Education

It’s not uncommon for people’s energy to dip in the change of season. I think that perhaps we are so caught up in our daily lives that we don’t really connect that the weather changing can have a mental, emotional and physical effect on our bodies that goes beyond “spring fever”.

A fantastic spa retreat for the spring months is the Soulmatic Recharge Package (on sale in June for $199) which includes a 60 minute massage with a Registered Massage Therapist and a head to toe treatment for your body – the Sea Flora Wild Organic Sea Weed Skin Care Body Treatment.

You know that truly relaxed feeling you get after about your third or fourth day of vacation?- this treatment package gives you that feeling in about three hours!  And it’s not just the mental relaxation that you’re benefiting from. Sixty minutes of massage therapy is going to warm up and relax tense and stiff muscles and then the body treatment will take care of the rest. Using organic fresh sea weeds and glacial clays all sourced from the West Coast, this body treatment will slough off dry, dead skin cells, detoxify, remineralize, firm and moisturize your skin. Goodbye to winter’s dry and itchy skin and welcome to soft, hydrated and refreshed skin for the beach days ahead.

Just writing about it makes we want to book my appointment!

Detoxifying your system can really help if you’re feeling sluggish despite the extra daylight hours. This treatment package will really help purify your system, but I’d recommend doing an internal cleanse as well to help chelate excess metals and toxins from the blood stream. Read about the GliSODin Skin Nutrients Advanced Detox Formula here: http://www.glisodinskin.com/products_detox.html It’s a really simple, gentle and effective way to eliminate impurities from your body without having to drastically change your diet and lifestyle.

So if you’re looking for a true day spa experience- this is my recommendation. Oh- and if you’re wary of smelly sea weeds- do not fret! Because Sea Flora Wild Organic Sea Weeds are fresh and cold pressed, not dried, they don’t have that dreadful fishy smell that people have come to expect from sea weed wraps. This is more like spending a day at the beach and breathing in the fresh salt water air.

Gone are the days of luxury as the preeminent requirement for a spa experience. It’s no longer good enough to be slathered in chocolate or gold flakes in order to make the grade for a quality skin care treatment. People want results, and science-backed skin care procedures and products are visibly improving the skin’s appearance and health.

One of our most results driven treatments at Spruce Body Lab is the Spruce Skin Deep Facial. This treatment incorporates technology to increase the benefits of the skin care products and produces ionic responses which improve the pH balance, circulation and tonicity of the skin.

Because all of Spruce Body Lab’s treatments are customized to each individual’s skin condition, the Spruce Skin Deep Facial has many variations on how the technology and products can be used. For instance, one of the applications that is used during this treatment is called galvanic iontophoresis, galvanic is the type of electric current being used and iontophoresis means “to wander through a cell”. This technology can be used to penetrate a lactic acid based exfoliant deeper into the skin to address photo-damage, as well as penetrate hydrating and antioxidant ingredients deep into the skin. Galvanic iontophoresis allows for products to reach layers of the epidermis that are impenetrable otherwise as the current moves past the “rheins barrier”- a layer of the skin that determines what goes in and comes out of the skin.

From this perspective, the Spruce Skin Deep Facial is clearly results oriented- but it doesn’t stop at product penetration. The ionic shift that takes place in the skin during the application of current creates an acidic pH balance- which is extremely important to skin health, vasoconstriction which calms and cools the skin; all the while water is drawn up from the dermis (where  80% of the skin’s water is retained), into the epidermis which normally holds a mere 20% of the skin’s water content. This all translates into a smoother, brighter, calmer and better hydrated complexion.

For clients suffering from adult acne, the high frequency component of this treatment is very beneficial. The high frequency electrode, creates ozone- an anti-bacterial treatment for the skin. The circulation created by the current paired with the ozone effectively dries up, clears and heals active and would-be break outs.

Although this technology has been around for many years, it has been largely overlooked in North America and has recently seen a resurgence in use. I’ve even seen home high frequency kits that are sold on the Home Shopping network.

I wouldn’t encourage using this technology at home, as I can’t speak to the efficacy of equipment that is made for this use, but I can certainly attest to the results that a technology facial can bring.

Stay tuned for our Mother’s Day Interlude- a special package for Mom’s to enjoy this results-driven treatment while taking some time out to relax.

The Holiday Season is upon us.  It’s that time of year that seems to foster a build up of tension and stress. What to buy people? What to wear to all the Holiday parties? Can I fit it all in?- and family dynamics… Yay!

Something that came to mind for me when I was thinking about the Holidays is how nice it is to receive a gift certificate for a spa treatment. In fact, that is how I got started in the industry. When I was in my teens, my Dad started the tradition of buying everyone in my family gift certificates for a massage and facial every year at Christmas, and the rest is history. It was like nothing I had experienced before. I felt so taken care of- not just on the surface. What was I experiencing? The benefits of touch.

This year, the staff here at Spruce Body Lab, have had the pleasure of treating an elderly couple who have exemplified the benefits of the spa experience to me. The woman, who is in her mid seventies, started coming in to see one of our Registered Massage Therapists who was referred to her by her physical therapist.  She had been injured in a car accident, and her therapist had plateaued in the results they could give her, so they recommended proceeding with massage therapy.  While she was at it, she decided to try a facial.

This lady has since become a regular client, coming in bi-weekly for massage and monthly for skin treatments. She has raved about how her treatments have restored much of her vitality and health. She has significantly reduced her pain and improved her mobility. People have commented that she’s looking more youthful.  I believe that the therapeutic benefits of touch and the feeling of being cared for, are due as much credit for how good she looks and feels, as the science behind the treatments she has received.

As a special treat, she gave her husband a gift on his eightieth birthday, of a massage and facial.  He just came in again for his second massage this week.

It is one of the gifts to us as a therapists to see people getting so much out of the work that we’re doing. And it’s a good reminder to me that sometimes people need to be given these gifts, as they are not always likely to “treat” themselves to a spa experience.

I think in part, it’s about shifting how we view going to the spa; it needn’t be a rare treat. I think that culturally we could stand to start thinking of the spa as a resource for enriching our health and our lives- much like European cultures.

Do you think of spa treatments as a luxury, or have  they become part of your lifestyle and self-care?

Be sure to join us at our Holiday Party- gift certificates are 10% off!