Beauty Parlors in Gurgaon

So, as you may have noticed, I’ve been out of circulation for a while now. My friend Divya, who has been a Gurgaon resident for many years and has moved away just last month was nice enough to guest write a review of some of the beauty parlors in Gurgaon for this blog (thanks a tonne, Divya!) Here’s what she has to say.

A beauty parlour is an essential for most women (will all male readers please excuse this observation!) and finding the right one can be on one’s wish-list for a while. As for me, I ‘almost’ found one many times but something or the other put me off it. I have recently started going to External Affaires in the Main Sector 14 market. It came highly recommended by a good friend who loves a good eyebrow. As a lot of women will agree, the criteria for a good parlour is how well they can sculpt your brow and take you from Ugly Betty to…well…whoever you want to be! My hunt for the perfect parlour followed the same rule so though there have been other reasons why I might have changed parlours, the brow would be the key!

For those trying to find a parlour with the right combination of services, price and time taken, I have tried to put together a quick list of the ones I have frequented in Gurgaon

The first one is Fairy, located in the main Sector 14 market. They have all the standard services and also offer a range of hair treatments including a hair spa, coloring, and dying. In fact, if you have special requirements, they even call specialists for the job. This was my first parlor in Gurgaon and has been around for 20 odd years. The owner is a really nice lady who has the most amazing management skills. Some other points about this place:

• All their services are well delivered
• I would rate the quality of their services as good
• They’re optimally priced
• The place is extremely crowded with waiting times anywhere from 10 minutes to 1 hour. So it’s a good idea to go with a prior appointment
• It’s very noisy, so you can forget about trying to relax during a massage or a facial
• Only the owner does haircuts, which means you have to wait a lot for a haircut

The second parlor on the list is Occasions, located in Southcity 2, B block market. They offer all the standard parlor services. I moved to this parlor when Fairy in Sector 14 became too far to go. It’s small and personalized and they do a good job with the standard services. Also, it’s optimally priced. Some problems with the place:

• It’s really small so it can get uncomfortable if you’re there for a longish time
• It’s noisy so the relaxation factor is nil
• Their haircuts are not great
• They burnt my leg when waxing so you have to keep an eye out for the wax temperature
• Their massages leave a lot to be desired

So, all in all this is a decent place for some of the small and regular stuff you need to get done, but not so much for a full once over!

The next parlor on my list is Beauty Lounge in DLF Phase 3, next to the restaurant Italianos. This is a unisex place with separate areas for men and women. This one came highly recommended by friend so I went there despite the distance from my place. Though they have a decent range of services and a nice comfy setup, I’m terribly disappointed with this place because of their staff. One of their male staff really crossed the line by first trying to have an inappropriate conversation with me and hinting at “extra” services he could offer and then actually feeling me up while giving me a pedicure.

Obviously, I will go out of my way to dissuade people from taking themselves and their business to Beauty Lounge.

Finally, there’s Tangles, which is in the Malibu Shopping Plaza in Malibu Towne, Sohna Road. They offer all standard services as well as a hair spa with repair and treatment. This is a really nice place which offers very good hair services, especially haircuts. The ambience is also very comfortable. However, it is overpriced. I paid Rs. 280 to get my 6 year old daughter’s hair trimmed!

So that’s the list. Thanks again for the review Divya!

My personal favourite place to go has always been Finesse in DT Mega Mall close to the Bristol roundabout. I’ve been going there for almost 4 years now and haven’t been disappointed. It’s quite comfortable and relaxing though a little overpriced. I go there anyway though because they’re really clean and their staff is very friendly, courteous, and for the most part, quite competent. The biggest reason I go out of my way to go there is because there’s a lady there who does my eyebrows really well! (Have to agree with Divya on this one!).

Another place that I haven’t visited too many times, but really liked is Bella Madonna in the Galleria building, attached to the Galleria market in DLF Phase IV. The place is super swanky, very clean, and very comfortable. They actually sat me down on a massage chair while shampooing my hair…how’s that for pampering! Obviously, this comes at a price…the place is quite expensive. Though I’ve only gone there for haircuts, I did look at their card and they seemed to have a wide range of services. By the way, there’s a guy called Satyaveer who does really good haircuts. So ask for him if you go there!

As always, I would love to hear your comments, experiences, and feedback.