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October 7, 2010
Cure the blues with orange treatments
In Austin, there’s no doubt: The Longhorns rule, even if the season is disappointing so far.
So if you need a quick respite from the football season (or perhaps after this weekend’s Austin City Limits Music Festival), Lakeway Resort and Spa on Lake Travis (101 Lakeway Drive. 261-7350, www.dolce-lakeway-hotel.com) has two Longhorns-inspired spa treatments available: the Orange Bliss Sugar Meringue Scrub ($90) to detox the skin and keep moisture looked in as well as the Orange Bliss Massage ($144) lift your spirits for what might be a wobbly season.
You can get a combo for $189 for the treatments available through Nov. 30.
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August 25, 2010
New spa pampers moms-to-be with massages, ultrasounds
When you are pregnant, some days all you really want is a good back rub.
Well, at Blooming Pregnancy Spa and Imaging Center in Southwest Austin you can get that, and so much more.
The new spa (5601 Brodie Lane, Suite 640. 892-0808, bloomingpregnancyspa.com) offers therapeutic massage, manicures, pedicures, skin treatments, waxing and 3D/4D ultrasounds by certified technicians (you must be under a doctor’s care and have their permission).
The spa’s grand opening is 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday and features prenatal yoga instruction, an ice cream and pickle social, tips on newborn photography and child safety seat information.
“After working with pregnant women for years as a massage therapist, I realized that it can be really hard to find a good therapist. Some don’t use firm enough touch because they are scared to work on pregnant women. Others ask women to wait until their second trimester. I wanted to give women a place to go,” says owner Patti Justice.
Even if you aren’t expecting, the spa does various group packages and sells gift certificates for services that make great shower gifts.
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July 22, 2010
Downtown day spa has services for kids, adults
With streetview construction complete at Gables 5th Street Commons, you finally can see all the West Fifth Street building’s new eateries and shops, including a recently opened day spa that joins the city’s growing beauty district of salons and spas.
It’s called By Cindy Day Spa (1611 W. Fifth St. 474-2168, www.bycindydayspa.com).
The spa, which has a menu of options for men and women, offers massage, waxing, brow and eyelash tinting, nail services and other treatments. Treatments include a one-hour basic facial ($75), an express pedicure ($26), express manicure ($15), eyebrow waxing ($12) and a 60-minute massage ($75). Also available are spa packages as well as services for children: manicures and pedicures ($30 and $35) and nail polish changes ($20).
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June 24, 2010
A sweet as pie spa treatment
Give your skin its just desserts with the Bayside Signature Sugar Honey Pecan Scrub at Horseshoe Bay.
Created by spa director Tracy Harper, the homemade mixture includes delicious ingredients such as brown sugar, crushed pecans, almond oil, honey and lavender.
The 25-minute treatment, which exfoliates, moisturizes, nourishes and helps fight fine lines and wrinkles, is followed by a full-body application of hydrating body butter.
The scrub can be booked as a standalone treatment for $70 or added as an enhancement to the luxurious menu of massage therapy treatments.
Horseshoe Bay Marriott Resort (200 Hi Circle North. Horseshoe Bay, 830-598-8600, hsbresort.com).
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June 2, 2010
Treatments leave hands, feet ready for the season
When I arrived at the Spa at the Four Seasons Austin, I’d just spent four days wearing out my feet in New Orleans and was about to turn around and head for New York. I desperately needed my feet to be both relaxed and pretty.
The answer was the Summer Peach Hand and Foot Paraffin Soak followed by a Raw Earth Pedicure.
The Spa at the Four Seasons has a new spa director, Marty Kate Piotrowski, and I took a moment to chat with her. Piotrowski comes to Austin from Four Seasons Santa Barbara by way of Four Seasons Whistler, British Columbia, where she helped make celebrity guests at home during the Olympics. She said she’s eager to jump into Austin’s diverse clientele — some locals, some celebrities, some business folks.
“All of my experience is working in resorts,” she says, “so I’m going to focus on the resort side of things, making the spa more of a retreat.”
I retreated to the spa, where therapist Amber Jett went to work on my hands and feet. As I lay on the comfortable massage table, Jett dipped my hands, one at a time, into peach-scented wax that was startlingly hot at first, but the sensation lasted only a moment. This treatment hydrates the skin, and mine can always use it.
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May 7, 2010
Zen Blend's dreamy rock massage melts tension
I am not a serene person.
Anyone who knows me knows that. But there’s something about a hot stone massage that puts me in the calmest place I know. The heat of the wet stones relaxes a crammed-too-full mind as it soothes tired muscles.
So during a really hectic spring moment, I chose the 100-minute Buddha’s Dream package at Zen Blend, a small spa inside a home in far South Austin. The treatment included not only a long, relaxing massage, but also work with hot stones and a foot massage. A dream, indeed.
Lying atop a warm bio mat, I was asked to choose an aromatic essential oil for the treatment. I picked peppermint, although lavender, lemongrass and eucalyptus were also available. Therapist Kristi Ludlam heaped heat packs on my back, then started her Peppermint Bliss Foot Massage. The combination of the heat on my back and the cool peppermint on my feet was divine. And who doesn’t love a good, firm foot massage?
Next, Ludlam worked on my right leg with hot stones. The smooth stones glided over my leg, infusing them with warmth — the stones, warmed in water, were hot, but a comfortable level of hot. As they cooled, she replaced them with warmer ones. Then she worked my legs with her hands, then with more stones, then, again, with hands. The combination was perfect: The smooth stones imparted warmth and comfort, with Ludlam’s massage banishing tension. She used this back-and-forth technique throughout the massage, while I listened to calming pipe music (and, on a couple of occasions, the barking of a distant dog - we were, after all, in a neighborhood).
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March 31, 2010
Relax in deals for Spa Week
Sometimes you just have to take a much-deserved break.
Give yourself some you time during Spa Week, which starts Monday, April 12.
You’ll find $50 treatments including facials, pedicures, massages and chemical peels. Participating are Avant Salon & Spa (9901 Capital of Texas Highway (Loop 360). 502-8268, www.avantsalon.com), Facelogic Spa (14005 N. U.S. 183. 918-3223, www.facelogicspa.com/austinnorthwest), Spa at the Lake (900 RM 620 S. 263-7611, www.spaatthelake.com), the Woodhouse Day Spa (3600 N. Capital of Texas Highway (Loop 360). 306-1100, www.austin.woodhousespas.com), Viva Day Spa (1811 W. 35th St. 300-2256, 215 S. Lamar Blvd. 472-2256, www.vivaaustindayspa.com).
At www.spaweek.com, enter a drawing for one of five $100 gift cards and a $1,000 Spa Week gift card. For more on local spas and salons, visit austin360.com/spas.
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March 24, 2010
One-woman spa in South Austin offers intimate, customized treatments
We Austinites love our spas. We have a lot from which to choose, including large spas with dozens of massage therapists and busy hives of treatment and relaxation rooms. But the city’s smaller day spas offer an entirely different experience. I wanted to try one of these, so I booked a facial at Orange Blossom Skin Care in South Austin. It’s a one-woman operation, the one woman being aesthetician-massage therapist Elizabeth Hoeber Greenberg, an Austin native.
My appointment wound up falling on one of those miserable, raining-cats-and-dogs days, and I was glad I didn’t have to drive far. I had trouble finding Orange Blossom on Manchaca Road, though, and had to call Greenberg, who directed me into the office complex that houses her day spa. A spa in an office complex? Odd, I thought.
Then I stepped into Greenberg’s day spa. With its hardwood floors, antique furnishings and a faux-Tiffany chandelier hanging over the treatment table, it’s a cozy cocoon.
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March 17, 2010
Downtown fit spot now offers flex and facial
A longtime love of Austin’s physically fit population, Castle Hill Fitness (1112 N. Lamar Blvd. 478-4567) recently launched a menu of day-spa treatments, including a variety of facials and waxing options, for members and nonmembers.
Spa services range from a 30-minute express facial and the 90-minute custom cleansing to a list of waxing options that cover your needs from bikini line to brow.
An added bonus is the featured eco-friendly line, Osmosis Medical Skincare. If the eco-certified line weren’t reason enough to book an appointment, product names like Replenish, Shelter, Enlighten and Correct instantly encourage healthy rejuvenation.
Service prices range from $45-$150.
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March 3, 2010
Take a peek at The Crossings retreat, reinvented
Even a wellness retreat could use a rejuvenating break from time to time.
After a healthful hiatus, The Crossings (13500 RM 2769. 258-7243) has reopened its doors to reveal a property-wide makeover.
This picturesque green resort and wellness center has experienced refreshing upgrades such as freshly painted rooms, new linens and bathroom amenities, an overhaul of the restaurant, refinished flooring in the Welcome Center, as well as new landscaping throughout the property.
A revitalized menu of self-renewal courses has been added to the event calendar, and a fitness room is scheduled to be completed in May.
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February 24, 2010
Invest in the future of your skin with new treatments
In the market for a wise investment with instant gratification?
You can invest in your skin portfolio at Lake Austin Spa Resort (1705 S. Quinlan Park Road. 372-7300), where 15 new results-driven spa treatments have recently been added to the menu of services.
Rejuvenating treatments such as the Advanced AHA (alpha hydroxy acids) Anti-Aging Body Treatment, which delivers multilayer skin renewal for dry, sun-damaged or devitalized skin and works to restore essential vitamins to the skin, reducing signs of aging.
From corrective facials to antioxidant peels, you’re just a spa day away from seeing your personal stock skyrocket.
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February 17, 2010
Rocked by South by Southwest? Roll out to the Watermark
We Austinites love our live music, and this is the month when we celebrate it most as South by Southwest comes to town.
