A Vietnamese organised crime syndicate was behind an attempt to smuggle $31 million worth of drugs hidden in foot spas and massage chairs into Australia, a court has heard. Australian federal agent Christopher Rowntree told the court more than 165 kilograms of drugs concealed in foot spas and massage chairs had been detected in late May by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in a shipping container bound for Australia.
The Caribbean has the capacity to become the leading spa and wellness destination in the world. This assessment has come from Steve Andrews, owner of Soothing Touch Day Spa, who told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY that the region had unique characteristics that could attract people from all over the world. Andrews noted that spa-goers travelled around the world looking for unique experiences and although the Caribbean had a lot to offer, many spas had not incorporated the region's distinguishing features into their services.
The aesthetician at a salon in Pakistan's capital couldn't help being nervous. Her client that afternoon was especially demanding, certain to quiz her unrelentingly about anti-wrinkle creams and pore-reduction potions. But such exactitude, she said, is typical of her male customers.
Pakistan may be tradition-bound and have conservative Muslim mores, but the male-beauty trade is booming here. Urban professional men are waxing and highlighting and plucking and primping like never before.
Based on the theory that the beauty business is "recession-proof," a father-and-son team is opening a cosmetology school in Fenton, Michigan. Bill Arbour and son, William Arbour, took over Fenton Academy of Cosmetology last May and plan to move it to a building they are constructing . People need jobs, the partners said, and cosmetology offers a career with a short training period that costs a fraction of a college education. And there's never a shortage of customers.
Do you agree? Read the story.
Nothing goes together quite like young girls and make-up. But how young is too young for make-up? How do you know that you are teaching your daughter the best techniques for make-up application? What about all other forms of personal hygiene and self-care?
Valerian Day Spa in Wisconsin has designed and will be holding its first annual Camp Day Spa. This day long workshop is intended to teach girls ages 8 to 14 about proper care for their growing and changing bodies. Topics covered throughout the day will include brow shaping, proper skincare, nail maintenance and aromatherapy. In addition, product kits and healthy snacks will be provided throughout the day. Participants will also give and receive manicures and pedicures.
The simple mother-daughter stress-reducing day at the spa — complete with perfect manicures and pedicures — has morphed into a full-fledged booming beauty business. Some spas now are giving their tween clients resort-type treatments and pint-size pampering. The offerings go beyond the typical painted nails.
Catering to a kid's every possible desire, some spas have stepped up their tween care by offering hair highlights, microdermabrasion and bikini waxes for girls as young as 11 and 12.
The Mornington Peninsula(Australia) will take on the Hepburn Springs-Daylesford region for the title of Victoria's premier spa destination. Peninsula spa owners held a strategy summit in March and voted to form a regional association to boost their industry.
"We looked at how we can promote this area as a spa destination," says Alana Dyer, manager of the Peninsula Life Medispa in Mornington. "We really think we can make an impression."
Toppling the traditional titleholder - the central springs area centered on Hepburn Springs and Daylesford - would shake up the state's spring and massage industry and further boost tourism on the peninsula.
Forget avocado, evening primrose oil or other exotic ingredients, the latest facial to hit New York is a mask made with bird excrement. The Geisha Facial, available at Shizuka New York for $180, about $100 more than the shop's other facials, contains nightingale excrement.
The UK’s largest private investment syndicate is to construct the UK’s largest residential health spa.
Fifty members of investment group Hotbed have entered into a £23 million deal to construct and operate a 192-room residential spa in Essex, to be completed in late 2009.
During 11 years as a broker serving wealthy South Floridians, Nicole Oden made a lot of money, endured a lot of stress and spent a lot of time in spas getting rid of both. So when she became dissatisfied with the spas in her area, she decided to open her own.
In short order, she researched the industry, prepared a business plan, secured a bank loan and in November 2004 opened Spa Eleven, an 11,100-square-foot luxury day spa in Delray Beach. Ms. Oden says the 70-person enterprise generated a modest profit on $3 million in first-year revenues, and she is investigating two more locations.
Running a spa is perhaps the ultimate feel-good business, and spa owners say helping others look better and feel more relaxed is a major benefit of their job. Earning a healthy income in the business, however, is hard work, given the challenges in employee retention and financing.
