to the manicurists table. I felt a little nervous about the procedure (because I've never had a professional manicure before and not in a beauty shop) but then so was the young student. She shyly blurted, "I've never done a man's nails before."

After some pause looking over the instruments she had she asked, “Do you wish to have your nails cut or filed down?" I replied (after a little hesitation) "I would like them filed, if you don't mind and I want them rounded rather than a flat curve and to leave them as long as possible (for ulterior reasons). She replied she would have to get a metal nail file and with that she departed to the rear of the shop to get one. I began to realize that she was more nervous than I was about the whole affair. I thought to myself, I am going to enjoy this session, and with that thought in mind I began to relax.

She returned and proceeded with filing my nails, carefully holding each finger and filing the nail very gently. (It must be remembered that this girl was a beginning student). This took upwards of 20 minutes and during this time we chatted about the shop and the girls working there. So I asked, "Do other men come in for manicures?" She said I was the first man she had seen in the shop for a manicure. I found out from her that I was a curiosity and the beauty shop students had been talking about a man coming in since last Friday when I made the appointment. But, she hastened to say, I don't really mind having a man in here now and then to change the scenery, and I do hope you will come back on a regular basis so that we can take care of those nails and cuticles.

Now I began to realize why all the students were looking me over while I was waiting and why each one of them seemed to manage to maneuver herself by our table during the time I was there for unexplained reasons. I decided to accept all this attention and I even relished it as the time progressed.

One nice feature about manicures as taught in a beauty school is that the manicurist massages the hands with the hand lotion which she uses to remove dead tissue from around the cuticles. Just before this step, the manicurist has placed the fingers of one hand in a cup of warmed hand lotion. She then takes the hand out of the cup, does your cuticles, removes the dead tissue and cleanses the nails. After she is finished with this, she massages first the fingers, then the palm, and finally the whole hand with some of the very fragrant lotion. Believe me, that massage is worth the trip to the manicurist all by itself.

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