As William Congreve famously said, ‘Music has charms to soothe a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.’ But a lot of standing and arm-waving at music venues is anything but soothing to the savage muscles. When I feel like I have rocks in my rolls, I have to get away and get a massage.
Where to go? Away from all the madness, to San Antonio — really, it’s just a bit more than an hour away — to Watermark Spa, one of the few in Texas to have earned the Forbes (formerly Mobil) four-star rating in 2009. The spa is at the Watermark Hotel, right on the River Walk.
I’m getting the spa’s signature Restoration Treatment, a massage that aims to soothe aching muscles. Its key element is arnica, a flower used centuries ago by Native Americans and by Europeans to reduce inflammation and heal wounds. It has a faintly sweet scent with a slightly spicy-minty undertone, but it doesn’t have a really big aroma. That’s good news for my husband, who hates when I come home smelling like I should be surrounded by bees.
The other key factor in this treatment is hot towels, applied to each area after it is massaged to further relieve achy muscles.
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February 10, 2010
Love your skin
Dr. Ted Lain is offering special Valentine’s Day packages for those looking to add a little extra to their look.
The Love Your Face package (valued at $900) offers one area of Botox, one area of Juvederm and one treatment of microdermabrasion for $695.
Another special Dr. Lain is offering is a free Juvederm with booking of a LuxLift treatment. The Luxlift treatment involves the use of three separate lasers, each targeting one of the three layers of skin: the LuxG laser (for the top layer of skin to minimize brown spots and broken capillaries and evens out skin tone), the Lux1540 laser (for the skin’s second layer which decreases fine lines, wrinkles and acne scars) and the DeepIR laser for the deepest layer to tighten and lift the skin - perfect for cheek sagging, jowls and the neck “waddle.”
Specials must be booked with a deposit during the month of February.
If you want clear skin without the cost, Dr. Lain also offers some DIY tips at home:
Tips for acne
Wash with salicylic acid or benzoyl peroxide cleanser.
You can use daily or weekly “peel pads” which have higher concentration of the acids to help with exfoliation.
Do not pick at acne, as this can cause scarring and more infection.
Consider a sulfur-based mask or OTC cream since these have good antibacterial effects.
If skin is not too irritated from the cleanser or pads, try nighttime products with Retinol.
To reduce brown spots
Sunscreen and a hat are mandatory since any sunlight hitting the brown spots will make them darker.
Apply products with Retinol and Vitamin C, as these will work together to lighten the spots and help with wrinkles.
The best brightening agents will have Hydroquinone (2 percent is available over the counter). Apply this cream to the brown spot twice daily.
For more information or to book an appointment, call Steiner Ranch Dermatology at 623-7067 or visit www.steinerranchdermatology.com.
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February 9, 2010
Treat your sweetie (and maybe yourself, too) to a day at the spa
Valentine’s Day is slowly approaching. It’s a day we either love … or love to hate.
For those of you looking for the perfect gift for yourself (or your beau), Spa Reveil, located in the Domain, is offering two Valentine’s Day specials.
The Valentine’s Bliss package ($195) offers a full-body Swedish massage, Pure Results facial, spa pedicure and tea service.
For those looking for a retreat together, the Couples Escape ($190/person) includes a couples hydrotub, Swedish massage, Pure Results facial and tea service.
These specials are available through Feb. 28.
Spa Reveil is truly an escape from everyday stresses. Nestled on the second floor, the spa is serene and tranquil. I rushed over after work to give it a try. I’ve driven by numerous times on my way to shop or eat and always wondered how relaxing it would be in such a busy area. I was pleasantly surprised.
I walked up the stairs and entered through the glass doors. Aromatherapy filled my nose as I was greeted by their friendly staff. I was taken to the women’s locker room, where I received my own locker, slippers and robe. Then I was offered tea as I relaxed and waited for my massage therapist, Melissa Mizner.
She greeted me and took me back for my little escape from a busy Monday. I was given the option of which oils she would use — lavender for relaxation, Arnica as an anti-inflammatory, or lemongrass as a detoxifier. Lemongrass it was. Then I laid down on a heated table that made me feel like I was melting.
Mizner started with a foot massage and worked her way to my scalp and face. She did not miss a muscle — everything from my pinky toe to my collarbone. I’ve had many massages before, but Mizner was much more in tune with my body and was able to really work out every stress knot that had built up. Her gentle-yet-firm pressure was calming as I drifted away.
I could tell she really enjoyed her work by the way she took her time to on each muscle. She ended by wrapping my feet in warm towels, which slowly brought me back to reality. I felt like jelly as I walked to the locker room and took my time getting back into my jeans and T-shirt. I thought twice about stepping into the steam room, but I had too much to do — back to everyday stresses!
Spa Reveil was immaculate, relaxing and very impressive — a treatment there would be a great gift for anyone looking to unwind. They also offer exotic Moroccan baths, hydrotherapy, PCA facials, waxing and more. For a full list of their offerings, visit www.spareveil.com or call 339-7000.
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January 20, 2010
How owner Jennifer Andrews turned spa and gym into an urban oasis
Jennifer Andrews can get a massage anytime she wants. But there’s a downside to being the maven behind Mecca Gym & Spa: She can’t ever say that she doesn’t have time to go to the gym. After all, she’s at the “office” every day.
Andrews came to fitness through a retail background, which trained her in the notion that service and creating something magical for others was a gift to the common good. That said, when she came to Austin and couldn’t find a gym that was the sort she wanted to join, she opened one herself. Later came what she calls “the dangling carrot” - the spa. “It’s the perfect pairing: Go work out; treat yourself to a massage.”
OK, Jennifer — we will.
Glossy: Is the spa dessert for the workout crowd?
Jennifer Andrews: Here’s the thing: I know my client. I am my client. I am not training for the Ironman; I work out because I have to in order to feel good and be healthy. Luxuriating afterward is the ultimate experience - icing on the cake.
Mecca has been described as an urban retreat. How did you achieve this?
We’ve been here for 10 years now, and still when people get off the elevator, we hear them give a sort of sigh of relief. Here we are amid so much downtown chaos, and yet we’ve created more than a gym: It’s an escape — albeit for a moment — from the harried pace of the world. We’ve made a pretty place and cultivated a community of clients. Our personal service combined with the atmosphere encourages people to hang out.
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January 6, 2010
Couples massage offers a romantic way to relax together
My husband, John, is going to get a couples massage with me, and he’s kicking and screaming all the way to Lakeway.
“It’s going to be romantic,” I growl, “and good for your back. Taking you for a massage is not a hostile act.”
He counters: “I don’t like people fussing over me.” He’s had massages before, long ago, but he considers it the sort of self-indulgent thing that a real man doesn’t do. I inform him he has no vote; he is my Valentine and I’m giving him a spa treatment.
We arrive at Lakeway Resort, and as we walk down the steps to the spa entrance with Lake Travis sparkling beside us, I can tell that John’s feathers are less ruffled. Water has that soothing effect on both of us.
We sign in, get into our fluffy robes in our respective locker rooms and meet up when our respective massage therapists take us to our treatment room, which overlooks the lake. It’s great that the room has a view, even though it’s impossible to see when you’re face-down on a massage table. You know the water’s there; it somehow helps. (In the summer, you can get this massage in a poolside cabana.)
We are each getting a Swedish massage, he from LuAnne Rochester and I from Nathan Davila. They’ve each asked about our problem areas. John has targeted his decades-old back problem; I have whined about my knotty neck and shoulders.
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December 10, 2009
A golden reflection
Experience the joys of health, wealth and happiness with a 24-Karat Gold Facial from Spa Reveil.
This lavish treatment is a tribute to the healing properties of gold, which is said to prevent signs of premature aging, regenerate healthy cells and bring a renewed radiance to the skin.
The pampered spa patron will enjoy a full 80 minutes of luxury, which includes a 60-minute 24-Karat gold cleansing and extraction treatment, followed by a goji raspberry green tea service in the Sanctuary Lounge.
$150, Spa Reveil at the Domain, 11410 Century Oaks Terrace, Suite 140. 339-7000.
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November 27, 2009
Holiday scent lingers around this spa treatment
Holidays are hard on feet. We’re always on the move — meandering through miles of malls, standing for hours at holiday parties, mashing the gas pedal to loved ones’ homes.
The Peppermint Deluxe Luxury Foot Renewal treatment at Barton Creek Spa sounded like the perfect way to soothe my aching feet. The moment therapist Kimberley Rhoden placed my poor, unfortunate soles into a basin of warm water sudsed up with water cranberry shower gel and peppermint oil, I knew I’d made the right call.
A light peppermint scent wafted up. Something about it was trying to call up a childhood memory, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.
The peppermint pampering continued with a peppermint, lavender and sea salt scrub, exfoliating what I can only describe as hooves.
My soothed feet were then painted with a lactic acid peel containing pomegranate extract. After three minutes, Rhoden swathed my feet in deliciously hot towels, then used them to remove the mask. My feet felt downright silky.
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November 6, 2009
Viva Day Spa special caters to cluttered and cloudy heads
I had a head full of mold.
I’m typically not a headachy person, but the longer I live in Austin, the more the unrelenting mold seems to interfere with my brain. (If Austin is indeed weird, I’m certain this is why.) Sometimes, my sinuses get so inflamed that my whole head throbs. This was one of those days.
So I booked the Head Trip spa package at Viva Day Spa. Viva co-owner Shannon Mouser invented this package specifically to deal with her migraines. It’s an intensive massage of the head, neck and shoulders, and it works on pretty much any kind of ache in those areas. Therapist Diane Pellegrini started by massaging my face, with no lotion or oil — just with her cool, smooth hands. She worked her way over my eyebrows, forehead and sinuses, focusing on pressure points in the sinuses. It was a relaxing way to get into the treatment and helped me immediately breathe a little more easily.