The dental spa has become an established part of the dentistry market. Dental spa experts estimate that up to 5% of dental practices in USA currently offer dental spa or spa dentistry services. Strong growth is forecast and numbers are expected to increase with as many as three quarters of US dental practices possibly becoming dental spas. They can boost sales by doing so as dental spas report patients spending about 30% more per visit than in a traditional dentists office.
Read the Story
A questionnaire for new clients at the Murad Health Center, a spa in in El Segundo, California, wants to know everything about you. Ever had heart problems? How about back pain? And what if you had no obligations tomorrow? Do you have any meaningful plans for the rest of your life?
The 34-page lifestyle Q&A doesn't hold back. It wants to know "the last time you felt really well" and whether you "begin the day with activities that nurture your body and spirit." If the answers are hard to find, then you'd better start thinking about them. Today's spas are out to do more than merely erase age spots or ease a few kinks in your neck.
Coast Vineyard Christian Fellowship is offering to assist single mothers by changing the oil in their vehicles and giving them a massage, between 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday, March 15, 2008 at Coast Vineyard, 1505 NE 6th Dr., Lincoln City. Oregon. Massages, games and snacks will be provided for the mothers and their children. Call Ty at 364-1167 to make an oil change appointment, as well as to schedule a massage.
She thought a massage would be soothing. Instead she ended up in pain. Here’s one woman’s account of what can go wrong in a massage—and what to know before you get one.
Since beginning her ministry of massage 34 years ago at the YMCA in Fargo, N.D., Sister Rosalind of Sister Rosalind Gefre Schools and Clinics of Massage in Sauk Rapids, has incorporated prayer into healing. "Prayer heals," she said.
South Australians spent more time looking after their health and appearance over the past 20 years but increasingly neglected traditional community pillars. If the Yellow Pages directory is anything to go by, we have become increasingly hungry for ways to relax and beautify ourselves. But this snapshot also highlights how time-pressured and selfish our lives have become. The number of day spas, cosmetic clinics, tattoo parlours, naturopaths and masseuses listed in the Yellow Pages guide have soared since 1988, while church organisations, union branches and corner delis and butchers are now a dying breed
The Leading Hotels of the World, Ltd. enjoyed its most successful year ever in 2007, setting new records in sales and revenue. Roomnight sales production of nearly USD 1.65 million surpassed the previous record level reached in 2005. This impressive achievement was the result of two major influences: the robust travel industry and the strength of client loyalty to the Leading Hotels brand among hoteliers and consumers. Website initiatives at lhw.com helped boost the growth of the Internet distribution channel, with production growing by 12% over the preceding year, from 220,884 room nights in 2006, to 247,269 in 2007.
We've all seen the advertisements. Soak your feet in an Ion / Detox Foot Bath and watch the water turn a bright shade of orange or brown as the nasty gunk leaves your body. A reader writes: "Are those Detox Foot Baths really helpful? The spa I use is now pushing them at $45 for a 30 minute session and guarantees I'll be amazed, but I'm really dubious."
Aspiring to go from being pampered to becoming parents, a growing number of couples are turning to spas to increase their chances of conceiving. Instead of taking hormone injections, prospective mothers are submitting to acupuncture needles. Meds are being traded for massage. And in place of a cold doctor's office, couples enjoy feng shuied rooms, cascading waterfalls, and enough New Age music to turn a pit bull into a poodle. It's all part of the philosophy that relaxation is the drug-free path to reproductive success.
He snickered when he first saw a medical spa offering Botox and laser hair-removal services on a visit to a Las Vegas mall in 2002. He laughed at the thought of someone — anyone — shopping for the latest fashions, grabbing a bite to eat and then, oh yeah, strolling in for a quick shot of Botox to zap out a nasty wrinkle.
The New York Times recently documented the lives and beauty budgets of three women in different parts of the country. One, a real estate agent from Los Angeles, admitted she regularly spent several thousand dollars monthly just for “maintenance,” just to “be in the game.” Lifestyle trends such as this fueled the spa and medical tourism boom in 2007. Spas are going well beyond the dedicated spa outlet or the home spa, and branching out into mobile spas, “macho” spas for men, and even pets.
