Erin has never been girly. She likes dolls and the color pink, but if there’s ever a choice between a football and a pair of ballet shoes, she goes for the pigskin every time. So when we were invited to her cousin’s 7th birthday party last week at this brand new boutique nail spa that’s exclusively for kids, I thought she’d be entertained, but not excited. But when we arrived, there were butterfly stickers and tiny pedicure stations. A karoke machine that played Bippidy-Boppidy-Boo. Ten minutes in, my little tomboy was air-waving her pink fingernails and having a pillow fight with cotton strips laced between her toes.

The place? Spa-di-da, a newly opened, very pink day spa in Staten Island that completely caters to kids’ parties and mother-daughter days of beauty. A two-hour party starts at $359. The girls get manicures, pedicures, pizza and cake. They can be-dazzle their own T-shirts, snack on cupcakes and sparkling cider and really experience a true trip to the salon. A tiny purse full of pink and purple nail polishes and glittery emery boards is the take-home favor.

Just enough pink accessories to turn Erin off football for good.

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Finding bliss on a budget

Salons and spas in Ithaca provide affordable ways to unwind

’Tis the season for final exams, projects and papers — and the stress that comes with them.

Fortunately for college students in Ithaca, some quick, convenient ways to relax and pamper are now within closer reach. Local spa professionals understand that students are limited in time and money and are making efforts to reach out to the college population by offering services that are friendly to students’ schedules as well as their wallets.

Discovered some of the ways students can de-stress, whether they are on a tight budget or have some extra cash to spend.

Among the approximately 15 spas and salons in the Ithaca area, the following three were chosen for their variety of spa treatments and proximity to the Ithaca College campus.

August Moon Spa

256-2772

Avacado, sesame and cucumber might sound like lunch, but at August Moon Spa at La Tourelle Resort on Danby Road, they are used for body-wrap treatments that lead massage therapist Kash Iraggi-Wiggins highly recommends for stressed-out college students.

During wrap treatments, the body is coated with warm sea algae or warm mud and wrapped in towels for 20 minutes, which kicks up the core body temperature.

“When you’re under stress, you build up toxins in your body,” she said. “So it literally draws the toxins out through your skin — the sea algae in the sushi wrap or the warm mud in the mud wrap capture those toxins.”

The treatment comes complete with a scalp massage and body butter application. All August Moon Body Treatments are $105 for 50 minutes of splurge-worthy bliss.

For an unusual indulgence, Iraggi-Wiggins recommends the Taughannock Falls Waterfall Treatment, at $125. It takes place on a wet table in the spa’s Vichy room, or water room, the only one of its kind in Ithaca. Warm water flows from jets during the 50- or 80-minute treatment, which includes a hot stone massage and a salt scrub.

But students don’t need to spring for a full service to experience August Moon luxuries. A menu of Therapeutic Add-on services — including paraffin wax dips to moisturize hands, feet and elbows or knees, a 25-minute reflexology and a customizable Pick-Me-Up massage — starts at $15. Iraggi-Wiggins said almost any Therapeutic Add-on can be enjoyed by itself.

For $25, students can purchase a day pass, which gives them access to the spa’s relaxation rooms, workout room, sauna and steam room. The pass is included in most services but can also be purchased alone.

Alta Spa & Salon

273-6818

Alta Spa & Salon on East State Street offers a Hot Stone Manicure and Pedicure within its extensive treatment menu. Hot stones are massaged on different areas of the body to relax muscles and keep the whole body warm while the hands or feet are treated.

Manicure and pedicure services at Alta Spa & Salon include Regular, French, Spa, Hot Stone and exfoliating Glycolic varieties. Manicures start at $25 and pedicures start at $35.

The spa also offers a Mini-Combo menu made up of customizable packages. Visitors can choose from the list of nine combinations — from a $68 manicure and half-hour massage to a $190 head-to-toe pampering session that includes a manicure, pedicure, body treatment and swiss shower.

Owner Awura-Abena Ansah said she recommends body treatments for students who are willing to spend a little more on pampering.

For example, the Shea Butter Full Body Treatment ($120), gently exfoliates with oatmeal and moisturizes with ultra-rich shea butter to make the skin more supple and prevent dehydration, especially during the winter months.

Alta Spa body treatments are one hour long and range from $100 to $120.

“When people come to a spa, it’s nice for them to do something out of their comfort zone,” Ansah said.

For students, that comfort zone might be the price range, but with the holidays around the corner, a gift certificate would be a worthy addition to any wish list.

Rasa Spa

273-1740

Rasa Spa, located in the

Island Health and Fitness Center on Taughannock Boulevard, is the only spa in Ithaca to offer a hot oil scalp treatment called Ananda, which means “bliss” in Sanskrit. Warm sandalwood, vetiver and sunflower organic oils are massaged into the scalp, followed by a neck, shoulder and foot massage. The half-hour treatment ends with a face massage using warm towels to relieve sinus pressure.

