When I moved to Dubai, I strove to find a decent beauty salon at a reasonable price. However, it wasn’t easy. I did tons of research on forums and social media, and ended up getting a good hairdresser to do my roots every six weeks, but that was all. Even though I have always been willing to try new treatments and services, it was physically exhausting to find something suitable for me. Besides, it involved some complicated maneuvering the time slots on the phone, trying to focus on the daily planner to make sure that very slot was good for me. It looked like my miseries came to an end when I discovered Vaniday. The application seemed user-friendly even for a picky customer like me and I decided to give it a try. I booked a hair botox procedure (not to be confused with the regular botox for the face) and now I have to share my findings and some background story with you.

Hair troubles (or how I tried to tame the dreadful frizz)

My hair had always been slightly wavy and voluminous, but it generally looked gorgeous and all I had to do was to leave it to air dry after washing, and it would naturally turn out nice and neat. However, when I moved to Dubai, everything changed. Suddenly my perfect hair turned into something between a lion’s mane and a dandelion’s puff, giving me lots of headache of how to manage it. Frizz taming products bought in a supermarket brought nothing but more grease and frizz onto my hair, and having it blow dry every day was definitely not an option (really, who has time for that!). I even had a consultation with a hair specialist who checked my hair a fancy machine, which identified my hair as extremely dry, thus the frizz in the humidity. After some more research I discovered that frizz is a major problem for women in Dubai, as extreme humidity we have here is, basically, water in the air in vapor form. When we walk outside, the water vapor in the air is attracted to dryness. Hair will naturally absorb and give off water throughout the day, which breaks the molecule bonds in our hair causing the terrible horrible frizz.
I did more research (yes, I am thorough like that) and found out that most women in Dubai have had keratin treatment to give the hair silky smooth feel. Unfortunately, that was not an option for me, since keratin treatment is not recommended for people with sensitive skin and scalp and actually might also do harm to the hair (split ends and lots of damage). 
Then I read about hair botox and how it’s supposed to smooth the hair without damaging it and decided to give it a try. Using Vaniday app, of course.

So what is Vaniday?

The concept for Vaniday is quite simple. Although, it is one of the largest and most profitable industries in the world, the beauty & wellness sector is one of the few industries that has not yet fully trandformed from offline to online. Vaniday strives to fill up the gap in the market, making it extremely easy to book a beauty service online. Indeed, while everyone has now transitioned to booking such complicated things like plane tickets and hotels online, why waste time looking for a customized beauty service when all that can be accessible from your phone?
The main pillar of the Vaniday philosophy is that looking and feeling your best should be accessible to every person, at any given moment, wherever they are in the world. With Vaniday, customers are supposed to be able to discover new services and professionals, book appointments and get inspired. Salons can show their work and promote their services, while connecting with new and existing clients, and grow their business.
Vaniday is already huge in countries like Brasil, Russia, Italy, Singapore, Australia, and now it is here in UAE.

What makes Vaniday Dubai unique as a service?

I (just like most of Dubai residents) tend to travel a lot. Vaniday makes it easy to find a beauty service even when you are abroad. The difference between Vaniday and something like, Groupon, for instance, is that Vaniday has a large number of high-end, well-established venues on the site that feature exclusive offers to their users. You can quickly search by location, by service or by special offers. Vaniday are available online via the website, as well as both an Android and an iPhone app, and the booking is quite easy to make, using filters or just browsing the categories. Also, Vaniday Dubai is available 24/7, 365 days of the year, so you can even make a spa booking at midnight, when you feel like you might need one the next day.
Given the hectic lifestyle in the UAE, many people needed a service that could save them time when they want to book a salon or spa visit.

The pros:  You can book every kind of service, from your weekly mani-pedi to your hair highlights in one of numerous salons listed with Vaniday Dubai. You can compare the prices among the different places, pay by Credit Card in order not to get an exorbitant bill at the end of the service. You can get nice offers and discount, otherwise not attainable.

The Process

In order to get an appointment, all I had to do was register with the app, find something that was conveniently located and well-priced, and choose date and time. The app saves the appointment for you and you can see and modify it any time. Quite convenient and easy.

The cons: there was no notification when the day has come, and I had to manually go to the app to check whether I had anything planned for that day. A little reminder would be nice. When I got to the salon, I had to show the booking on my phone, the staff seemed to not really know how to handle it, since I assume, it is still a novelty, but nonetheless, they were friendly and welcoming.

Also it would be nice to have more reviews of the salons, to make it easier to choose. I have left the review for my procedure, will not go into details here (it’s not a beauty blog!), just will note that my hair now seems much smoother and more manageable than it was a few days ago, and even the rainy weather doesn’t seem to ruin it. Looks like hair botox I chose was rather good idea for my frizzy hair. The hairdresser told me I would have to repeat the procedure three more time to keep the effect longer, but let’s see whether this one will last at least a few more weeks.

UncoverDubai verdict

Anyone with a busy lifestyle who loves indulging in hair, beauty and spa treatments should definitely get the app. In fact, the service in not for women only, as there is a whole range of treatments and services for the guys as well. If you want to book salon and spa visits quickly and conveniently, choosing the right date without any hassle and worrying about where to go or what appointment is available, then Vaniday Dubai is definitely for you. Well, I am using it again.

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