The less effective a beauty product or treatment, the more likely women are to keep using it. That’s what researchers found after interviewing nearly 300 women, ages 27 to 65, who were trying to achieve a more youthful appearance by using creams, vitamins and other beauty treatments. Surprisingly, women were more loyal to products and treatments when they didn’t work than when they did.
If your life is Steel Magnolias, you go to the salon once a week to get a manicure, a pedicure, a haircut and curl, and--while you're sitting under an old fashioned blow dryer that turns your hair blue--the poop on the latest gossip.
If your life is MY life, you go to the spa for the first time in a decade to get a (crappy) facial, a (rushed) pedicure, a (lopsided) haircut, and--while you're taking a pee freshening up in the bathroom--the rat poop on the floor behind the door.
Nice.
By the time Pam Parer made it home from the spa one August evening, she already had second thoughts about the contract she had just signed. Parer had agreed to pay $5,500 for a series of cosmetic laser skin treatments at the Pure Med Spa in Schaumburg, Illinois, money she was told was non-refundable. The spa helped her establish a new credit card on the spot, then charged the card for the entire amount. Before the first treatment, Parer called the manager and told her she wanted to back out. "She said, 'No problem, I'll take care of everything,'" Parer said. When the credit card statement arrived weeks later still showing a balance of $5,500, Parer called the manager again. This time, the manager told her she was out of luck. The manager didn't have the authority to remove the charges.
Read the Story, and we invite you to comment. Was the client due a refund? What's your spa's refund policy?
Japanese manufacturers usually go wild with their concept cars during the Tokyo Motor Show and introduce experimental vehicles that may or may not appear on the roads someday. This year, the "Spa Car" by Toyota made its debut:
The Toyota RiN resembles a spa on wheels. The automaker says the RiN is focused on promoting well-being and serene, healthy living. . . . Taking its design motif from the deep-rooted, tall-growing Yakusugi tree, a variety of Japanese cypress, Toyota says the RiN aims to express "harmony with nature and healthy mind and body."
Sonia Alexandra invented the wildly popular hot stone massage in the mid nineties, now she is taking her passion for holistic healing to pet owners worldwide. Pets will now be able to experience the holistic benefits of the hot stone massage thanks to Stone-Healing.com.
Alcohol and pampering have always gone hand in hand. Just ask any woman who has ever happily accepted a complimentary glass of wine or a martini from her aesthetician while waiting for her toes to dry or highlights to take (Vodka shots after a sauna are de rigueur with the hedge-fund set).
Spas, however, were different. Marketing themselves as wellness centres, with strict detox programs, alcohol was banned along with caffeine, salt and gluten (corks still popped, of course, but on the down low).
Read the Story
Hotels scramble for cover-up
The State - Columbia,SC,USA
Hotels have spent the last decade courting travelers and one-upping each other with plusher, sexier bathrobes. Now, the hard part: convincing guests to wear anything else. Management at the Huntington Hotel in San Francisco is instructing its staff not to seat anyone wearing robes in the bar.
Poor handbags. The pressure to be beautiful has dribbled down leather shoulder-straps, from women's brains into the empty souls of their designer bags. Yep, it's happened. Handbags are getting Botox. Dermatologist-turned-designer Mauro Orietti-Carella was inspired to inject the skin of his python and alligator bags after brainstorming with a plastic surgeon.
Nurses working in an accident and emergency department reported that their anxiety levels fell dramatically when they were given aromatherapy massages while listening to music, according to recent research in the Journal of Clinical Nursing.
In an experiment designed to identify the habits of "tightwads and spendthrifts" -- researchers crafted question about spending, and used massage services as part of the test.
"...Researchers varied whether a hypothetical massage priced at $100 was framed as necessary to relieve back pain (utilitarian) or desired because it would be pleasurable (hedonic). Among the researchers' observations: Participants in the utilitarian condition found paying for the massage significantly less painful than did participants in the hedonic condition; tightwads found paying for either massage significantly more painful than spendthrifts; and overall, tightwads were significantly less willing than spendthrifts to buy a massage. This final difference, however, depended on how the massage was framed: Spendthrifts were 26% more likely than tightwads to buy the hedonic massage, but only 9% more likely to buy the utilitarian massage."
