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Shoujo Sensei: Fish Therapy

June 14, 2012

The summers here in the south are hotter than hades, so everyone tends to walk around in sandals. The only problem then is you have to keep your feet well manicured. That’s why nail salons here in our area stay packed during the summer months. Pedicures are the top choice for pretty feet, and the relaxation just adds to the experience. But shoujo manga recently exposed me to another option.

While reading Kamisama Kiss the other day, I came across another alternative called fish therapy. Instead of having someone viciously scrub all the dead skin off your sweaty feet, you can stick them in a cool pond-like aquarium and play with the fish. Yeah, I know it sounds weird, but stay with me.

In Kamisama Kiss, Nanami goes on an outing with Kayako in Kyoto and one of the things the girls do together is go to fish therapy. The story explains that the fish are actually eating the dead skin off of the girls’ feet.

This struck me as fascinating, and I thought it would be a “greener” alternative to a pedicure. So I decided to research it to see if there were any spas in the area that offered fish therapy. As it turns out, the practice has been outlawed in Texas and thirteen other states because it is deemed “unsanitary”. What?

The practice has been occurring in Asia for over 100 years. The problem here in the United States is that state regulatory boards have had issues with salon owners taking proper care of the tanks and fish so that they are kept sanitary for repeated customer usage. The Center for Disease Control also issued a warning that if proper precautions aren’t taken the fish could spread infections like HIV and Hepatitis. Fish therapy isn’t a new practice at all, but with the craze the beauty industry has built for the practice in the past ten years, the local governments are trying to make sure that people are kept safe from something that is previously unknown.

This made we wonder, should I tell Nanami,”Watch out! You might get HIV!” The scare tactics are staggering. It’s understandable, but also an extreme reaction. There are spas all over Asian countries that have been successfully practicing fish therapy for decades. Not to mention that you can get HIV or Hepatitis from an unsanitary shave or pedicure.

The fish are reputed for having amazing effects on skin illnesses like psoriasis and eczema. They also make dried up, scaly feet look soft and new. I hope that state cosmetology boards will take a second look at the practice. As long as regulations are put in place and must be followed like in other medical and cosmetology procedures, fish therapy would be a fun and enjoyable experience for people looking for an alternative to the typical pedicure.

Guess I’ll have to take a trip out of state if I want to try out this fascinating foot therapy.

Sources: Wikipedia: Doctor Fish, Spavelous: Fish Pedicure Ban, The Sun:Fish Foot Virus Bombshell

Shoujo Sensei: Fish Therapy

June 14, 2012

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