By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
March 3, 2000
I got blanketed with stones recently, and it was heavenly.
Let me explain. It was a spa treatment with little, hot rocks placed at pressure points on my body.
This isn’t weird. Honest.
A growing number of Americans are enjoying a variety of spa treatments, according to a survey conducted by the Princeton, N.J.-based Opinion Research Corp. International. This year’s poll revealed that 27 percent of Americans said they had a massage in the past five years, up from 17 percent in 1997.
And increasing numbers of people are making a visit to the spa part of their daily or weekly schedule. Spas aren’t just for pampering anymore. They’ve become a way of life for a growing number of women . . . and men.
Men now represent more than a quarter of spa clients. Rich Hills says he doesn’t allow more than a few days to go by without getting a massage.
“I started getting them since last September,” says Hills, 24, who has two standing appointments each week at the Elizabeth Arden Red Door Salon & Spa, 919 N. Michigan (312-988-9191). “It’s just a great stress buster and a nice way to relax.”
Carla Cooley, Red Door’s general manager, says, “These days we’re seeing a lot more people coming in for massages as a way of life rather than a once-a-year luxury. People are scheduling them in at lunch time and making time to be good to themselves.”
While pampering still remains the No. 1 reason people go to spas, a desire to relieve stress and alleviate pain is close behind, according to the International Spa Association.
“People who spend the entire day hunched over a computer terminal are going to have sore necks and backs,” says ISPA executive director Lynne Walker. “We’re seeing that instead of just living with the wrist or back pain, more people are seeking treatment with massage therapists.”
With that in mind, I decided to have a go at a couple of stress-busting spa treatments. I was very tense by the time I arrived for my hydrotherapy treatment at Red Door ($40 for 20 minutes), primarily because I couldn’t find the entrance, which is actually located on Walton). But all that tension eased away once I soaked in the tub.
Warning: There are 47 underwater jets that massage your body while you soak. And at times, they really do feel like hands massaging you, which takes a little getting used to at first. But then
you get used to it and go with the flow. You can soak in just plain, warm water, but I liked the combination of salts, bubbles and oils that was used in my session.
Next, I was placed in the gentle hands of Gigi Radu, who performed a dermaglow treatment ($150) on my face. The one-hour session began with a micro dermabrasion (think of your face being vacuumed) that left my pores tiny and clean. She followed that with an amazing facial, during which I fell asleep no less than three times. (Note to Red Door: Insure this woman’s fingers with Lloyd’s of London pronto!)
A few days later, I headed over to the Tiffani Kim Institute, 310 W. Superior (312-943-8777), for some more rest and relaxation. I was a little early, so I enjoyed a lovely glass of ice cold cucumber water and relaxed in the spotless steam room.
When it was time for my session, massage therapist Kathy Lacera led me to a quiet, dark room for my serenity stone massage ($95/hour or $125/90 minutes). I watched in awe as she laid an array of small, hot stones on the massage table, covered them with a soft towel and asked me to lay down on top of them. Mind you, at this point I was wearing nothing and a little wary of having hot rocks singe my skin. But the stones–which were arranged to coincide with the base of my spine to my lower back–left a warm, soothing sensation.
I have had plenty of massages in the past–Swedish, Thai, Shiatsu–but nothing like this. As Lacera massaged my body with the smooth stones, the heat (which remains in the stones for about 30 minutes) penetrated deep underneath my skin and helped un-knot the muscles in my shoulders, neck and legs.
“The heat is able to reach parts of the body that the fingers can’t get to,” Lacera says. “It brings the blood to the surface of the skin.”
For clients who’d like to relax even more in between procedures, they may unwind or catnap on the daybeds in the Place of Peace. Quiet and, yes, serene, the beautifully decorated room was illuminated with scented candles.
Next, it was time for a smoothing serenity stone facial ($150/90 minutes). After cleaning my face and tending to a persistent pimple, she applied the same principle to my face, at one point placing tiny, heated stones over each closed eye and mouth. Luckily, Lacera had placed a light gauze between my face and the stones, or they may have slipped into my mouth as I snored.
Ever since I had hit puberty, I was curious about body wraps. I had envisioned the procedure as a high-tech Saran Wrapping and wondered whether the claims of losing inches off your waistline were even remotely true.
With that in mind, I headed over to Urban Oasis, and was gently told that the day spa doesn’t conduct weight-loss procedures. I pointed to their menu of services and sputtered out, “But you have a wrap right here. What’s this aromatherapy wrap?”
Doesn’t matter. Whatever it was, I wanted it done to me. So I signed up for the 25-minute session ($50) and also a salt glow ($40 for 25 minutes) because it sounded like fun.
Turns out that both procedures were much ado about nothing.
I felt a little like a turkey being basted as I lay under infrared lights having oils massaged into me before I was folded into a big sheet of light plastic. I smelled awfully good though, but didn’t feel much different afterward.
The salt scrub left me similarly disenchanted. The combo of salt and citrus oil massaged into my skin left a nice glow. But I’d rather spend my money on a good massage. . .
. . .Which is what I did my next session at Urban Oasis. And that, my friends, was totally worth it. A 60-minute Swedish massage ($75) eased my sore muscles, left my skin shiny and soft and made me feel ready to face the world again.
Never mind that I was so relaxed that I almost got hit by a car heading back home.
No worries. It’s just time to schedule another massage.
PAMPER YOURSELF
Need some body work done? Try spa treatments at any of the following for a new, relaxed you:
The Art of Healing, 1747 W. Division (773-342-9331). Run by Tamara Wills, the Art of Healing smells great. It’s also an affordable, intimate place to pamper yourself. Massages are $50 for an hour session; $70 for 1 1/2 hours. Facials cost the same. Beauty note: the 90-minute facials include a 30-minute back massage.
Hair Loft, 14 E. Pearson (312-943-5435). Who’d have thought that a place called the Hair Loft would provide such great facials? At $55/hour, the facials here compare to the best I’ve had anywhere. Also worth checking out: the massages ($35/30 minutes; $60/hour).
Marianne Strokirk, 361 W. Chestnut (312-944-4428). They used to do a great fruit facial here, rubbing pieces of kiwi, oranges and apples on your face. Now Strokirk offers a Vitamin C treatment that leaves the skin glowing and feeling oh-so-clean. $70 for a one-hour session.
Kiva, 196 E. Pearson (312-840-8120). Feeling stressed? Kiva president Susan Dougherty suggests this signature treatment: the milk paraffin cocoon ($125 for an hour treatment), which is supposed to leave even the most dried out skin feeling baby soft.
Fontana Spa (at the Abbey Resort), Fontana Blvd., Fontana, Wis. (262-275-6811). Clients may relax in front of the fireplaces after enjoying a variety of services, including body polish ($40), herbal wrap ($30) or a spa hand treatment ($35).