The relaxation that comes from the short session is impressive, and even at $55, students don’t have to break the bank to try it for themselves.

“The cool thing that I’ve seen with people is once they get it, they really get zoned out,” Rachel Hogancamp, massage therapist and co-founder of Rasa Spa, said.

On the less expensive side, Rasa Spa also offers a $25 day pass that gives visitors access to the spa even if they are not there for a treatment. The pass is included in all treatments but waxing.

The pass gives the visitor access to the showers, sauna and changing rooms. A terrycloth bathrobe, sandals, shampoo, conditioner, body wash and lotion are provided, and visitors can then spread out on a chaise lounge in the spa’s tranquility room to read a book, take a nap or unwind in the meditation room.

Hogancamp said Rasa Spa recently made Tuesdays Ithaca College Days at the spa, so students can receive 10 percent off any treatment on that day.

“I want people to choose things that are going to feel good but also that they can afford so they don’t feel that coming here is stressful,” she said.

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America’s first detox day spa, located in midtown Manhattan. Called The Beljanski Wellness Center, is said to be the only true day spa that has detoxification as its focus. It will be staffed with a doctor, nurse and nutritionist and will offer chelation, a process that removes heavy metals from the body. Other detoxifying treatments include colon hydrotherapy, seaweed body wraps, massage, and facials.

Beljanski Wellness Center has a serious, medical approach in a beautiful, French atmosphere that can support your ongoing efforts to achieve health and beauty inside and out. It is scheduled to open early next year!

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Putting the “Ahhh” Back in Spa
Pamper Yourself this Season

Dark winter months are approaching. The stress-filled holiday season is looming just a month away. The economy is in the most depressing state it has been in decades. And, you probably have a few personal reasons of your own to add to why you are ready to pull your hair out and permanently relocate to the Bahamas. But fear not: A stress-reducing solution is near! Chances are that just a short distance away from your home is a spa where you can spend a few hours to put your worries aside while you get pampered with a massage or other treatment.

The stigma that spas are only for rich middle-aged women is fading. People who do a lot of physical labor need it more than anyone, explains Lindsay Pugnali, manager of Buttermilk Falls Inn and Spa in Milton. In fact, many spas cater to men just as much as they cater to women. The captain of the mens lacrosse team at Marist College is trying to organize the entire team to come in for a deep-tissue massage,Pugnali says.
Additionally, almost anyone can afford some spa treatment. Marlene Weber, owner of the Marlene Weber day and salon spas in Poughkeepsie and Millbrook, offers several treatments that cost $25, including an eye-zone treatment, a stress-relieving hair treatment, and a half-hour target massage. But Weber reminds that you don’t need to go to an upscale spa to get top-dollar treatment. “I have a client who went to a spa in Las Vegas and spent $200 on a massage, and she told me that a massage she once had for $40 was better,” Weber says. Keep in mind when you go to a big spa, you are paying for all the amenities ”the bath robe, the teas, the cushy couches, the music. If you do not need any of that if you need just a damn good rub you can just go to a small spa.

And since almost everyone can afford a spa treatment, everyone should treat him or herself to one, says Diane Ryan, who co-owns One Body Spa in Accord with her husband, Michael Ryan. A traditional massage alone can, of course, relieve stress and aid relaxation, but it can also foster faster healing of strained muscles, provide greater joint flexibility and range of motion, promote deeper and easier breathing, improve circulation, reduce blood pressure, improve posture, strengthen the immune and nervous system, rehabilitate injuries, increase cancer-fighting endorphins, and even aid muscle tone. “There’s no body system—including the endocrine and digestive systems that is not positively served [by massage], Ryan says. Think of it as a full-body tune-up.

But keep in mind that a traditional Swedish massage is a staple you can get anywhere. If you arelooking for something unusual, there is a comprehensive array of unique treatments available. The Marlene Weber spas offers a parafango body wraps parafango is a warm mixture of mud and paraffins that moisturizes the skin while drawing toxins from fat cells and stimulating fluid elimination. But it does not stop there. Webers spas also offer Botox parties, where women can have a group Botox treatment while they sip cocktails and eat hors duvres. The Mohonk Mountain House Spa offers the Shawangunk Grit Mineral Body Treatment, in which quartz that was excavated from the mountain during the spas building is pulverized into a powder and used as an exfoliant. One Body Spa is currently running a special for fall with all treatments revolving around pumpkin, including a pumpkin facial, pumpkin body glow, and pumpkin enzyme peel.

So go ahead, schedule your massage or other spa treatment before you find yourself banging your head against your desk from stress. A spa may not be the Caribbean relocation you have been wanting, but its the next best thing.

Buttermilk Falls Inn and Spa

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