Tuesday, July 29, 2008

A Different Kind of Spa Experience.

A while ago, one of the doctors I work for was telling me about a spa that she went to up in Lynnwood(a suburb of Seattle). She said that it was really a great experience and that the spa treatments left your skin feeling really smooth. At the time I thought that it sounded kind of cool but never got around to going. Fast forward 1 year later to a hotel in San Francisco where I am telling Lucy about the spa and this particular treatment called Rejuvenation. Lucy surprised me by saying that she had been to that same spa and knew exactly what I was talking about. She assured me that it was worth going to.

As soon as I got back to Seattle I called and scheduled an appointment. As the appointment time drew near I started feeling a little...anxious. I know it sounds strange to hear but this is the reason; from what I had heard you basically walk around naked the whole time. Well, let me just say, they weren't lying! The spa itself is really nice, it has several hot rooms for you to chose depending on what your needs are. This I thought was pretty cool. I didn't realize that depending on the heat of a room it can effect different parts of your body. An example of this would be the 60 degree room which helps to aid circulation. I stayed away from this room and stuck to the fat burning, clear skin sauna. (by the way,you wear a robe in these rooms)

The room that intimidated me the most was where the hot tubs were. This was where any inhibitions you may have about your body are forced to go out the window. Again, there were about five different hot tubs with varying degrees of heat. I had to soak in the hot tub for 40 minutes so that I could get sufficiently pruny before having all of my dead skin cells sloughed off by an extremely chatty Asian woman who kept talking about her fellow co-workers. I decided to get into the 90 degree tub since I knew I was going to be there a while, but once I got in I found it to be too cold and forced myself out in the open to bravely walk the 15 feet to a warmer tub. Lets just say that I stayed here until my name was called for the actual treatment. I sat there in the tub and kept my eyes closed trying desperately to forget where I was and to relax. I kept telling myself that I was a mature woman and being in a room full of naked women was really not that big of a deal. Well guess what? It is a big deal! Now I am not much of a prude but this was just WEIRD!

Thankfully my torture ended with my name being called. I quickly wrapped my towel around me and ran over to my masseur, who promptly told me, "relax, you no need towel, nobody going to look at you." Feeling slightly embarrassed she ripped the towel off of me and told me to get on the table. She donned some gloves that had some serious scrubbers (brillo pads come to mind)and went to work. It doesn't exactly hurt, but it doesn't feel good either. I kept laughing to myself thinking of all of the blog entries I could write on this one experience. Joanne, my torturer kept asking me if I was alright because I kept looking around. I told her that I was trying to see the dead skin because I had heard from Lucy and Dr. Lee that there would be a lot of it. Joanne told me not to look, that it didn't look very good.

Anyways, after having barely any skin left on my body we entered the moisturizing part of the treatment. (it kind of sounds like a car wash. If that were so we would be at the waxing stage) They used hot olive oil, hot milk, honey, Aloe Vera and cucumber during this stage. I wont go into any more detail at this point, just boring cucumbers on the eyes stuff.

Three hours later I was walking out of the spa feeling...exhausted! My skin was, and still is feeling really soft. So the question is, was it worth it? Would I do it again? Well...I don't know that it was worth it but I would probably go again but only for a special occasion-like getting married or something like that. Otherwise I think that I could do without THAT kind of spa experience.

I am attaching a link so that if any of you feel so compelled you can know where to go.

11 comments:

the baker said...

oh my holy hannah!! you are so brave!! there is NO WAY i could ever do that. i would have walked out if i found out i had to walk around naked the whole time. in fact i would have held on to my clothes and ran...i never would have made it past the reception desk. :) happy birthday, i'm totally excited to hang with you in a week.

Jeff said...

I had no idea that you are such a Prudie McPrude. Actually, I did kind of know that. Sounds like you had a lovely time. I don't think I would have been overly comfortable with all that myself. And I challenge Jillicious to go to that spa next time she is in town.

the baker said...

to jeff: i'll take a PASS on that!
thanks--jillicious

the baker said...

actually i have a deal for you jeff...i'll consider going to that spa, if you go to a singles conference :) i think that is a fair trade.

mooney said...

I am happy that I survived it! I am looking forward to seeing you too!

Anonymous said...

Good on you! Everyone needs the occasional "Out-of -my-comfort zone" experience :) Happy Birthday and I'll call you about dinner tomorrow.
~lucy

Anonymous said...

btw Jillicious and Jeff...there is a singles conference at the Ensign Ranch during the long Labor Day weekend...I might consider going if both of you and Dawn commit to going :) lucy

the baker said...

aloha lotoalofa--i'm actually heading to southern cal on the 3rd of sept and then i'm in the bay area after that for a mid-singles conf...so normally i would go, but i'm already having to close jillicious desserts for 2 weeks...but if you want to come to sf for a conference, i'll be there.
--jill
p.s. sorry dawn that i'm using your blog to communicate with others...lol

Jeff said...

I'll go to the Singles Conf. at Ensign Ranch. It sounds kind of fun. Besides...it's right off I-90 and if it gets really bad I can flee at a moments notice. So when is your spa date jillicious?

the baker said...

dang it...ummm, well, my car is getting really old, uh, i don't know if it can make the trip...i think i have cakes to bake. :)

Kimbug said...

I've heard of that spa... I am NOT brave enough to go there. I have gone several times to another spa, Banya5 down by Denney Park. It is co-ed, but you wear your bathing suit out in the open. Their salt scrubs are amazing and not as, shall we say...'vigorous' as the ones in Lynnwood. :O)