What Women Want Expo: What do they want?

From tattoos to fashion shows, expo offers many different things for women

Mary Holguin said she felt a little like royalty over the weekend.

She was given flowers, allowed to sample expensive perfume and had her hair and make up done by stylists.

"It makes you feel good, even if it's just for a few hours," Holguin of Ivanhoe said.

Holguin was just one of an estimated 8,000 women who attended the 2-day What Women Want Expo at the Visalia Convention Center for a chance at a few hours of pampering.

The expo, which catered to women, offered them a variety of activities from shopping for things like cars, houses or self-cleaning windows to getting mini-makeovers to taking in fashion shows or even getting tattoos

While some, including Holguin, chose a new hairstyle at the expo, Jill Forster of Visalia and Maria Gonzalez of Farmersville decided that what they wanted as women was body art.

"I always wanted [a tattoo], I just didn't know where I would want it," Forster said.

After deciding on a Chinese character that means strength or power, Forster picked the spot -- on the inside of her arm near her wrist.

As she sat in the chair getting tattooed by artists at Leopard Ink's exhibit, she attracted a crowd of onlookers and even inspired Gonzalez to get the same tattoo.

"I've been wanting to do this for a long time, and I'm going to turn 44 next month, it's time," she said.

But tattoos weren't on the minds of Mardell Rhodes and her friends who drove from Hanford to Visalia to see if the expo would live up to its name.

"I wanted to find out what they think we want to know," she said.

Rhodes stumbled upon self-tanning products, cosmetic dentistry, beauty products and fashion shows. She liked what she saw, especially when it came to tanning and dentistry prospects.