Then, using a mint-scented oil, she went to work on my head and neck. She kneaded, rubbed and at one point scrubbed in a hair-washing motion, reaching every inch of my head, from the bulges at the back of my head next to my neck, where most of my headaches tend to settle in, all the way up to Mount Suitcase, the big lump at the top of my head where a metal case fell out of an airplane’s overhead compartment and onto my cranium 15 years ago.
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October 7, 2009
International Spa Association meets in Austin
When the going gets tough, the tough get a massage.
As other businesses founder in the recession, the spa industry is thriving, earning $12.8 billion nationwide in 2008 compared with $10.9 billion in 2007, according to the International Spa Association.
Against this cheerful financial backdrop, about 1,500 members of that association are convening serenely at the Austin Convention Center this week, hearing seminars on topics such as social media marketing and checking out new products for rubbing out anxiety.
“I think more people feel like spending $100 on a massage than going out to dinner,” said Shana Ominsky, spa director for Austin’s Barton Creek Resort and Spa, who was at the convention with four colleagues.
Massage is the most popular spa treatment, according to a survey commissioned by the spa association. That poll also reported that the No. 1 reason people go to a spa is to relieve stress.
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September 21, 2009
Relaxing at the human carwash feels delicious
All I could think of was: This must be how a car feels in a carwash. And if that’s the case, the car feels pretty good.
I was experiencing the Moroccan Bath Tradition treatment at Spa Reveil at the Domain. It’s one of the spa’s signature treatments, and it’s a blissful 80 minutes of scrubbing, rinsing and soothing.
I began my afternoon at Reveil with an express facial from Jaclyn Losie, who cleaned my face with a tea tree oil cleanser, then applied carrot seed and gardenia serums before adding a seaweed mask.
She massaged my face with a creamy moisturizer, aware that I was headed into a body treatment that would give it time to work on my summer-dried face.
With my face slathered, I was handed off to Susan Deibert for my Moroccan bath treatment.
The primary component of this treatment is the Vichy shower, a rinse provided by an arm equipped with shower heads that is passed over the massage table. The device got its start long ago in the hot springs of Vichy, France. I’ve had scrubs rinsed off in various ways, and the Vichy shower seems the most expeditious — assuming you’re in a room with a drain. And we were.
Before we started, Deibert tested the water temperature on my feet. It was quite warm, but not hot.
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August 3, 2009
Planet Beach brings unusual experience to Austin with mechanized spa treatments
I’m being kneaded, pounded, grabbed and stretched … by a chair.
I never knew a chair could do this, but one is giving me a deep-tissue massage while I’m getting a Luminous Facial at Planet Beach Contempo Spa.
Planet Beach, founded in 1995 in New Orleans, is especially big in California, where it has counted Miley Cyrus among its clients. So now that it has established a spa in South Austin, I thought I’d give it a try.
It’s nothing like a traditional spa. The treatments are performed by machines, not people. Massages, facials and hydrotherapy treatments take about 20 minutes each. The most common way to pay is with a membership, similar to a health club’s. It’s $99 to join and $99 per month; then you can do all the treatments you want. But the spa will also work out a la carte payments for the services if that’s what you desire.
When I first heard about this approach to spa treatments, I wondered if it would be like the massaging chair I typically sit in when I get a pedicure. It’s not. Planet Beach’s equipment is far more sophisticated.
The hydro-massage is done fully clothed. I lie on a table atop a surface with water jets. The water won’t hit me directly; it will just massage me through the pad on the table. I set the pressure (medium at first; I don’t know what to expect) and the speed of the jet pulses, then press a button to start the machine, quickly donning headphones and lying down face-up.
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July 8, 2009
The healing powers of Linda Craig
Amongst the hustle and bustle of downtown Austin lies Linda Craig’s sanctuary.
Tucked away down a small hallway, I almost missed her room. This hidden gem is a stark contrast from the busy YMCA. The walls are filled with Chinese writing and posters of the human body. There was a sense of harmony and feng shui as I entered.
“The massage table is the only place in people’s lives where they can be at peace,” Craig said. “They don’t have to answer a phone, e-mail or be accessible.”
Craig, 55, has been facilitating this peacefulness with massage therapy, which she has been practicing for more than 30 years in Austin at the Town Lake YMCA.
Craig has massaged people from all walks of life — athletes, children, the elderly, post-operative, terminally ill and cancer patients. Her certifications include traditional Swedish massage, acupressure, reflexology, polarity, lymphatic drainage, myofascial release, medical massage, massage techniques for cancer patients and grief recovery.
She has been practicing at the YMCA since 1979, with a very dedicated following.
“Harmony is important. I’m not the masseuse for everyone, but for some — I’m the only one,” Craig said.
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May 7, 2009
After brunch, take mom to the spa
Sometimes, moms need their own quiet time. Give yours a relaxing day for Mother’s Day or any other day. Sabia, 1213 W. Fifth St., is offering an hourlong full-body massage, one-hour facial and optional makeup touch-ups. The holistic facial will include aromatic compresses, hydrating steam, a healing Cacaolatte scrub, a handmade honey and rose clay mask, and moisturizer. The $130 package is available on Mother’s Day and on May 17.
Other options are at 26 Bones Foot Spa, 1403 W. 47th St., which has a Mother’s Day special with a hot stone massage and hot stone manicure and pedicure and fresh-cut flowers. The package is 3 hours for $200.
For mothers-to-be, there is a one-hour full body prenatal massage using pillows followed by a hot stone manicure and pedicure and a special gift for the new baby. The package is 3 hours for $210 through Mother’s Day.
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May 1, 2009
Now arriving near Gate 13: Respite and relaxation
There are plenty of things about flying that rub me the wrong way, so I figured it was about time to have a different sort of experience at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.
I found what I was looking for at Knot Anymore, which offers 10-minute to 30-minute walk-up chair massages right there at the airport, near Gate 13, under the stairway to the Admiral’s Club. It’s right across from an arrival-departure board, where travelers can easily find it.
When I arrived at the check-in desk, there were already four men face-down in the four chairs, looking like starfish draped happily over rocks. Rebecca Kahn, who opened Knot Anymore at the airport in 2000, told me that’s typical. Most of the clients, she said, are outbound businessmen.
“They almost always say, ‘My body needed it,’ ” Kahn said.
Why would men, who tend to shy away from traditional spas, be so willing to relax and get rubbed on a massage chair at an airport? Because they get to keep their clothes on?
Kahn nodded, saying, “I think that’s probably it.” She said that 40 percent of the business is from repeat customers, so clearly the guys are into it.
I was perfectly happy to be the only woman getting a chair massage at that moment. Jennifer Keen, my therapist, put a new cover on the face cushion, adjusted the seat for my short self and went to work.
For the next 20 minutes she pushed, stretched, kneaded, knuckled and otherwise worked to cajole my back, neck and arms into relaxed submission. She found, as all therapists do, the knot in my left shoulder that I always blame on my heavy purse. She went after it like a baker kneading bread. I heard a few cracks and pops as the spot near my shoulder blade loosened up.
This was no cursory chair massage. It was a good, deep-tissue workover. If Keen hadn’t stopped a few times to pull my knit top down to cover my lower back, I’d have forgotten she was working through cloth.
While I was enjoying my massage, some of the men around me got up, and others — along with one woman — took their places, each quietly imparting information about which part of his or her back was most troublesome.
When Keen was done, I emerged relaxed and prepared — as much as one can be — to meander into a cramped metal tube.
I said I’d be back to treat myself again the next time my plane is delayed, and Eric Smith, Knot Anymore’s site manager, said he hears that a lot.
“People come back looking for a specific therapist,” he said.
Sure. That happens when you’ve been rubbed the right way.
Knot Anymore
Near Gate 13 at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.
10-minute massage $12; 15 minutes $17; 20 minutes $22 and 30 minutes $35.
Closed Saturdays.
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April 17, 2009
Allow a massage therapist to walk all over you
Remember the “Charlie’s Angels” scene in which Lucy Liu gives a bad guy a massage with her feet? Now you can try it yourself.
Massage Harmony, a spa owned by Derrick Amoriko, is having an open house event from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, April 19 to promote its Ashiatsu Bar Therapy program. The spa’s Bee Cave Road location has four new rooms for the treatment and six trained therapists.
In this type of massage, a therapist uses bare feet to apply pressure while she or he is supported by two parallel bars anchored to the ceiling. “Ashiatsu” comes from the Japanese words for foot (ashi) and pressure (atsu).
During the event, the spa will offer Ashiatsu massages at the introductory rate of $44 for a 60-minute session. (The rate will be available through the end of April.) Also, attendees will be able to participate in live demonstrations. Hot tea and light snacks will be available. 3300 Bee Cave Road, 306-0900, massageharmony.com.
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April 7, 2009
Django Spa at Lost Pines resort awakens mind and body with rhythmic massage
I love the serpentine 2.7-mile drive from Texas 71 down the narrow paved road through the trees to Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa, deep in the woods of Bastrop County.
I like to roll down my window and listen to the birds chirp as I poke along at the posted 19 mph — until somebody roars up behind me, nudging me to go faster (and I do, grudgingly).
I’m on my way to the resort’s Spa Django, where I’ve signed up for the signature Django massage, which, in honor of Austin’s Live Music Capital status, emphasizes rhythmic massage that changes with the accompanying music.
Django, by the way, translates as “I awake” from the Romany language, and the spa folks say the name pays tribute to gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt.
As massage therapist Bonnie John begins with a medium-pressure kneading of my back, though, it’s not Reinhardt I hear but a soothing dose of Moby.
