faceit

Indulge in some skinful pleasures
By Florence Pia G. Yu
Published: Gulf News, Friday Magazine
Dubai, U.A.E.
April 18, 2003
Pages: 38-40, 42, 47-48

Was the reflection you saw this morning in the bathroom mirror evidence of neglect? Did you inspect further and realized that your skin is dry, even flaky, your hands are wrinkly, your feet are calloused, and your face chapped?

Face it. It's your skin screaming for some attention.

Your skin is the largest organ of your body, but do you protect it enough? Everyday, this sensitive organ is assaulted by the elements which can be potentially damaging--the hot, billowing winds, the intense sun, the cold temperature of your air-conditioned office.. What can you do to ensure that it remains in the best of health?

Facing it

"The first thing you notice about a person is his/her face," says Marie Ann Harrison, beauty expert and Spa Director at the Willow Stream, The Fairmont Dubai. "It is important to take care of the face because it is exposed to extremes from the weather," she says. Moving from the outdoors into an air-conditioned environment can affect the skin. The change of temperature tend to dry out the skin, she explains.

She drinks a lot of juice, she says, but will not consider it a substitute for two liters of water she consumes a day. "Juices are high in natural sugar, and it's not everyone's cup of tea. Water is your best drink."

She requests an assistant for some fresh fruit juice. Within minutes, he arrives with two tall glasses of their Garden Tonic juice, made of carrot and celery juice mixed with vitamin E. Drinking a lot of natural fruit juice is good for the skin, she advises. "It's quite cleansing and the vitamin E gets rid of toxins in the body. Celery is a very good cleanser. It helps release tension. Carrots are good for the eyes. Orange offers vitamin C."

For Malini Ohri, health and beauty therapist at Splendour, Dubai, everyday care is more important--whether it is at home or at a salon. "Cleansing, exfoliating and moisturizing the face, neck and decollete (region at the base of the neck, just above the chest) helps lessen acne. Eating fresh fruits like bananas is good, as well as eating stir fried vegetables (cooked in two minutes, to retain the vitamins). Oily food should be eaten in moderation."

Jacqui McCumiskey, Spa Manager of Cleopatra's Spa, Dubai, advises people to thoroughly cleanse the skin, especially the T-zone.   Her skin is slightly oily so she uses a creamy wash in the morning and a slightly thicker cream in the evening to remove her makeup, she says. It is also good to tone the skin regularly. "Toning not only cleans off any residue, but tightens the skin as well."

Jacqui also suggests gently patting the eye area with a little eye cream using the ring finger (which has the lightest touch) "because we don't want to stretch the thin skin around there". Be careful not too put too much eye cream, though, because this will trap moisture in, and will make your eyes look puffy.
       You can only do so much at home. Now and then, it is best to let a professional take care of the areas which you may have neglected, Jacqui advises.

Going for a facial

When therapist Laura Birch, at the Cleopatra's Spa, prepared to give me an O-lys Theraphy facial, I had to confess. I'm one of those people who wish I were like Natalie Portman--flawless, glowing skin and all. But the truth is I don't really find the time to adapt what most people consider a thorough beauty regimen. My idea of clean is simply having a good bath every day, toweling dry, and, if I feel like it, applying a little lotion all over my body.

"You need to exfoliate," she tells me in her gentle voice, while bending over my head and working a cleanser on my face. The products are made from botanical extracts, she assures me. Her massage is light, almost feathery, and I instantly drift into a relaxed state.

Feeling my skin with her light fingers, she tells me I have bumps on the chin. "That's underlying congestion. Basically, since you don't exfoliate, you get layer upon layer of dead skin cells. Hence, you need to exfoliate one or twice a week to maintain the health of your skin," she reminds me.

The O-lys machine to my right made it clear that this wasn't going to be just any ordinary facial. The treatment is based on light therapy, Laura explains. The machine is a small box with four fiber optic attachments emitting different colored light (wavelengths) while the facial is going on. Red, for example, stimulates the blood circulation. The colored lights are then pointed at the cheeks, the forehead and the pharynx, to stimulate the

Serotonin, a feel good hormone, says Laura. The process stimulates a natural cellular regeneration and repair process, she adds. She flicks on the machine. Red light streams from the attachments which she directs at specific points in my face. "Red kills bacteria, and is good for deep cleansing," she says. She proceeds to tone and exfoliate my skin.

She then switches the light to green while she puts a face mask on me. "To relax you," she tells. She finishes it off with a nice, firm massage to my shoulders, neck and scalp.

The experience is, to use just one word, relaxing.

In fact, it was all very visible, too. When I bumped into my friend, Wilma, that evening, she told me my face was actually glowing!

Hands off

"We abuse our hands. We use harsh detergent when washing dishes, and we soak them in water for too long. They also dry out," says Jacqui.

Like the face, the hands also need to be moisturized and exfoliated.

"Water strips your hands of natural oil. You need to have a moisturizer in your kitchen so when you finish washing, you can moisturize your hands," tells Laura.

It is better to use gloves when doing the laundry or gardening, therapist Rebecca King advises. She says massaging the fingertips will help nails grow, and if you are using nail varnish, you should give it a break for a few days to allow the nails to breathe.

You also need to make sure your nails are nicely trimmed and healthy. The cuticles should not be sticking out. Biting your nails is a no-no.

So is cracking your knuckles, tells Chester Ramilo, therapist at the Taj Palace Ayurvedic Spa. "It dries up the fluids in the joints, and is the earliest sign of developing arthritis in old age. Maybe you can do it when you just want to release the tension in your joints, but if you do it out of habit, it becomes bad."