Massage therapists fed up with being linked to the sex industry in the Yellow Pages have scored a victory with the directory company agreeing to look at separating the two industries. Massage therapists called for the separation earlier this month. Massage New Zealand president Barry Vautier said the heading in the directory should be changed to something like adult services, as every state in Australia had already done.
Metrosexuals, move over. The burly, macho men of Colorado Springs are barging in on your territory. Manscaping — the art of transforming men’s hairy bodies into something manageable — is not just for frou-frou, fastidious guys anymore. Neither are soft cuticles, flawless skin or pedicures. The guys who are visiting spas these days range from preteens to great-grandpas and come from all walks of life: the military, business — even trucking.
Spas used to be the places where vacationers could completely disconnect from the world. Now, a guest resting in a relaxation room, looking for no more stimulation than soft music and aromatherapy, may turn to see someone on the next plush chaise typing furiously away on a PowerPoint presentation.
Jackson Academy student
Lindsay Guild, 16, has no shame in treating herself to a manicure,
pedicure and facial every now and then. With
hectic schedules that include schoolwork, extracurricular activities,
jobs, friends and the day-to-day challenges of 21st-century life, Guild
says some teens view going to a spa a necessity rather than a luxury. "It's just kind of relaxing, and it gives you a break from stress and everything," Guild says. Many
of her teenage friends also frequent spas. The activity once reserved
for wealthy, elite women is now a growing trend among the younger
generation. And while most spa-goers are in their 30s and 40s, the
International Spa Association reports that 53 percent of female teens
in spa-goer households have visited a spa.
In Tokyo, sushi is finally getting its revenge. In May 2006, the Ooedo-Onsen-Monogatari, a 4-year-old hot-springs spa in the city's Odaiba area, added a new treatment to its menu: Doctor Fish's "pedicure" and "manicure." In a reversal of the food chain, the fish dine on you — or at least parts of you.
While recruiting professors, counselors, assistants and coaches, the University of New Hampshire is also looking to hire massage therapists.
The job description? “Provide massage therapy to UNH students, faculty and staff during the academic year,” according to the university’s help wanted ads.
The Oriental Natural Treatment Center is at the hub of the hotly competitive world of foot massage in the San Gabriel Valley — home to the nation's largest Chinese American community.
Square foot by square foot, it is the foot-massage capital of the country.
When the first foot-massage parlors opened, therapists charged $70 an hour. But competition has pushed the average price down to well under $20. The price war has made foot massages available not just to the well-heeled who can afford the luxury, but to waiters, busboys, store clerks and hair stylists — the working-class version of the Burke Williams Spa for people who spend their days on their feet.
Asian masseuses working on French Riviera beaches face a police crack-down after becoming popular among holidaymakers but a headache for their Gallic counterparts. The action follows claims from the French Council of Masseurs and Physiotherapists that the mainly Chinese newcomers are illegal, unhygienic and even dangerous.
The philosophy behind spa food is simple, not to mention universal. It is designed to feed your body on all levels, with colours and textures that are visually appealing and tastes and aromas that satisfy, stimulate and cleanse.
Contrary to popular belief, the food served up at modern spas and health resorts does not consist of a few meager bean sprouts or a bowl of mushy porridge, as some people may think.
Marco Island Marriott Beach Resort's Fertile Turtle Package is enticing hopeful couples to come out of their shells and conceive. Available during Sea Turtle mating season only, the package includes a Couples Massage with fertility-enhancing Aromatherapy, specialty teas and more, plus, Moms and Dads who become expectant parents at the resort will receive a free three-night return stay.
On her first working day as Batangas governor, Vilma Santos-Recto promised her constituents that she will stand up against the proposed construction of a spa and resort at the crater of Taal Volcano.
Inhabitants of the world’s smallest active volcano are up in arms against the impending construction of a resort spa on their island by a Korean-owned company, calling the attention of the national government to what they described as “a classic case of land grabbing.”
Two moderate earthquakes jolted Taal Volcano island on Sunday as the debate over the planned construction of a health spa resort at the volcano’s crater by a Korean company raged on.
Estee Lauder is reportedly looking to acquire skin care company Murad. Sally Susman, a communications executive at Estee Lauder, declined to comment on the rumor, which was reported Monday by Women's Wear Daily, saying it is not company policy to do so.