Throughout the massage, the music changes, and the rhythm of the massage does change as the tempo picks up — but it doesn’t pick up much. This is all spa-friendly mood music; it’s not as though Marcia Ball’s keyboard sets the pace. (That would hurt.) The music is soft enough that I’m barely aware it’s there.
Before long, John is deep into my muscles, trying gamely to get a persistent knot out of my back. She asks: Do I lean on that arm while I’m driving? No. There has to be some reason for the tension in the left side of my upper back, she says. It’s only later that one possibility occurs to me: I carry my purse, which probably weighs 10 pounds, on that shoulder.
The scent of sage wafts around me. Before we started, John gave me a choice of cedar wood, sage, lavender or ginger oil for the massage. I chose sage because it’s subtle — not that I am subtle, but I like to seem subtle or at least smell that way.
John tells me that in the world of aromatherapy, sage contributes to “mind-clearing and groundedness,” both of which I can always use a good dose of.
She places a heat pack on my back as she moves to my arms and legs, adding some of the sage to a multiscented cream for that part of the massage.
As she works on my limbs, she talks (only because I’ve asked her to) about other aspects of mind-body health. She notes that a dose of cod liver oil can help moisturize skin (mine’s a bit dry) and help keep the heart healthy. For the mind, she recommends, instead of worrying about bad things, imagine good things happening.
Then, as I listen to a softly strumming guitar, she finishes with a massage of my face and neck. The sage makes me smile. I’m ready to roll down the window and drive back to the world.
Afterglow
I’m reluctant to hurry back to the highway, so I join a friend for lunch in the resort’s Firewheel Cafe. We share a goat cheese, spinach and artichoke dip, followed by my huge grouper sandwich with sweet potato fries and her gigantic poached chicken burrito. Thus fortified, I can face traffic again.
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March 23, 2009
Spa treatments promise to give allergy sufferers a breath of fresh air
My daughters know that Austin’s allergy season is in full bloom when I phone them and announce, “This is Bomb.”
Spring is bomb season, for sure.
I’m at Lake Austin Spa Resort for the Breathe Easy facial, designed to defuse the pollen-allergy bomb and make my nose work as designed.
But first, I take a relaxing five-minute walk down the path from the resort’s Lakehouse Spa, through its beautifully landscaped grounds, past burbling water features to the activities center, where yoga teacher Paul Smith instructs me in some yoga techniques for managing allergies.
First, he shows me how to use a nasal irrigation pot, which my friends swear by. I’d always been a bit afraid of using one, but it’s really pretty simple.
Next, we work on various yoga breathing exercises, such as alternative nostril breathing and ujjayi, breathing with a slightly closed glottis, making a sort of soft hissing sound.
These techniques energize and strengthen the breathing system, Smith says. They are accompanied by hand positions to help direct the body’s energy currents. For example, in padma mudra, I form my hands into the round shape of a lotus flower opening its petals, concentrating on energy moving upward from the lotus and circulating through my body.
Sometimes Smith offers an affirmation for me to think while I’m doing the breathing and hand position, such as “I embrace the deeper heart of each being” or “I trust myself and I trust the world.” (The latter’s a tall order, especially for a journalist. But I try.)
Then we do some body positions, including one that’s a modified cat stretch but involves humming like a bee while I’m arching my back. Later, I rest on my back while thumping my chest like a gorilla waking up in the morning. (Ever see a bee or gorilla with a stuffy nose?)
I depart the session breathing through my nose — progress! — and head back to the spa for the facial.
The minute I walk into the room, I smell a gentle eucalyptus mist that I know will help my breathing.
Therapist Pascale Torrance explains that the aromatherapy is a big part of the Breathe Easy facial.
The primary ingredient of my facial is rose. She uses a rose cleanser and exfoliation agent, a rose mask and rose moisturizer and serum during a facial massage that includes pressing on my sinuses and forehead to clear congestion. The aroma of rose relieves stress, and rose also bolsters collagen — an added bonus.
Hands, arms and shoulders get their own massage, too.
It all feels divine. By the time I leave Lake Austin, my face is glowing and I am Mom, not Bomb, braced for the pollen battles ahead.
Afterglow
After shoring up my sinuses, I wanted nothing more than to walk outside and breathe, so I meandered down to Lake Austin’s garden, filled with herbs, veggies and flowers. Garden Design just named it one of the top 10 spa gardens in the world. At its end is a semicircular stone wall perfect for sitting, breathing and trusting the world.
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March 16, 2009
Let your frustrations float away at Zen Blend
Zen Blend is not your typical spa.
First, it’s located in a home off Slaughter Lane. Completely renovated to give it a spa-like atmosphere, the home has housed Zen Blend since 2001.
Second, there is just one massage therapist, Kristi Ludlam, and you are her only client. Kristi schedules, at most, three clients per day so that you are given ample time and aren’t rushed out the door to make room for the next person.
Two services are offered: the Zen massage and the flotation tank. I enjoyed the relaxation day for one, which includes both services. You are given the choice of deciding which service you would like first, and I chose to go with the massage simply because I wanted to be completely relaxed before entering the flotation tank. The massage takes place in the “living room” complete with candles, music and a fish tank.
I’ve had a few massages in my day, but nothing quite like a Zen massage. It was wonderful. The hot stone treatment, aromatherapy … everything was so seamless, soothing and relaxing. I would have been satisfied after that, but then came the float.
I headed upstairs to shower and rinse off the oil from the massage. Kristi gives you a tour beforehand, so I was very aware of what to do and where to go. From the shower, I was off to float. The tank is approximately 5 feet by 8 feet, holds 200 gallons of water and 800 pounds of Epson salt. There is so much salt in the water that you bounce straight up like a cork, and are essentially weightless.
There are underwater speakers inside the tank and you have a choice of music, or no music at all. There is also a timer on the tank so you could have music for a certain length of time and silence the rest. Inside the tank is completely dark — so dark that I would find myself wondering if my eyes were open or closed. The longer I was in the tank, the deeper I fell into relaxation. Pre-float, I thought I might have some difficulty staying in complete darkness and silence, trying to relax and clear my busy mind, but it was one of the best things I’ve ever experienced and I can’t wait to do it again.
After the float, it was off to the shower again. Everything is provided: towels, shampoo, body wash, lotion. Ladies, you may want to bring your brush.
Last is tea, chocolate, and a sit-down with Kristi. Being able to sit down and talk about the experience was a great treat because it was clear how passionate Kristi is and how much she believes in what she does.
Overall, Zen Blend was an unbelievable experience. They offer instant online gift certificates, or you can do it over the phone. Their rates are extremely reasonable and relaxation day packages are offered for one person or two.
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March 13, 2009
Rock, roll and relax
South by Southwest Platinum badge holders, beware: In between all the parties and music, you’re going to need a South by South rest.
In the middle of Austin’s own March Madness, stop by the Spa at the Four Seasons for the Relax Like a Rock Star treatment. Available during SXSW only (March 13-22) , the treatment begins with a penetrating mud mask to detoxify before a soothing scalp and foot massage, and it all leads up to a back, shoulder and neck massage.
Rumor has it you might well run into your favorite rock star while you’re there. $140 for 50 minutes. The Spa at the Four Seasons, 98 San Jacinto Blvd., 685-8160.
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March 9, 2009
Get ready for spring break with a Brazilian at Blush
Believe it or not, spring break and summer are right around the corner.
For the ladies, that means dusting off the razors and putting those bad boys back to work. If the thought of that brings out a groan, there’s always an alternative — waxing. I’ve had a few waxing jobs in my day, and I might have just stumbled upon my new favorite spot. It’s called Blush and recently relocated near the intersection of Medical Parkway and 45th Street.
It is a tiny upstairs unit with just a few rooms, very cozy, and run solely by owner Angie Chase. Blush offers waxing services and facials, but specializes in Brazilians. And so with that information in hand, I decided to muster up the courage for one of Angie’s specialties. Before my appointment she gave me a few instructions:
The hair needed to be at least 1/4 of an inch long (about to two to three weeks of growth);
Exfoliate every day the week prior to the appointment using either a scrub with salicylic acid (such as St. Ives facial scrub for blackheads and blemishes) or exfoliating gloves scrubbing in circular movements against the hair growth.
Following both recommendations, the time had come for my appointment. I won’t go into detail about the specifics, but Angie was as gentle as she could be considering the circumstances, soothing and comforting during the uncomfortable moments, and very thorough.
I had heard great things about Angie’s talents and she definitely lived up to her hype. Besides being great at her trade, Angie is extremely personable, which is more of what I hobbled away thinking and less about the pain.
A few things you need to know about Blush:
Angie came up with the name Blush because she wanted something young, fun and simple to remember, also thinking about the fact that after you receive a facial your skin is fresh, new and glowing. Blushing.
Blush offers two lines of skincare products in-store — Epicuren and Image Skincare — so be sure to check those out while waiting or on the way out. Especially the coconut lotion.
Due to parking wars with the property owner, park on the street in front of or behind the building or you might get towed.
Blush is located on the second floor above Salon Sirah and Blue Skies framing, just south of the original Taco Shack.
Angie runs things all on her own, so if she doesn’t answer when you call to make an appointment, leave a message because she is more than likely with a client.
On that note, Blush is booked WEEKS in advance, so be prepared for that as well.
Cash and checks are the only forms of payment accepted.
Happy waxing!
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February 16, 2009
Milk + Honey makes tension evaporate with massage, steam
I breeze into Milk + Honey Spa at Hill Country Galleria on a cold, windy winter day. Red-faced and chill-bumpy, I’m ready to warm up and relax. The treatment I’ve chosen is sure to do that: In addition to scrubbing and massage, the process involves steaming.
Called the Spa Partisan, this treatment is design to make you a true aficionado of massage — not that I need any persuasion.
