Sun-Kissed, with Luxurious Care
By Cynthia Boggs
The three most glorious months of the Sonoran Desert are here, bringing 80-degree days, spring desert flowers, lots of blue sky, and the sun. Everyone is getting out his or her bicycle, going to the park, and hiking.
Along with all this fun comes the question of how to keep your skin healthy and soft in this dry air and intense sun. Fortunately, we who live in the North Valley are surrounded by some of the most luxurious spas and salons in the world, each offering its own signature methods to entice you to come in and get your skin looking as young as you feel!
The number-one most popular treatment is the scrub. This treatment goes by many other names—body buff, exfoliation treatment, skin polish—but whatever you want to call it, it is fabulous. A vast array of ingredients is used to remove those dull skin cells: powdered French coral, coarse salts from the Dead Sea, crushed bamboo, white sugar, brown sugar, even poppy seeds—all are very effective. Most spas mix in aromatic oils of lavender, sandalwood, sage, lemon, and sometimes vanilla to create a centuries-old sensory experience of peace and balance.
Increasing numbers of spas are building water-therapy rooms to perform these treatments. Most include a comfortable table to relax on while a warm rain bar filled with water nozzles mist you from head to toe and envelope you in a fragrant beauty fog.
Wraps come a close second in popularity, and an innovative assortment of recipes does the work beautifully. A favorite is the seaweed-gel wrap, a treatment in which warm emulsified seaweed is painted in a thick layer on your skin, and then you are swathed in warm sheets and blankets, like a heavenly cocoon. Seaweeds are used worldwide to replenish the trace elements and minerals that we lose to the dry air, and the seaweed actually acts like a skin food that nourishes us.
Ahhhhh, the massage. Actually, the massage is two treatments in one, combining the power of touch to sooth the muscles with the hydrating benefits of massage oil. Hot stone therapy massages are also appealing and somehow translate into a body therapy that remind us of Arizona’s magnificent stone landscapes and the healing power of the desert. Most often, the stones are basalt rocks tumbled to a smooth finish and warmed in a water bath to the perfect temperature; they often hold an even heat on the body for fifteen minutes, which gives enough time to relax a tight muscle, allowing a truly deep therapeutic experience.
Whichever body therapy you choose, know that here in the North Valley are some of the best skin-care and massage therapists in the world waiting to rejuvenate your sun-kissed body with expert care and a treasure of treatments.