lifestyle, beauty or fashion magazines. That is how the world sees beauty, not that it's wrong, just a different perception. Such has been the benchmark adopted by society in general for the longest time.

Beauty is really quite subjective and is perceived differently by different people, different races. Does it matter if one is tall, average, below average, petite, lanky, voluptuous, muscular, fair, dark, or tan? Everyone is beautiful (and clothier, WH takes on this tagline). As they say, beauty is skin deep and beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.

Price tag or no price tag, benchmark or no benchmark, whatever shapes and sizes and colour, well, that is probably something worth pondering upon. And sometimes, not everything is about physical beauty, and dollars and cents. I once read, being beautiful may not neccessary be a good thing. Hmmm...