My therapist, Lisa Wickware, begins by dry-brushing my skin. Using a soft brush (and I get to take it home with me), Wickware brushes firmly in the direction of blood flow to the heart. Next comes the scrub. Wickware uses a mixture of brown sugar (less abrasive than salt), almond meal, buttermilk powder, decaf coffee and coconut oil. (If you’re allergic to coconut she’ll use grapeseed oil.) The mixture smells good enough to eat. She slathers me with it, scrubbing gently but firmly.
Despite Wickware’s best efforts, the scrub mix gets in my hair, of course. Scrubs always get in hair. They’re totally worth it, but that’s why I scheduled this treatment at the end of a workday. I can go home and wash my hair afterward.
After I’m thoroughly coated in the nutty coffee stuff, a steam tent is lowered and my body is softly steamed. I don’t feel hot and sweaty, just warm and cozy. I think about how cold I was outside and take comfort in the gentle heat.
While I’m steeping, Wickware gives me an amazing neck massage. The small headache I arrived with is banished.
As the steam tent is lifted, I’m briefly chilled — but not for long.
Wickware pours warm water over me to rinse off all the scrub mixture, then I towel off and move to a second, clean table for a long massage with — what else? — milk and honey. The spa’s milk and honey body butter is paraben-free and contains organic jojoba, shea butter, honey, chamomile botanicals, safflower, sunflower and sesame oil.
Wickware goes right for the problem area — my shoulders — leaning into the knots. My left side, as it turns out, is knottier than my right. Is this because I carry my purse on my left shoulder or because I lean on my left shoulder while I’m watching TV in bed? Probably a little of both. The deep-tissue massage, Wickware explains, releases chronic tension.
“When muscles are stressed, the fibers become contracted, blocking oxygen and nutrients leading to inflammation and a buildup of toxins in the muscle tissue,” she says. “A deep-tissue massage will loosen the muscle tissue to release toxins and get blood and oxygen circulating properly.”
The 100-minute Spa Partisan is a really special treatment — a great combination of elements, well done. And that’s how I emerge: well done. I’m thoroughly relaxed, and my skin is baby-soft.
Afterglow
My skin feels so soft. I want to maintain that softness. So I buy a 70 percent organic moisturizing cream that Lisa Wickware recommends. The Naked Bee orange blossom honey cream’s scent is sweet, but light, nicely balanced by the citrus. 8 ounces, $19.91.
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February 10, 2009
Get away at nearby Lake Austin Spa
The Lake Austin Spa & Resort is the perfect lovers’ getaway.
With romantic lakeside spots, the healthiest cuisine around, fun fitness options and tons of pampering services, the resort will help you relax and reconnect with your loved one.
The resort is upping the ante for Valentine’s Day weekend with wine and cheese tastings, cookie decorating classes, a cooking demo, special dance classes, a boat cruise and “fun at the fire pit.”
Three-night packages with three meals a day and unlimited fitness classes start at $1,555. Call (800) 847-5637.
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February 6, 2009
Treat yourself with 'Legally Blonde' special
What would Elle Woods of “Legally Blonde” do in tough times?
She would pamper herself.
This month, the Spa at the Four Seasons, 98 San Jacinto Blvd., is promoting a Legally Blonde and Beautiful package, which includes an essential pedicure and manicure, pink champagne (or sparkling apple cider) and a bottle of Creative Nail Designs polish for home use. The 30-minute treatment starts at $45.
“Legally Blonde the Musical” is being performed at Bass Concert Hall at the University of Texas through Sunday.
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February 4, 2009
Sabia and downtown are a natural fit
Sabia — the homegrown, natural skin-care retailer on South First Street — has moved from its quiet neighborhood bungalow to a snazzy new downtown showroom.
Now Sabia will display its wares and provide its spa services at 1213 W. Fifth St. The airy new space was designed by Austinite Ann Tucker and will still offer all of your favorite natural bath, body and face-care brands, such as the house line, Sabia, as well as Dr. Hauschka, Red Flower and Jurlique.
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January 25, 2009
Local psychologist uses new age, ancient practices for relaxation
On a recent weekday afternoon, four women from San Antonio relaxed on the couch and chairs in the Westbank Drive office of Caryl Dalton’s psychology practice. They didn’t travel all the way to Austin to take advantage of Dalton’s experienced mental health services. They were there to take a nap — of sorts — on a bed with crystal lights that Dalton brought all the way from Brazil.
The bed was built by a medium known as John of God who works through the Casa de Dom Ignacio in Abadinia Gois, Brazil. The beds he designs and builds focus light through different types of crystals and are believed by some to have great healing powers.
Dalton, whose Westbank practice focuses on psychological services to children and adolescents as well as adults going through divorce, also owns White Hummingbird Consulting. She’s been working with children and families for more than 30 years, and holds a doctorate of educational psychology from the University of Texas in Austin.
Dalton is also a student of shamanism and other alternative healing practices. She travels the world, visiting with indigenous cultures to learn ancient traditions and practices. She is quick to point out that she doesn’t refer to the crystal light bed as a healing device. That would be asking for trouble, she said.
“It’s something people can use to help themselves achieve great relaxation, energy and the release of stress,” she said. “Right now people are exploring other alternatives for spiritual growth and balance in life and in health. I guide them to a meditative state as they start their session. It’s just another creative way for people, even kids, to become and stay more healthy.”
The crystal light bed has seven light sections, one for each of the seven chakras or energy centers in Indian medicine that are aligned from the base of the spine to the top of the head. Followers of Hindu and New Age traditions believe the Chakras interact with the body’s ductless endocrine glands and lymphatic system by feeding in good bio-energies and disposing of unwanted bio-energies. Each of the chakra points has a different color of light in Dalton’s bed.
She offers 30- and 50-minute sessions on the bed; prices for the service range from $50 to $80. So far, she said reaction to the bed has been good. Some people come to the bed just looking for a spiritual process, she said. Some come looking for help with very specific problems — depression, kidney infections, achy backs or bumps on the bottom of their feet. Dalton said the bed fits in well with the more traditional psychological services she offers her patients.
“The focus of most of my work is in being preventative and proactive,” she said. “Along with everything else, I work with diet, exercise and relaxation.” Jeanne Brown was the first of the four travelers from San Antonio to give the crystal light bed a try. She came back out of the private room and joined her friends when her session ended.
“I don’t understand how light through crystal can relax you, but it’s the most relaxing thing I’ve ever done,” she said. Brown and the others that eventually drifted onto the bed and off again reported a feeling of coolness and then radiating warmth.
“My mind races a million miles a minute all the time,” said Brown. “It just does not shut down. I don’t meditate or do all that stuff, because it doesn’t work for me. This is the first time I’ve ever been able to relax and completely shut down.”
Photo by Dane Anderson, Westlake Picayune
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January 17, 2009
Be inspired this Valentine's Day
The new year is well under way, and January is flying by as we all attempt to get back into the swing of things after the holidays.
Now it’s time to start planning for Valentine’s Day. Skip the usual romantic dinner and treat you and your honey to a lavish “stay-cation” retreat right here in Austin.
The Crossings, Austin’s premier green spa destination, is offering the Inspired Romance Package. This unique package includes lodging for two for two nights, plus:
Three delicious, healthy meals each day.
Champagne and chocolates.
A 30-minute massage lesson, followed by a 50-minute couples massage given by a therapist
Easy access to scheduled resort activities and classes, as well as 2 miles of hiking trails in the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve
The Inspired Romance Package costs $940 (taxes included) and is available Jan. 31 through Feb. 28. To find out more or to book the package, visit www.thecrossingsaustin.com.
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December 29, 2008
Thai massage does yoga for you, leaving you drunk on serenity
“I like to say that Thai massage makes you taller,” says massage therapist Denise Hurd.
Is she pulling my leg?
Well, yes. As a matter of fact, she’s doing precisely that — grabbing my leg and extending it as far as she can, lifting my posterior off the floor and even dragging me an inch or so.
Hurd’s pulling and pushing and kneading and compressing is all part of Thai yoga massage, a spa treatment to improve flexibility and general health.
I’m at Yoga Yoga’s new fifth location on Capital of Texas Highway (Loop 360), in a space that was used until recently by JoyMoves Day Spa, which has moved most of its operation into a nearby building to focus on Pilates.
I’m wearing yoga pants and a T-shirt; this treatment is one you stay dressed for. Hurd, a massage therapist for more than a dozen years who’s been doing Thai massage for more than five, is going after my legs with her thumbs of steel.
She starts with my feet, which are their usual exhausted selves, tired of wearing heels and especially annoyed that they must live inside close-toed shoes this time of the year. Hurd pushes her thumbs in, releasing the cramps in my feet. It feels great.
“My thumbs actually look like toes,” she says. I can’t see them because of my eye pillow, but I believe her. As she walks her hands up my legs, applying pressure to what she calls energy points, I feel what I can only describe as pinch-tickling. It’s strange, but it doesn’t hurt.
It occurs to me that I’m being moved into yoga positions and stretched without having to do the work myself. I feel the sort of strain that comes from holding a deep knee-bend or reaching a little farther than I’m comfortable reaching. The more she works an area, the more I relax into it and my initial tension is released.
“In Thailand, this is considered medicinal,” she says, explaining that children learn the techniques to use on their parents when Mom and Dad come home from a hard day’s manual labor.
She folds my legs into a loose lotus and mashes gently but firmly on my thighs. Later, when I’m on my side, she leans into my hip. Then, when I’m face-down, I lock wrists with her and she pulls me up into a gentle back arch.
Every part of me is pulled, kneaded and stretched. As intense as this sounds - and it is - it almost lulls me to sleep at times.