Your feet

''Being hygienic means you are not just clean, but you are clean all over. Even in areas that are not exposed, like the feet," says Bessie Salomon, Marketing Manager at the Taj Palace Hotel.

Indeed, our poor feet do all the walking and standing, but few of us pay enough attention to them.

Bessie is in a job that requires her to be on her feet every day. "I make sure I do a foot massage as often as I can. I've taught myself a bit of Reflexology, and I have this chart at home, so I just massage points on the feet to relieve myself." She relaxes her feet by soaking them in lukewarm water and a pinch of salt, which she says also gets rid of unwanted odour.

"It is important to have regular visits to the pedicurist to avoid in growing toenails, calluses, hard skin on the feet, bunions, and blisters," says Marie. Regular home care, like using pumice stone to rub off dead skin cells can help, Marie says.

It is important to avoid ill fitting shoes because these lead to other problems, she adds.

When using trainers, you need to make sure your feet are dry after a workout. Wide-toed shoes are recommended because they allow the feet to breathe. And although high heels or sandals may air your feet, the exposure to the elements will make them dry, and the skin on the edge of the balls of your feet will tend to harden.

Women who need to wear high heels will be better off using insoles to cushion their feet, advises Laura.

"Some salons trim off the hard skin on the feet," observes Jacqui. "It gets rid of the problem, but then the skin grows back a lot tougher and thicker."

The body massage

It's not just the elements that can affect your skin. Stress, too, can also do as much damage. If you are stressed out, it will reflect on your skin.

A massage is highly effective and allows you to relax totally, Marie says. And I didn't exactly know what she mean until I tried it out myself.

For the uninitiated and experienced alike, the aSpara Spa Prestige Massage at the Willow Stream and the Taj Four Handed Abhyanga at the Taj Ayurvedic Spa are experiences that bend conceptions.

aSpara Spa Prestige Massage

At the Willow Stream, Rebecca, my petite therapist, leads me into the first of five treatment rooms. The setting is enough to make you relax: cream-coloured stucco walls, with soft music wafting in through the speakers hidden in the ceiling. The lamps on the wall, like glowing torches, soften the atmosphere.

I climb on the electric-heated bed and Rebecca covers me with towels. She lights two pots of aromatherapy candles as we start the session. I had 90 minutes of blissful, relaxing, soft-touch body massage-cum-exfoliation from head to toe. Rebecca doesn't leave anything unmassaged, even the tips of my fingers. "Wonderful," I murmur, "How do you let your hands do that?" "We have healing hands," she says, with a shy laugh. She uses mind-relaxing lavender-based serums, which are wonderful to the senses.

The highlight of this treatment is the back massage followed by the application of the natural self-heating mud along the spine. Rebecca gets two bowls of the self-heating mud. The stuff looks and feels like powdery ash. She takes a little in a bowl, and adds in cold water until the mixture becomes like a batter. I ask to smell it, and she puts it under my nose. "It smells like fish, doesn't it?" she says, with a guffaw.

"It helps draw out toxins from the body, and helps you relax. It would leave a red mark where it has drawn out most toxins from your body," she says.

While I sit up, she puts a sheet of foil on the bed. She scoops the mud into the centre of the sheet, forming a vertical line aligned to my spine. She then puts on huge pieces of gauze over it. "So that it won't feel icky, but you can still feel it work because some of it will go through the small holes," she explains.

She asks me to lie back, and my spine begins to absorb the treatment. She repeats the same procedure to each foot, but this time wrapping them with the plastic foil. Within seconds, I could feel the mud heating deliciously along my spine. There was a sort of bubbling sensation, as if the mud was forming bubbles under my back. I felt the same sensation on my feet, too. Paired with the slow, steady, light-pressure massage, was simply blissful. Not to mention, I had an exfoliation, all in one go.

Taj Four Handed Abhyanga

This treatment is an intense, but otherwise relaxing experience of Indian healing tradition, the Ayurveda, a 5,000 year old Indian science of life.

"This science recognises that five elements make up an individual: space, air, fire, water and earth--all of which form three distinct mind-body combinations or doshas (Vatta, Pitta, Kapha). An imbalance in doshas is due to stress, improper diet or lifestyle factors," Chester Ramilo explains.

A pre-treatment analysis determines one's dosha. Looking at my physical and psychological characteristics, my therapists have deduce I am a Pitta: I have a medium body structure, fair skin, I can't stand heat, I like intellectual work, but I'm easily irritated. Apparently, I am "naturally hot" and will need to drink plenty of cool liquid.

The treatment starts with a foot soak, a foot bath and a foot massage of oils made from herbs. All containers, like the foot bowl and lota (water container) are in copper to ionize the liquids and allow the skin to absorb the minerals, says Chester.

In Ayurveda, treatments are people-specific, he explains. Special oils and treatments are tailored to suit specific dosha types.

Interestingly enough, two therapists work on my body, using warm oil all over me. One works on the upper portion of the body, while the other works on the lower half. While doing vigorous, rhythmical, straight strokes, I feel as if the ladies are doing a step-in dancing routine. It's the mark of the abhyanga, I am told. They apply similar medium pressure while massaging me from head to foot.

Since I am a Pitta, they use a warm Pitta Abhyanga oil, made of botanical extracts, meant to have a cooling effect on the skin. It is also poured on my navel, to "cleanse" the digestive system. I was being massaged under green light, I notice. "We use green light on you because you have an imbalance brought about by your lifestyle," the therapists explain.

The massage feels quick, almost brusque, but it leaves a lingering sense of contentment on my previously-unhinged body.

Laura giving the writer a facial

See related article

Florence enjoying the massage

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