The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

Mohamed El Sagheer is like the godfather of
beauty salons in Cairo. One of the forerunners of beautifying in the city, the
number of branches spread out all over is starting to become difficult to keep
track of. The latest one to draw us in is located a little out of town, in the
lovely but gated community that is Katameya Heights.

Part of a block that has a few other
commercial outlets, you go up a flight of stairs to where the salon awaits. The
first impression this branch in particular gives is that it is different. The
usual darkened interior, with dark wood and heavy tones, is replaced with
whiteness, sleekness and pop art. Straight-lined and very modern, the space is
decorated with images of old Hollywood stars printed in vibrant colours. 

Looking to get a good old fashioned
manicure and pedicure, we made our way into a room in the back where these
services are provided. The room inside was equally white and drenched in
daylight from the sizable window to one side of the space. Boxes of nail polish
provide you with indecisiveness and confusion – the variety of colours will
boggle your eyes. They don’t have distinct brands, but rather a mishmash of
random ones.

After the much needed guidance of our
manicurist, a colour was selected and we sat down to begin the pampering.
Mohamed El Sagheer is no newbie as already mentioned, so naturally their
equipment and facilities are up to par. We began with the customary
feet-and-hands-in-water routine; the former were scrubbed (quite roughly) and
tended to meticulously. While we found the beautician to be a little
heavy-handed, the quality of her work easily made up for its heftiness.

Moving onto the manicure, she was attentive
to the shape of nail, making sure to get them just as desired. She suggested
that a full-blown manicure wasn’t really needed, and instead concentrated on
minimal cuticle removal – her lack of eagerness to unnecessarily chop away at
skin was both appreciated and duly noted.

After skilfully applying the nail polish,
avoiding left over bubbles or haphazard layering, we moved on to have our
eyebrows reshaped. Most technicians in Cairo will eat away at your eyebrows no
matter how many times it is stressed not to do so; there is always a slight
risk when moving into the chair where you are at their mercy. However, we were
delighted to come out of this experience with eyebrows that were not massacred,
rather shaped while maintaining the correct thickness.

Mohamed El Sagheer in Katameya is a
different experience than most other branches; the stark interior and overall
emptiness is quite the opposite from its Zamalek counterpart for example, and
it is possibly for this reason that we preferred it. Quiet, clean and
efficient, we will be going back again.