I wonder fleetingly if my knees will object to this activity, as they often do when I run up or down too many stairs. They don’t.
I also wonder if my muscles will scream at me later after such a workout. They don’t. Immediately afterward, a few muscles and tendons feel like they’ve done some work, as they would after a yoga session. It’s been a long time since I’ve practiced yoga, but this brings back its feeling, a combination of serenity and energy.
The tendon burn doesn’t last long. An hour later I’m back at work, feeling great and maybe, at least in my mind, a little taller.
Afterglow
I had to go back to the office after I had this treatment, and the one thing I just couldn’t do to my happy feet was put them back into heels.
So, for a continuation of my glow, I slipped on my soft leather, moccasin-style Naturalizer flats. So much for being tall. But my feet and legs kept their warm, energized feeling.
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December 18, 2008
Men's day spa lets both sexes unwind at lounge
If you’re seeking a low-drama spot for a cocktail, check out the lounge at El Rey, Austin’s men’s executive club at 311 W. Fifth St. (472-5858, www.elreyclub.com).
The club, started by Clint Campbell, has opened its Lounge on Republic Park to men and women from 5 to 10 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays.
The full-service lounge features eight flat-screen TVs and a cocktail bar. The lounge also is open daily for nonmember men for $35.
Nonmembers who purchase one of the numerous spa services such as scalp therapy, haircuts, spa manicures, sports pedicures and signature facials would be excluded from the $35 day fee.
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December 10, 2008
New spot for a no-frills massage
I’m still on cloud nine from my massage at Elements Therapeutic Massage.
If the name Elements doesn’t ring a bell, perhaps it’s because they just had their grand opening Dec. 1.
Elements is located in the ever-growing shopping center off William Cannon Drive and Mopac Boulevard. What is so appealing about this place is the simple and relaxing atmosphere. It’s not a “spa” or “getaway,” merely a place for a great massage while taking a minimalist approach — walk in, sign in, get a massage, leave. To some that may be a turn-off, but for me it was refreshing and unintimidating. I still find myself walking into some spas confused on what to do, where to go, etc., taking away from the element of relaxation. Despite the lack of bells and whistles at Elements, I still had one of the best massages to date. (Ask for Evan!)
In keeping with the “keep it simple” atmosphere, Elements offers straight and to the point services: Swedish, deep tissue and trigger point, sports, prenatal, and hot stone massages for 55 or 80 minutes, starting at $65. They also offer monthly memberships that include one massage per month, no initiation/cancellation fees or hidden costs, for $49 (55 minutes) or $70 (80 minutes) a month, a free gift card, plus you are given your membership rate for each additional massage you schedule. (Nice stocking stuffer … hint, hint.)
They also accept walk-ins, so for those of you who go to the Gold’s Gym or 24 Hour Fitness right across the street, you can hit the gym, grab a smoothie next door, and get a massage.
And a little heads up: There’s a rumor going around that Elements will be having a grand re-opening around the time of the Super Bowl with free massages, food, fun, etc., so mark your calendars and plan on stopping by then as well.
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December 4, 2008
A different kind of foot massage
How do you enjoy a deep-pressure massage without using any hands?
With feet, of course!
The technical term is Ashiatsu Oriental Bar Therapy, which is now offered in Austin by Rhonda Kachilla at Massage Harmony. Kachilla is one of the very few licensed practitioners in Austin who can use her feet to work on your tight muscles.
She stands on the table, stabilizes herself with two wooden parallel bars suspended from the ceiling and applies pressure in large strokes. Ashiatsu is a westernized version of eastern barefoot massage techniques founded by Ruthie Hardee. This technique allows the therapist to apply his or her bodyweight in varying pressures by supporting all or little of his or her weight on the parallel bars.
I had only seen this technique on “Charlie’s Angels” and was curious as to how this was different than a hand massage. I got on the table and Kachilla rubbed cream on me so my skin didn’t pinch as she worked her magic. She cleaned her feet in front of me and assured me that regular pedicures are a part of her daily life now that she offers this massage.
As I rested there listening to relaxing music, Kachilla eased each foot onto my back. My tight, stress-bearing muscles were in desperate need of a good, deep massage. During the session I thought, “Finally! I am getting the strong pressure I have been wanting.” Every time my boyfriend tried to massage me, I would always scream for more pressure. It was amazing how much strength small-framed Kachilla could apply to my muscles.
“It’s been wonderful to have a technique that allows me to do more than just with my hands. I can do more work in a day. It’s like I have superpowers!” Kachilla exclaimed.
The ebb and flow of Kachilla’s feet helped smooth out kinks in my muscles. She said Ashiatsu can help relieve pressure associated with mild scoliosis and other similar back problems.
What makes using feet different than hands is the shape of the foot. Its shape allows for deep, even pressure without the pain that usually comes with deep-tissue massages.
Her feet moved from my lower back all the way up to my neck with a constant amount of pressure. Usually deep-tissue massages hurt me because I felt like fingers were poking into my knotted muscles. Ashiatsu squashed all of my knots in one fluid, painless motion. She worked her powers from my back to my calves. Then I flipped over so she could release built-up tension in my shoulders. Kachilla finished with a neck, scalp and face massage using her hands. I lied there very relaxed and de-stressed, which is a rare find during this holiday season.
Ashiatsu is ideal for people who crave deep-tissue work. Kachilla can massage anyone, from children to retired athletes. A typical hour-long Ashiatsu session costs around $100. But she offers an hour of her “superpowers” for $34 for first-timers and $44 after that. She recommends a 90-minute session, which costs $64.
Massage Harmony also offers a sports massage, reflexology massage, pregnancy massage and more. For more information and prices, visit www.massageharmony.com.
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November 20, 2008
Give your body a shot of coffee and honey scrub
Looking for “me time” during the holiday rush?
Try Spa Reveil (11410 Century Oaks Terrace. 339-7000, www.spareveil.com), a new day spa that recently opened at the Domain.
The spa menu includes a Detoxifying Seaweed Therapy (80 minutes, $125); and an Expresso Body Scrub and Mask Therapy (80 minutes, $125), which uses ground coffee beans and Indian sarsaparilla, honey, tobacco and black silt clay. Also available are skin, nail, waxing and express treatments as well as global-infused options such as a Rosemary Citron Body Scrub (60 minutes, $105) and an Arctic Frost Tradition (110 minutes, $195), which is based on Scandinavian customs.
The spa will offer introductory spa packages through Dec. 31. Until Jan. 1, guests who purchase a gift certificate (minimum of $100) will receive a second gift certificate valued at 20 percent of their purchase.
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September 24, 2008
Spa Week's just around the corner
Spa Week is nearly upon us.
This year’s dates are Oct. 13-19, so hurry up and make your appointments ASAP.
For those of you who may not know, Spa Week is geared to those who wouldn’t normally be able to afford some of the more luxurious treatments. Prices are lowered to $50 flat, with choices of massages, facials, manis and pedis, and more.
Below is a list of the participating salons. For a more detailed list of the specific treatments being offered at each salon, go to www.spaweek.org.
3 Graces Skincare and Med Spa
4 Seasons Salon and Day Spa
Alite Laser Hair Removal
Avant Garde Studio, Salon and Spa
El Rey Executive Club, Barber and Spa
Joie de Vie European Salon and Day Spa
milk + honey Hill Country Galleria
milk + honey Day Spa
Spa at the Lake
The Woodhouse Day Spa
Wellsprings Derma Spa
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September 17, 2008
You and the water become one in watsu
Aquarian that I am, I’m always happiest when I’m in water. So watsu, a massage/acupressure/ stretching/mind-nurturing treatment that takes place in a small, private pool, seemed like an especially appealing spa treatment for me.
I chose The Crossings, a casual spa resort near Lake Travis, because it offers a view of water along with a water experience. Can’t have too much water.
“Be like seaweed,” my therapist, Kandis Hill, advised as we both, wearing bathing suits, entered the pool, which is kept at body temperature. The watsu pool is outside in a canvas semi-enclosure, but even in the summer heat, I never felt hot.
My job during the treatment, Hill told me, was to relax and let her support my body in the water and move my limbs to stretch out muscles as well as applying shiatsu pressure to my arms, hands, feet and face.
“Instead of manipulation, this in an invitation to expand your consciousness,” she said, adding that some people actually sleep during part of the treatment. She put small floats on my ankles to increase my buoyancy.
I relaxed into the water, and she began moving my body, folding me up like an accordion, then unfolding me. My ears felt a little weird while they adjusted to being under water, then out of the water, then back in. But within about a minute, their pressure had equalized. (Ear plugs are available if you don’t like this feeling.)
My nose, mouth and eyes were out of the water the entire time except for one moment when one eye dipped into the water for just a second. But I kept my eyes closed the whole time, anyway, so I wasn’t bothered.
For about the first five minutes of my 50-minute treatment, I had to remind myself a few times to be seaweed. But I quickly let go of my control-freaky self and fell into the stretching and movement.
I felt beyond relaxed. The more I was moved in the water, the less I noticed I was in water. I was just floating. There was no sound of splashing at all.
At one point, I felt a sensation of a float collar being slipped around my neck. Shortly after that, I felt completely suspended in the water. I have no doubt that Hill was holding me up, but I didn’t feel that.
I just felt more still than I’d ever been in my life. I wasn’t bobbing around like a cork; I wasn’t moving a muscle. I was completely still.
For me, one of the most pleasant aspects of watsu was that I was able to breathe without thinking about it. I have a bad mold allergy that plagues me virtually every day of my Austin life, no matter what I take for it.
But here, in the pool, my breathing was effortless and, in fact, barely noticeable.
Hill massaged my face, further opening my sinuses. I felt no more sinus pressure until the next day.
