A little background on my situation: I was born with a full head of hair and am very fortunate to have long, strong hair to this day. My mother has very fine hair and my brother is about the same, so I must have inherited my father’s hair type. Unfortunately, this means I am also a bit hairier than most women, at least I think I am. In the summer I shave my arms because my arm hair is quite dark, and I have to pluck my eyebrows pretty much every other day.

And I never thought I’d ever blog about this, but that’s why this is anonymous….I have a very hairy chin/neck. For as long as I can remember, I’ve had noticeable hair on my neck in the area that is directly under my bottom jaw. And I don’t mean a few blonde hairs here and there, I mean, potentially long, dark brown hair the same thickness as the hair on my head. So much so that when I was in college I started waxing that entire area. That became too much of a pain (figuratively and literally), so I just resorted to shaving most every day. You might be able to imagine the self-consciousness I felt on a daily basis, wondering if people could see the hair, especially if I forgot to shave one day. I would talk with my chin down in public, because I was sure everyone was looking at it and was completely grossed out (although even my closest friends swear they never knew). I lived like that for 8 years!

Finally, though, with support from my mother, I decided to look into laser hair removal. I did my research, asked my primary care doctor if it is safe, and waited until Sona was having a good promotion. In the past, they’ve offered, pay for one area, get one area free, etc., but I really only care about that one area. So, in May, they were offering 60% off of one area, and I took a chance. I went in for the consult to make sure they could do what they advertised and was able to have my first treatment that day.

The treatment itself is quite painful. When I first heard about laser hair removal years ago, it was described to me as having to precisely zap each hair folicle and only being able to do small portions at a time. Thank god it’s not like that anymore. The wand has a wide base that they pass over your skin a few times in long strokes.  It is connected to a high-powered air blower and they blow cool air at your skin while they zap your hair folicles with the laser. It really does feel like you might catch on fire. Luckily, its over in about 5 minutes!

You have to wait 6 weeks between treatments and they tell you that the hair will start to fall out in 2-3 weeks. I was a little skeptical until 3 weeks into my waiting period and I noticed I could skip a day or two of shaving.  Now, after 3 treatments, I barely have to think about it at all.  I have very few hairs that ever come in, and when they do, they are thin and unnoticeable.

Honestly, this hair removal has literally CHANGED MY LIFE. I don’t say that about much, especially consumer products or beauty products, but this really has given me back the self-esteem that it once drained from me. I don’t slink away when someone goes to touch my chin, I don’t have to look down in close up pictures, and I don’t worry about people staring at my neck. I really can’t say enough about how much this process has affected me, physically, emotionally, everything. It is one of the BEST decisions I have ever made.

And Sona Med Spa is a great place. They are fast, friendly, and efficient. They have a clean office with a cozy ambiance, complimentary tea and biscotti in the waiting area, and they just get the job done.  I highly, highly recommend laser hair removal at Sona to anyone who may have ever considered it.

I hate to give anyone a bad review, but that’s kinda the purpose of this website, so here it goes. Upon first impression, Apex Nails seems like a great full-service nail salon. They have an impressive number of spa pedicure chairs that face a long row of nail stations along a mirrored wall. There are 3 flat screen televisions on the mirrored wall, tuned to whatever the staff wants to watch. The last time I was there, the TVs were tuned to the History Channel, the Weather Channel, and (thank god) Entertainment Tonight. The poor girl behind me was stuck on the History Channel end of the salon and kept trying to watch the E! show but it was obviously uncomfortable.

Now, I know most nail salons have the problem of the staff not understanding much English, but I think this is particularly true with Apex Nails. The only person who really speaks much English is the Maitre D, if you will. He’s probably the owner and he stands at the register most of the time directing customers to a spa pedicure chair and then shouts orders in another language to the staff. I usually spend the whole visit feeling like I can’t really tell them anything about what I’d like because they just stare blankly at me anyway.

As I stated in my previous review, I don’t really care about the atmosphere as long as the end product is what I expected and what I paid for. Maybe I make the tragic mistake of still painting my own real nails instead of opting for the more durable silk or acrylic nails. Call me old fashioned, but I think they should be able to just as good of a job on painting my nails as they do with the fake nails. The last two times I’ve gone there, I spend at least 8 minutes under the UV dryer lights and still find that soon after I leave one or more of my nails is already smudged. And I’m careful! This last time, my thumb nail got all messed up when I washed my hands in hot water more than two hours after I was done. I think the flaw is that they use so many coats and they do them so quickly, that each coat doesn’t have time to dry before the next one is applied, so none of them dry for a few hours. And you can’t really expect me to wait a few hours before I do something.

In general, I’m just not impressed with the service or final product from this salon. Their strength may lie in another specialty of nail care, but they miss the mark on the simplest of tasks.

When it comes to nail salons, I care less about how the salon looks when I go in and more about how my nails look when I leave, as well as how they look 2 hours later and 2 days later. That said, I have found the salon that works best for me, and that is Le Le’s Nails in Hillsboro Village.

First, the logistics. Parking is not great since it shares a parking lot with Domino’s Pizza, a liquor store, Pancake Pantry, and all the other very popular restaurants nearby. Luckily for me, I work within walking distance and find it best if I take my lunch break to get my nails done. The salon itself is nothing fancy. They just “renovated” but really, they just rearranged furniture. They have one old television in the corner that has the captions on, but if you ask, they’ll turn the sound on too.

They offer the full range of services, including spa pedicures, silk nails, and Forever French. They have 3 or 4 spa pedicure stations, and 6 or 7 nail stations. However, I have never seen more than three people working anytime I’ve ever been there. When I was looking for somewhere to take my girls to get pedicures and manicures the day before my wedding, I asked if they had more staff that could do all of us at once. They said they did, so I imagine at busier times, they have more people on site. I’ve never had to wait more than 5 minutes to take a seat.

But the real praise should go to the quality of the final product. The benefit of only having a few long-time people on your staff is that you know that they all know what they are doing. I love my nails when I leave there and I’ve never had a snaffoo after leaving. They don’t use any fancy lacquer or UV lights to dry your nails. Instead, they use a top coat that is the best I’ve ever seen. 5 minutes at the fan, and my nails are good to go. The paint lasts for about 2 weeks before it starts to crack or flake, but until then, they look really amazing.

Like I said, I can’t speak to the more advanced and expensive nail services at Le Le’s, but if all you need is a nice manicure, this is the place to go.

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Update – 09.19.08

As mentioned in some of the comments below, Le Le’s Nails is no longer in business as this location.  The salon is under new ownership and it is unclear if Le Le’s relocated or just sold the business. Jacqueline (comment below) called to see if they would honor the gift certificates her husband purchased for Christmas and the new owners would not budge. I have been in the new salon and was not impressed. The dependability I had become accustomed to with Le Le’s went right out the window. My nails started peeling within 3 days. I can do a better job at home!