DAYSPA eNewsletter: Star Treatment

Sustainable Sincerity

Our upcoming Green Scene ("Mayan Marvel," September 2010) contains helpful tips on how to detect greenwashing when perusing "organic" product labels. That's when companies try to unjustifiably tout a product's environmental virtues.

As John Vater, co-ower of Spa Adriana in Huntington, New York, warns, "The big print giveth and the small print taketh away."

Here's some information about avoiding this pitfall:

Read labels with a discriminating eye.
John and his wife, co-owner Adriana Vater, caution spa professionals against taking a product label at face value. "If the packaging claims it doesn't contain something, you should ask yourself what's there to do that ingredient's job," Adriana says. "Every component of a product has a purpose, and sometimes a so-called 'green' ingredient is just as offensive as the original."
Educate yourself.
The Vaters say it's important to develop an understanding of how product ingredients work. "With today's Internet access, you can quickly look up the chemical composition of any item," John says.

It's not always easy going green. How do you ensure that your spa's environmental initiatives result in real, positive change? Send your ideas to Katie O'Reilly, associate editor, at koreilly@creativeage.com.

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Champagne Wishes

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Sipping a bit of bubbly is a classic way to celebrate new arrivals and beginnings. Champagne also does wonders for the skin. The Huntington Spa at the Langham Huntington Hotel in Pasadena, California, offers clients The Champagne Facial (50 min./$150), an exotic treatment rich in antioxidants and skin-firming peptides.

"This treatment contains the precious extract of yeast from the fine wines grown in the heart of France," says spa supervisor Lisa Marie Potts. "It’s packed with glutathione, an active ingredient that plays a key role in the skin's regeneration process. Not only will clients see a sparkling glow, but this facial is also luxurious and relaxing."

Just like our favorite celebratory cocktail.

The protocol:

The skincare products used in this treatment are by Babor.

Apply three pumps of Hy-Oil and massage them into the client’s face.

Use the corresponding Phytoactive mask for the client's skin type and massage again with water. Emulsify the products and wash them off with warm towels.

Add one tablespoon of Enzyme Cleanser to a bowl, add water and whip up the mixture with a brush. Apply it to the skin. Use a Clarisonic brush for a second cleansing of the skin.

Brush Rich Vitalizing Mask all over the face, neck and décolleté. Remove it immediately with lukewarm towels.

Apply lip and eye cream.

Mix Enzyme Peeling with water until it has a consistency similar to yogurt. Add a small amount of Ultimate Foam Mask—which contains champagne yeast—and apply it with a brush.

Perform extractions if necessary.

Apply custom Ultimate Fluid—which also contains champagne yeast—with pressing movements to the face, neck and décolleté until absorbed.

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Champagne Wishes

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