At the end of the treatment, Hill sat me on a ledge just inside the pool. I slowly opened my eyes, unstopped my ears and transformed from seaweed back into flesh and bone.
But the peaceful feeling of watsu stayed with me. A lover of water can’t get much happier.
The Crossings is located at 13500 RM 2769, off RM 620 not far from Lakeline Mall. The entrance is marked with limestone into which ‘The Crossings’ is barely etched, so look carefully or you’ll miss it. A 50-minute watsu treatment costs $120; 80 minutes, $160. Call (512) 258-7243. For a complete list of spa treatments, visit www.thecrossingsaustin.com.
Afterglow
There’s only one thing I wanted after my therapeutic watsu treatment: more water. I had a glass of water, then headed for The Crossings’ pool, an especially lovely infinity-edge pool, complete with waterfall, overlooking Lake Travis and the Hill Country. I was the only person in the pool, and after swimming a couple of slow laps, I turned over on my back, stretched out my arms and just floated, effortlessly.
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July 29, 2008
Come for spa treatments, stay for cooking classes
Lounge. Massage. Eat. Repeat.
If this sounds like your kind of “staycation,” then the Lake Austin Spa Resort has a treat for you. The resort was named the best destination spa in the country this year by Conde Nast Traveler readers. It offers not only fabulous meals at the in-house restaurant, it also gives foodies the chance to relax, be pampered and celebrate the joys of food in its monthly Culinary Experience program.
The week of cooking demonstrations, classes and tastings starts the second Sunday of every month and is free to guests at the resort. (Right now, buy two nights and get a third free.)
Highlights from the August program include a visit from Princess Diana’s former chef Darren McGrady and cookbook author James Peterson.
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July 16, 2008
A joyful way to end a workout at new spa
Why not cap off a rigorous Pilates workout with a relaxing massage or facial?
The Spa at JoyMoves (2501 S. Capital of Texas Highway, 328-4440) has menu items including massage (Thai, aromatherapy, hot stone and others), waxing, brow and lash tinting, body treatments and European-style facials.
The spa, which uses all-natural, petrochemical-free and paraben-free products, has specials through July 31 including 60-minute Swedish massages and 90-minute body treatments such as the orange coconut scrub and massage; the seaweed scrub and massage; and lavender microderm scrub and massage.
Use our searchable spas/salons database to get more details on — and rate — The Spa at JoyMoves.
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July 2, 2008
Get royal treatment at Signature Touch day spa
Time for a little pampering?
Signature Touch (6604 Berkman Drive. 452-5500, www.signaturetouchspa.com), a neighborhood day spa in the Windsor Park area of East Austin near the Mueller Development, offers a range of services including manicures, pedicures, paraffin soaks, hot stone, maternity and sports massages, facials and brow tinting.
The spa also uses JellyBath products and offers day spa packages such as the Rio Ready (2 hours, $125), which includes a Brazilian wax, back facial and mini-facial with sun protection as well as a lip and eye treatment.
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June 26, 2008
Nonmembers now welcome at El Rey
El Rey, the downtown men’s executive club (311 W. Fifth St. at Guadalupe Street, 472-5858), is now offering its luxe spa services to nonmembers.
Nonmembers pay for the cost of their treatments plus $35, which provides full access to the club, including the bar and lounge, locker room, steamroom and other public spa areas. There’s a $35 fee if a nonmember wants to use the club and skip treatments. Nonmember pricing for treatments ranges about 20 percent higher than member prices.
El Rey offers services such as a signature facial, haircuts, chemical peels and a host of products from the Art of Shaving, John Allan’s and Phytomer as well as daylong spa packages.
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June 18, 2008
A fabulous day at the spa
“Attention to detail” should be the slogan for Lake Austin Spa Resort.
Nothing I can say or write will do any justice for the day I had at Conde Nast Traveler magazine’s No. 1 destination spa. It was, by far, one of the most fabulous days of my life.
From the moment I entered the gates — and, yes, there are gates for your privacy and peace of mind — it was like opening the gates to heaven. The scenery is amazing, with the property being on 19 lakefront acres and far enough away from everyday life that it’s easy to get lost in the moment and forget about the daily stresses of life.
To start, there are two separate buildings — one is the day spa and the other the resort. I had the opportunity to tour both and was beyond impressed with everything I saw. The resort is quite remarkable, housing 40 guestrooms that all face either the lake or private wildflower gardens. In addition to being a place to rest your head, the resort also has a separate dining room for overnight guests, a gift shop, teaching kitchen for when they bring in celebrity chefs for workshops, a fitness facility, private studio for pilates, yoga, etc., as well as a daily list of at least 20 different complimentary activities and programs such as spinning, kickboxing, BodyFlow, kayaking/canoeing, etc. that are included with your overnight stay.
The day spa is another experience within itself. Walking in is like walking into your own house — or at least how one might dream their own house would be — feeling extremely cozy and natural. Every room is filled with antiques and art, each with a unique story all their own. After checking in, it’s off to the locker room to change into a provided robe and sandals in which you will spend the rest of the day — until it’s pool time, of course.
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June 9, 2008
New places to treat him, her
If you’re looking to treat your sweetie — or yourself — here are two new options worth checking out:
Papillon, a skin care boutique, has opened at the ever-growing Triangle lifestyle center at the corner of Guadalupe Street and North Lamar Boulevard. Papillon (4700 W. Guadalupe St. 323-5233.) carries Bare Escentuals makeup as well as Chrislu jewelry and Lollia bath products. Starting in June, they’ll offer variety of spa services such as microdermabrasion, waxing and specialized facials.
Every now and again a hardworking man deserves a break, complete with leather sofas, beverages and a big-screen TV. Belvederes (920 Congress Ave. 478-4247, www.belvederesaustin.com), a day spa for men in downtown Austin, might be the answer. The spa provides a full range of services including haircuts, facials and shoe shines. Belvederes offers the head to-toe treatment - a free shoe shine with any paid haircut (expires May 30). Other services are massage, straight-razor shaves, manicures and pedicures. A selection of cigars is available in the spa’s humidor.
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May 23, 2008
Tap out stress, soreness
I just finished doing my taxes, and I feel like getting hammered.
So here I am at Lake Austin Spa Resort to do just that. The Manaka tapping treatment — a punctureless relative of acupuncture that employs a little wooden hammer and wooden peg — is supposed to offer relief from stress and impart “marvelous restorative effects,” according to the spa menu.
Stressed is what I am after crunching all those numbers. Also, I managed to lift a box the wrong way a couple of weeks ago and pull a back muscle. So I’m ready to take a pounding, much as my stocks have done lately. Did I mention I’m stressed? And the 45-minute drive out to Lake Austin on busy roads has done nothing to soothe me.
I get into a robe and put my feet up in the spa’s sunny blue room. Momentarily, acupuncture therapist Aaron Rubinstein comes in to get me for my treatment.
He starts by checking the joints in my leg and my tummy for sensitive spots. He finds a few that are moderately sore.
The Manaka treatment was developed by a practitioner named Yoshio Manaka in the mid-1980s.
“It works best when combined with other treatments,” Aaron tells me. So he begins by taking a large, blunt 14-karat gold needle and pressing it lightly to my knee joints in a process known as seshokushin.
I feel only a touching sensation. When he’s done, the slight soreness around my knees has eased.
Then, he sets a metronome to a fairly slow four-beat: beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.
He feels around the back of my head, selects a spot just northeast of my neck, and suddenly there comes a tapping, as of someone gently rapping, rapping at my rocky skull.
Tap, tap, tap, tap, right in time with the metronome. It’s a chiseling motion, but the wooden peg isn’t sharp, so it doesn’t hurt.
He proceeds to tap at other spots on my spine, my shoulder blades and my hip bones. He taps, feels for the right spot, taps again.
After a while, I am lulled by the pulsing beat. I drift off to sleep.
I am awakened when Aaron calls my name and turns off the metronome. He wants to apply a small bit of heat therapy called moxibustion, or tonetsukyu, to my lower back to help relieve my soreness there.
He lights a stick of incense and applies it to a small bit of fuzz from the mugwort plant that he holds against my skin, snuffing it out before the burn reaches my skin. I feel heat and a light pinch, but no pain.
He checks my tummy for sensitivity again. No soreness.
More amazing, when I get up to get dressed, I am able to do so with only a slight stiffness. My pulled back muscle no longer screams when I move. And my stress has vanished. This is all good. I resolve to get hammered more often.
Afterglow
Marvelously restored, I cap my afternoon with a cup of herbal tea outdoors in Lake Austin Spa Resort’s garden. I choose African Amber, a tropical blend with leaves from the Rooibos bush, high in anti-oxidants. And the tea contains no caffeine.
After all, I don’t want to get all rattled again.
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May 15, 2008
Chocolates and a massage. What could be better?
Mmmmmmm … chocolate and coffee. Their aromas are so strong that I feel enveloped.
Actually, I am enveloped in chocolate and coffee — with a dash of cayenne.
At the Spa at Barton Creek, massage therapist Saffron Parten has cooked up this fragrant recipe for the purpose of slathering it upon me and scrubbing me with it.
Summer skin-baring styles demand that skin be bare-worthy. A good exfoliation is my version of spring cleaning.
I’ve chosen the Mexican Chocolate Cayenne Scrub here at Barton Creek. I am lying on a sheet of Mylar covered in Mexican coffee grounds, Mexican chocolate and cayenne.
The cayenne, Parten tells me, adds heat and is also good for pain relief. The chocolate and vanilla-infused coffee are full of antioxidants.
“This is definitely the messiest treatment we have right now,” she says, casting a wary eye at my long hair. I have declined a shower cap because a shower cap has never won a battle with my hair. But it’s OK, I tell her; I can wash it out later.
