Relationships are skin deep these days

Facialists (beauticians who do  facials) are like 21st century boyfriends. I had this epiphany when I was lying flat on my back, both eyes blinded by two wet cotton pads, listening to the soothing sound of ocean waves while being tended to by a facialist whose name I had absolutely no idea of. There have been too many new facialists over the past year and frankly, I’ve lost count.

There’s one thing which I look forward to everytime when I’m home is a visit to my facial spa; that one sacred place where I get to relax for three uninterrupted hours. But as I laid there yesterday, I realised that I don’t even know the name or face of this new girl who attended to me and felt bad instantly. After all, it’s only fair that one should know the name of the person who almost always manage to make you feel good.

Anyway, I got into thinking; facialists are like boyfriends. They come and they go. Some are good, but mostly bad. For instance, I had one who was so critical of my face. Sure, I am big enough to admit that I don’t have a good complexion, but honey, there’s no need to spell out every single flaw I have. If we all have great skin, you won’t be there in the first place.

Then, there was one who needed reassurance all the time. Is the pressure all right? Am I hurting you? Does this feel OK? OMG! Enough with the questions already! If you stick around long enough, you’ll know what I like. Geez! But still, these ones are not as bad as those who like to inflict pain on you. Oh yeah, I’m talking about those who extract your acne with a bit too much vigour. Damn it! It’s my face, honey. Not a gold mine. The harder you dig, it ain’t gold that is going to pop out.

There’s also the type who is over-zealous when it comes to talking and doesn’t know when she has crossed over the boundary of my own space. What about the ones who are so limp when doing the lymphatic massage that you “don’t feel anything?” Yeah, you know that type of boyfriends I’m referring to.

Anyway, as I said before, not all boyfriends are bad. I miss my first facialist, Ms. Kwan who attended to me for a period of time. She was very attentive and very generous. She would attend to other problem area beyond my face on her own initiative. And Nicky, loved her. She knew exactly what I like without crossing any border. Sadly, they both left. The good ones always seem to leave.

So, it seems that relationships are more or less the same these days. It wasn’t too long ago when most people have longer relationships. Now, they just come and go like my facialists and the more experiences we have, the more we tend to compare them. Unless they get better and better, we often end up reminiscing about the good ones who are probably giving another lucky woman a lot of happiness right now.

Well, on the bright side, at least we’ll have young and beautiful skin at the end of all these facial sessions.

p/s: This applies to men too but since I’m a woman, I’m writing from a woman’s perspective.

p/p/s: In case anyone wonders, the metaphorical examples do not represent my own personal life. :)