Must visit London beauty spot: Aqua Sheko

I’m writing this from a tiny village in the South of France, so please bear with my sporadic posting – I’ve covered a lot of ground in the past week! I may have left the city of London far behind me, but am still fizzing about some of the great beauty finds I discovered there last week. My second hot London beauty spot can be found in Kensington, and is Aqua Sheko - London´s first fish therapy concept spa. The idea is to submerge your feet into a warm pool of finned therapists for an exotic exfoliation by the team of tiny mouths. The fish are Garra Rufa, and are found naturally in hot springs near Kangal, a small town in Turkey, where they have reportedly been softening and cleansing the skin of bathers for centuries. It was a pair of brothers who finally brought these helpful little guys to the world´s attention. Having chanced upon a hot spring they dipped their feet into the pool, to find a school of small fish offering a gentle, tingling massage. Word has it that they enjoyed the sensation so much they returned, day after day, until one of the brothers who suffered from skin problems noticed the symptoms disappearing, and the word spread about their unique healing powers. Now we have more definitive science, and it is believed that Garra Rufa fish secrete an enzyme - diathanol - that improves skin regeneration. Our dead skin cells may sound like an unappetizing diet (to put it mildly), but for fish that thrive in hot water up to 43 degrees centigrade - where nothing of much nutritional value can survive - a bather dipping in a toe is a welcome feast. In an unusual reversal of the food chain, the fish spa treatment is mutually beneficial to you and the fish. They feed while you have your skin exfoliated. Their teeny tiny suction-cup mouths are perfectly shaped for gently lifting dry skin away, without damaging the healthy new cells underneath - revealing incredibly soft, supple and smooth skin.
So what exactly happens at Aqua Sheko, then? In preparation for the treatment your feet are carefully washed, before being submerged in the Garra Rufa tank for a good gnawing by your new finned friends. Over the next 30 minutes you’ll feel a light tickling – which I admit took some getting used to - as the fish gently suck and nibble your heels, toes and soles, removing dead skin which is already softened by the warm water. While it has reputed medical benefits for the likes of psoriasis sufferers, I discovered it is also a very effective beauty treatment, and my feet were left the smoothest and softest they have been in years, hands down. Aqua Sheko’s eight state-of-the-art tanks are filtered and fed by a constant oxygen supply to ensure clean water and a healthy environment for the fish, and in addition, they are sterilized using ultra-violet lights to minimize bacteria growth. And lastly, how much will a fish pedi set you back? A Deluxe treatment lasting 45 minutes is £45, and involves
30 minutes of fish pedicure and 15 minutes of feet wash and foot massage. An Express treatment is 25 minutes long and costs just £30, and is a great option for a lunchtime pedicure that won’t leave your feet oily for the rest of the day.
Aqua Sheko can be found at 14 Holland Street, Kensington and of late in super store Selfridges as well.