She applies the mixture first to my back, then to my chest, arms, tummy and legs, scrubbing gently. Within minutes, I feel the heat of the cayenne.
When I’m sufficiently covered, she folds the Mylar over me and tops it with a warm towel. (Mylar holds in the warmth and also helps protect the underlying sheets from the messy coffee-chocolate mixture.)
I bake for about 5 minutes. Then Parten removes the chocolate-coffee-cayenne treatment with hot towels. I opine, based on my own experiences with mopping up spilled coffee grounds, that cleaning up this mess after a treatment must be exceedingly difficult.
“Oh, yeah,” she says. “The first time I did it I was tracking chocolate all over the spa.” Now she puts a sheet around the massage table to gather up all the spills.
Parten carefully folds the Mylar beneath me and slides it out without moving me. It’s a skill not unlike yanking a tablecloth out from under a table full of dishes without disturbing them. Then she goes over me with another round of towels to get the last of the grounds.
Now it’s time to add the vanilla. Parten massages my skin with a vanilla bean body butter. I smell like a freshly baked cookie, and my skin is wonderfully soft.
“You might find a couple of coffee grounds still hanging on, continuing to help with the antioxidizing,” she says with a grin as I leave.
I head home and sit down at my computer to check e-mails. Within minutes, my husband walks into the room, sniffing the air. He looks mystified.
“The house smells sweet,” he says.
I confess: “It’s me.”
Afterglow
After this treatment, I have one very specific craving: a cup of cafe mocha with a shot of vanilla. I go directly to the small retail store off the Barton Creek Resort’s hotel lobby and order that exact thing. Now I can taste what I smell. Perfect.
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March 31, 2008
Spa's long-running makeover gets attention
How often does this happen: A former nudist camp and lodging house for rodeo cowboys is named the top spa in America?
The Lake Austin Spa Resort has pulled that off, landing the top rating in Conde Nast Traveler’s annual ranking of the best destination spas in the country.
The spa has been in the top five before and moved up to No. 2 last year.
These days, the spa is a serene waterfront retreat, with just 40 guest rooms.
It had much humbler beginnings as a fishing camp in the 1940s and was briefly a nudist camp in the 1970s. During that decade, it also hosted rodeo cowboys and clowns who were training at nearby Steiner Ranch, which was then a working cattle ranch.
Mike McAdams bought it in 1997 and has invested several million dollars in renovations and upgrades.
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March 21, 2008
Spa Week's coming
Why not take some time to pamper yourself for a new season? Here comes Spa Week, which was started in 2004 with spas nationwide offering treatments for no more than $50 during a select period. Spa Week’s spring event will take place April 14-20 in 21 markets nationwide including Austin.
Don’t forget to book early. Local spas and some $50 services are:
A Beautiful You Med Spa (12233 RM 620 N. 336-1772, www.abymedspa.com);
Avant Salon Spa (9901 Capital of Texas Highway (Loop 360). 502-8268, www.avantsalon.com), with treatments that include a 60-minute stress- and tension-relieving massage, 60-minute essentials pedicure with foot-soothing massage and 60-minute results-focused facial with essential oils for different skin types;
Spa at the Lake (900 RM 620 S. 263-7611, www.spaatthelake.com);
Milk + Honey Downtown and Hill Country Galleria (204 Colorado St., 12901 Hill Country Blvd. 236-1115, www.milkandhoneyspa.com), with treatments that include a 45-minute urban retreat massage and mini-manicure, 45-minute skin bella facial, 60-minute spa manicure and pedicure combo. The new Hill Country Galleria location recently opened and includes nine treatment rooms, a luxurious lounge and locker rooms, robe and slipper service, a nail department and an infrared sauna.
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March 16, 2008
New treatment tackles a host of problems
For those with problem acne, rosacea, unwanted hair and sun spots, there’s a brand-new, FDA-approved laser treatment called IsoLaz offered in Austin.
Dr. Ted Lain of Steiner Ranch Dermatology is the first to provide this painless, quick and powerful alternative to facial peels, micro-dermabrasion and prescription drugs.
IsoLaz uses an intense-pulse light combined with a vacuum to destroy bacteria-causing acne and reduces swelling of pores. It’s painless because IsoLaz’s vacuum pulls and stretches the skin closer to the light source requiring less energy to treat the pore. Previous intense-light therapy treatments felt like a rubber-band was snapping on your face.
“This is the next generation for intense-pulse light procedures,” Lain said.
The treatment takes about 10-30 minutes, doesn’t require numbing creams or gels, and has no side-effects. All that is needed before the treatment is a simple face wash. This isn’t one of those treatments that makes you break out or takes a couple days to take affect. Results are almost instant — redness and swelling go down — and it also tightens the skin.
Trina Mallet has tried everything from facials, chemical peels to antibiotics. She said they would clear her acne for a few days, but it always came back.
“I was lizard-faced for a week and couldn’t go out in public after my chemical peel,” Mallet said. “IsoLaz is so much better.”
Before the treatment, Mallet’s face was blemished and red. Dr. Lain wore protective lenses and covered her eyes for precaution. He zapped her face and then targeted problem areas. For her deeper pimples, Lain used a small needle to open the pore then applied the light therapy so that it would reach deeper. After the treatment, Mallet’s face looked smooth and rejuvenated, and she said her face felt tighter. The redness was dramatically decreased. Dr. Lain put a sunscreen on her face, and she was ready to go.
IsoLaz typically takes about five treatments to clear acne. Some patients, Lain said, clear after three treatments. At Steiner Ranch Dermatology, the IsoLaz is $800 for the five-treatment package or $250 per treatment. He recommends a treatment about once a week, then one every one or two months for maintenance.
Lain has had 16-year-olds to 35-year-old women with acne requesting the procedure. Some women have even used it in replace of facial treatments because it gives the same cleansing effect and tightens skin.
This deep-pore laser therapy is mainly used to treat severe acne, but is a two-in-one because it also permanently removes hair. It takes about the same amount of treatments, five to seven, to permanently remove hair, but it isn’t painful compared to other lasers.
“Once people find out about IsoLaz and realize the benefits, the treatment will become widespread,” Lain said.
The IsoLaz treatment isn’t the only new development at Steiner Ranch Dermatology. Medical aesthetician Karey Schafer will join the practice in April, offering a full range of procedures, including facials, facial and body waxing, microdermabrasion, chemical peels and skin analysis.
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February 25, 2008
The cure for what ails athletes
Attention all athletes! I have come across the cure to all aches, pains and sore muscles.
It’s the Hit the Trail Retreat, an hour-long sports massage followed by a sports pedicure at the Milk + Honey Spa located in the Second Street District. I’ve had some pretty intense workouts the past couple of weeks with the Austin Sports and Social Club Boot Camp, so this could not have come at better time.
After I arrived and checked in I was taken to the lockerroom to get changed into a provided robe and sandals, then shown to a locker where my belongings safely resided for the duration of my stay. The locker room has a shower so you can get clean and refreshed after hitting the Lady Bird Lake trail — and before your pampering begins. I, being the big dork that I am, was a little confused about this part and thought I would actually be instructed to take a shower, but this is something you have to initiate on your own. (Just a little tip so that you don’t repeat my mistake.) Because of my confusion I had to involuntarily skip out on the shower, but luckily it had been a few hours since I had worked up a sweat.
After getting changed and storing my things, it was off to the waiting area, which completely sets the mood for what’s to come with the soft lights, comfy sofas, magazines, flavored water, tea, fruit and muchies. I didn’t have to wait long till I was led to my room, where Matt the masseuse asked me some questions to get a feel of what it was that I wanted out of the massage. I told him I was attending boot camp and that my muscles were sore, but not so sore to where I couldn’t move — as the case was the week before. That seemed to be just the information he needed.
Matt then gave me a few minutes to get situated under the covers on the heated table. There was no way for me to prepare myself for what was to come next — the only word I know to describe it is “amazing.” Or maybe “nirvana.” Wow! It was the most rejuvenating massage I’ve ever had — and it amazed me how a complete stranger could be so in tune with my body and muscles. But all good things must come to an end, and so did my sports massage.
I still had a sports pedicure coming my way though. That in itself was another great experience. The girl who did my pedicure said the sports treatment was her favorite because of the exfoliant she gets to use on each client’s feet and legs. (My legs, by the way, have never been smoother). I chose a dark purple for my nail color and it’s so cute!
The day ended with a smile on my face and a bottle of sunblock in my hand for skin protection on trail trips to come. I had a great experience at Milk + Honey, and would definitely recommend the Hit the Trail Retreat to all you active people out there. It’s great for the mind, body and sore muscles — or just as a treat to yourself for getting out and working hard.
And please remember to tip!
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February 22, 2008
Wax on, wax off
Waxing is a personal experience — no matter which part of your body is being worked on — but some waxing is definitely more personal than others.
AnnMarie Skincare is a small aesthetician’s office at East Fifth Street and Interstate 35 offering an array of services, including waxing and facials at very reasonable rates. AnnMarie herself is friendly and efficient and, for the now-popular Brazilian wax, uses a hard, pink wax that speeds the process and reduces the pain involved. Why doesn’t everyone use this kind of wax? I asked her that once, after having fallen asleep on her table. She just shrugged and smiled, as if she knew some wonderful secret.
She does. Hair that wants removing wants removing by AnnMarie.
AnnMarie is meticulous about her work, and no more so than during one of her facials. The skincare products she uses are of exceptional quality, and her office has an atmosphere of total relaxation. Being a small office, she sees only one person at a time, and the privacy and personal attention is well worth it. Prices range from $40 to $145 for facials lasting 30-105 minutes, and $10 to $60 for waxing services. Brazilian waxes are $55.