L.A.'s "it" kids now have a special place to call their own -- Spa Di Da in West Hollywood. Spa Di Da is the only spa in the city where the most important clients are kids. Both girls and boys can get a range of grooming and beautification services from the highly- trained and kid-friendly staff.
Having a bad face day? You can have it exfoliated almost anywhere – even at the grocery store, while a concierge does your actual shopping. Austin-based Whole Foods Market Inc. will open its second in-store full-service spa this summer in San Francisco.
Movies have soundtracks. Now vacations do, too. In a pilot program, Hyatt is throwing out the elevator music and crafting unique compilations for its lobbies, restaurants and spas. It posts the music online so guests can listen, buy and download the sounds of their vacation. Three Hyatt hotels are testing the program: in Scottsdale, Ariz.; Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort & Spa in Austin, Texas; and Hyatt Westlake Plaza in Thousand Oaks, Calif. If it’s successful, the company will create soundtracks for more of its properties.
The green travel movement is sprouting new offshoots. In addition to offsetting carbon emissions from air travel and reducing energy use at hotels, eco-friendly travelers may want to know their spa treatment isn't roughing up the planet.
"Personalization and customization are huge trends," says veteran industry-watcher Mary Bemis, founder and editor in chief of the recently launched Organic Spa magazine. "Prices are going crazy and treatments are going over the top" she adds.
It almost goes without saying that when you are at a spa -- horizontal with cucumbers on your eyes, or with a stranger's hands kneading your back, or in the throes of having your body hair yanked out -- there will be a soundtrack, and it will probably be Enya.
Yes, we've come to accept that spa music will be easy-listening -- if it's not nature sounds or chanting monks or, perhaps worst of all, elevator music.
But does it have to be this way? Could spas get away with playing something other than rolling waves, chirping birds, and Celtic New Age? Actually, yes.
Today, spas are a luxury, a treat for stressed professionals. Historically, spas were renowned for their healing properties and "taking the waters" was a cure-all for anything from sciatica to gout.
As a drug worker, Becky Wright had heard anecdotes on the use of spas and hot baths to treat alcohol and drug addictions.
"Detoxification for beauty is very acceptable but detoxification for substance abuse is not," Wright claims. With fifteen years' experience in the field, she applied for a grant from the Avon and Wiltshire mental health trust to research the issue further.
It's Friday night and the techno beats are bouncing around the dimly lighted room. Perfectly groomed men and gaggles of smartly dressed young women are kicking back with wine, hors d'oeuvres and some pretty intense touching. No one is complaining about the very public interactions, especially not Leonard Lanzi.
With bare feet soaking in a sudsy pedicure tub, Lanzi, an executive with Junior Achievement, is surrounded by his employees, who seemed to be having a good time making fun of the boss's calloused feet. Lanzi, for better or worse, invited the office to Happy Hour Friday at Dtox, a new place to socialize in Atwater Village near Griffith Park. Despite the name, Dtox isn't a bar, or a rehab joint, but a day spa that once a month throws open its treatment room doors to add a social element to massages, facials and pedicures.
For years women have built professional relationships the old-fashioned way: entertaining clients or talking business with colleagues at buttoned-up dining rooms, in skyboxes or on the golf course. But women increasingly are kicking off their heels and networking as they get pedicures, try on clothes or wield sharp knives at cooking classes.
Two weeks ago, when 25 senior female attorneys at Kirkland & Ellis met to network with each other and with female law students, they didn't hunker down in the private dining room of a hip Loop restaurant. They commandeered the fitting room of an Ann Taylor store, where they spent several hours. And while the evening started with shop talk, it quickly got more personal.
Read the Story
Jonathan Spiegel, a town official who deals most with the developer of the Quabbin Resort project, said Friday he has seen paperwork indicating that Chevron Oil is interested in investing. "They have signed an agreement that we have seen," Spiegel said Friday. He's a member of the Belchertown Economic Development Industrial Corp.
The term “spa” can cover a myriad of very different types of facilities, from - at one end of the spectrum - tanning and nail salons that self-identify as spas, to - at the other end the spectrum - luxury destination resorts that offer everything from aromatherapy to Zen. Being so loosely applied, the word “spa” now runs the risk of meaning absolutely nothing, points out a new study published by Diagonal Reports.
