Beautiful?

In Vietnam beauty most often is also an indication of your status therefore long fingernails and white skin are very popular amongst richer women, these mean you do not spend your time working in the fields. All of the creams here have whitening formula in them like those used in Elizabethan England, however thankfully these don't have the active ingredient mercury which destroys the skin! These chemicals interfere with enzymatic processes meaning that the body cannot properly produce melanin which makes your skin get darker, therefore a whitening effect is achieved.

Feel free to tell me if I'm wrong here since I didn't really understand the information I was finding on this topic! (treehugger)

I also got a free arm massage which was EXTREMELY painful! (taken by my mother)

(taken by me)

(taken by me)

(taken by me)

Vietnam is a great place to spoil yourself with beauty treatments since for us everything seems so cheap, typically I can get a pedicure for between 1-3 pounds sometimes less. Many people choose to experiment with western hairstyles and it's really strange to see an Asian Justin Bieber look-a-like walking along the street. As well as the Western salons there are also street side places where the mirror is affixed to the wall precariously and the scissors are a little less than sharp, I personally do not trust these people with my hair but I've heard for men it's fine.

(taken by my sister)

 My patriotic nail design!

My friend Natalia got her hair chemically straightened, a lengthy treatment which in the States typically costs more than 200 dollars to have it professionally done. Here it was 50, and she looks so different! This weekend I'm trying out highlights which could turn out disastrous but if no one sees a picture of me for the next year at least you'll know why!

(taken by my mother) They are very subtle but the whole process of having my hair in foil like that which you roast a turkey with was quite entertaining!