JoSentMe – Page 9 – Jo Sent Me

marbella

She seemed nice enough when we were introduced…rather gentle and sweet as she led me to the hammam. Her name was Nadia and she was from Morocco. Her task this morning was to introduce me to one of the treatments newly introduced to the spa at the Marbella Club – the Hammam Morjana Ritual.

As I entered the hammam she was laying towels down on the mosaic tiles and gestured for me to lie there, face down, and then began to massage my tight, locked shoulders. Her firm touch gradually eased the joints, ably abetted by the scented heat and steam. Next step was a dowsing with buckets of warm water and a thorough soaping with a rose scented product…soon I was lulled into a deep relaxation as more warm water was thrown over my body.

But then it all changed…the gentle Nadia turned into a fiend…first with a scouring glove that felt as if it would remove rust from an acient chip pan. She covered every inch of my body without an ounce of mercy…the only place where it was nearly enjoyable was on the soles of my feet. Then beckoning me to stand, she soaped me all over again and with more bowls of water removed the suds. I was grateful the scouring had stopped when she threw a bowl of ice cold water over me. The screams and yelps must have carried through to the rest of the spa, but nobody came to rescue…as she continued to hose me down with an icy cold spray. By which time I was running around the one pillar in the place trying to avoid her…before she allowed me to hose myself , which I did gingerly and half-heartedly from the feet up.

Respite came when she sat me down to shampoo my hair and cleanse my face. The relief of the warmth was almost overwhelming until…another bowl of cold water rinsed off the shampoo. By now I was ready to punch her…but too clever by half she persuaded me to lie on warm, dry towels as she performed a final massage using a rose and argan oil.

I finally forgave her as she wrapped me in warm towels and blankets and dimmed the lights in the relaxation area as I fell into a deep sleep. In truth when I woke my skin was glowing and squeaky clean. I just wish I wasn’t such a coward.

The Hammam Ritual is one of a number of new thalassotherapy treatments, programmes and cures now available at the Marbella Club. If you opt for a three or five day programme, look away as you leave the spa as the resort’s legendary buffet is laid out in all its glory just a few feet away from the spa entrance!

foot Prince (and Princess)

Summer is a killer for feet – they are always on show and rarely look their best, unless you have just pranced out of a pedicure. Nails look ragged and skin has all the resemblance of the outer rind of some ancient cheese. They are the one bit of the body we tend to neglect until almost the last minute and then rush for a quick fix at a local salon or a worse than amateur go at home.

REMEMBER THESE

* the best pedicure anywhere you will find at the hands of Samuel Soh. Sadly Mr Soh is based in Hong Kong, at the Barber Shop in the Mandarin Oriental…but if you’re ever heading that way, book him at the same time as you book your ticket, to make sure you don’t miss out on one of the great treatments. Armed with a roll of tiny chisels, Mr S sets about returning your feet to the shape and texture they should be. With these instruments, he cuts nails, carves out corns and callouses, removes all scaly and hard skin before polishing your toes with a colour of your choice (best to bring your own). There is no pain, no blood, no hassle. This is an original Shanghai Medical Pedicure which he learnt at his father’s feet and has now passed onto an able pupil, Ben, if you can’t get an appointment with the real thing

* Bastien Gonzalez, is another foot purist and works between London, Paris, New York and a few luxury resorts in the Indian Ocean ( One&Only in the Maldives and Mauritius). He too attacks the feet with all the ferocity of an iron fist in a velvet glove ridding them of all hard skin, callouses et al. He also promises to make your toes look like the inside of a shell. He does. He even has own foot products – cream from Euro34, the silkiest talcum powder and a free from all additives nail polish. Find him two days a week at the Cadogan Hotel, London (it’s £110 a pop – but you come away with almost new feet)

* The Daniella Steiner spas in Paris, Monte Carlo, Italy and Egypt offer pedicures which combine chiropdy with the beautifying elements. This treatment cannot be carried out in the UK as most pedicurists are not medically trained as they are in Europe. It takes just over an hour and you emerge with almost new feet

Can’t get to any of them? Then Geraldine Howard, one of the founders of Aromatherapy Associates, has the best advice on feet. Keep all samples of moisturisers, night creams, oils etc that you can find (even those sachets that you find glued to magazine pages) by your bedside…and every night just massage some into your feet. It doesn’t matter whether the cream is for necks, hands, face or eyes – any attention our poor feet get is better than none. If you’re feeling wildly extravagant Geraldine’s new rose oil is a serious treat…and you only need a tiny amount.

Medi Spa

Had a rivetting meeting at the EF MediSpa in London’s Kensington Church Street. The EF stands for Esther Fieldgrass, the founder of this seven storey box of tricks, who trawls the world on the look out for new research, new therapies, new machines and new treatments. The MediSpa is half magician’s lair, half serious holistic beauty clinic.

If you’re looking for cosmetic dentistry you’ll find it here as you will find botox and fillers. But you will also find nutritionists, naturopaths and sleep therapists, as well as the very latest information and treatments on weight reduction and skin tightening.

One of the most popular of all treatments is the Vaser High Definition Liposuction, and this is one of the few places outside the US where you can find it. Using ultrasound technology it removes fat from truly stubborn areas of the body…and should you require it, it can redistribute that fat to other areas. For instance, while I was there a client emerged from a session where she had fat removed from her thights and then introduced to her butt, to give her a pert posterior! It is apparently far less painful than conventional liposuction and you can even have it done in a lunchtime.

Looking for something a tad less painful, then also on offer is pain free permanent hair removal. Later this year Esther is opening a bigger clinic in Chelsea with more and even more advanced treatments.

eco spas

Is there such a thing, I wonder, as an Eco Spa. I know any number of spas and wellness centres are now claiming to be eco friendly and oh-so-green and I am trying to get my head around the concept.

I have visited spas where every sheet, towel, robe and pair of slippers used is made from unbleached organic cotton, where only natural fabrics are used in the décor and vegetable dyes in the design, and only local woods and bamboos have been used for furniture and doors. I have been massaged and pampered with oils and lotions made only from indigenous and natural products, where the juices, snacks and salads have all being grown organically just outside the back door and where every drop of water is recycled…and yet…

…I worry. How can I be sure that the amount of water needed for laundry, let alone the hydrotherapy treatments, swimming pools, steam rooms, jacuzzis, or indeed even for keeping the place clean, is absolutely necessary or even properly recycled And as for the electricity that used to keep the place warm, to fire the saunas and hammams and to facilitate the cathiodermie and CACI equipment not to mention the air-conditioning in the gyms, fitness centres and yoga studios and all of this before the aforementioned pools, hot tubs and whirlpools have to be heated. I’m not sure it’s all done with solar panels. The question is – how should a spa user deal with such a dichotomy? Has anybody out there got any ideas?