Fuck the Fish Pedicure
You’ve probably seen fish pedicure videos or promotional signs the last time you were abroad. Kim Kardashian gained notoriety in Greece when she screamed at the camera while tiny fish gnawed at the dead skin off her legs. This idea is familiar to American audiences, but not as common in our daily lives – fish pedicure is actually illegal in a number of states, including Texas, New York, New Jersey and California. It may seem rude but harmless, but before you throw your feet into a small aquarium, there are a few things you should know.
What is a fish pedicure?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC ), a small fish called Garra rufa nibbles on dead skin during treatment. Garra rufa is native to the Middle East and is used there to treat people with skin conditions such as psoriasis.
Pedicures can be legally defined and most beauty and grooming procedures are highly regulated from state to state. According to Law Insider , a pedicure is “the treatment or beautification of the feet and toenails by shaping and polishing them, and by piercing, removing, or exfoliating the skin or tissue from the feet.” The fish only do the last part, which is usually part of other, safer, legal pedicure treatments.
Why is fish pedicure banned in many places?
Here are some of the reasons a state might ban fish pedicures:
- The tubs cannot be sufficiently cleaned between customers when there are fish in them.
- The fish themselves cannot be disinfected or disinfected.
- Due to the high cost of fish, salons may use the same fish multiple times for different clients, increasing the risk of spreading infection.
- The fish in question may not be Garra rufa , even if labeled that way – in fact, it may be Chinchin , which has teeth and can bleed.
- A fish pedicure does not meet the legal definition of a pedicure.
- Some states have regulations requiring saloon fish to be kept in an aquarium.
- To force the fish to eat the skin, they must be starved, which can be considered animal cruelty.
What does a fish pedicure look like?
You might still be wondering what it’s like to get a fish pedicure, which is a fair question, although the lingering memory of Kim Kardashian’s squealing must be the key to the fact that when the fish swim around your feet and gnaw on them, you feel somehow so. d expect it.
One blogger, La Jolla Mom , described her experience as “it tickles, but no more than a regular pedicure.” She said that after 10 minutes of circling 50 or more fish around each leg, her legs “really got a little cleaner.” Keep in mind that your feet also get “a little cleaner” when you get a regular pedicure.
Another writer detailed for Bustle how “the fish attacked” and she “frightened the hell out” and started screaming and crying before pulling her legs out of the tub. She submerged them again, but only lasted 15 minutes of her allotted 20.
It goes without saying, but if you’re worried about a fish pedicure being rough or stressful, it’s probably not a good idea to do it just for thrills or social media content. And with the possibility of infections, animal abuse and bleeding, it seems like a pretty simple trick to avoid.