Elizabeth Arden revolutionized the world of beauty the way Coco Chanel did fashion. With a firm belief that beauty went beyond makeup, Arden opened her first salon with its eye-catching red door in New York in 1910 and went on to develop rouge, tinted powder, eye makeup and 108 skin care products by 1920. The second Elizabeth Arden salon opened in Washington, D.C. in 1914, with a total of 29 open worldwide by 1929. At the time of her death in 1966, her empire was worth $60 million.

The 32nd Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spa opened Sept. 12 at The Bravern in Bellevue. This 6,000-square-foot spa features nine treatment rooms, manicure stations and pedicure thrones, makeup application and consultation areas, a hair salon and a retail area with an impressive array of product lines, including, of course, Elizabeth Arden.

The relaxation room is light, bright and — well, relaxing, in a nontraditional type of way. That is to say, it deviates from the standard dimly lit relaxation rooms one often sees in spas, where guests pad around quietly and speak in hushed tones. On one side of the room a few tables and chairs are set up for meals offered by Wild Ginger, should guests want to dine before or after a treatment; and on the other side is a comfortable seating area with complimentary coffee, tea and water.

The spa offers a thorough and decadent menu of services, with facials ranging from $75 for the Time Saver Facial to $180 for the Ultimate Arden Facial, which pairs a facial with a warm stone massage and lip or brow wax. Massages range from $75 for the 25-minute Time Saver Massage to $220 for the 110-minute Signature Stress Melter Ritual that includes an olive oil scrub, aromatherapeutic body wrap, and massage. Complimentary makeup touch-ups are offered with facials and other services based on availability. Custom-blended foundation is made to order and costs $62 for one ounce; free quarter-ounce samples are available as well.

The spa is offering a Warm Welcome Package that includes a signature massage or facial; a warm cream manicure or shampoo, blow-dry and finish; and a makeup refresher for $120 (normally a $141-$161 value) from now until November 15. Call 425-455-3700 for more information and to make an appointment.

The Red Door Spa is located at The Shops at The Bravern, 700 110th Ave. N.E., Bellevue, WA 98004; 425-455-3700. Hours are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday and Monday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday.

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Day Spa, waxing

There’s a scene in the movie Sex and The City where a bathing suit-clad Miranda Hobbes is berated by the girls for her lack of hair removal prowess in the bikini area. Shortly after, her marriage crumbles and her life falls apart.

Coincidence?

Just in case, here’s the scoop on hair removal methods beyond the old razor.

Sugaring

It may last a lifetime on your hips, but applied to your calves and thighs, sugar may just be a sweet way to remove hair. Sugaring is an ancient middle-eastern method that is gaining popularity in Tampa Bay.

This hair-removal process typically uses a paste or gel crafted of natural ingredients such as sugar, water, and lemon juice. Similar to waxing, hair is removed from the root with results lasting up to six weeks. Unlike waxing, the sugaring process can be done on larger areas of hair at a time, purportedly making hair removal faster.

Whether you opt for a salon treatment or you’re brave enough to try the treatment at home, you’ll need about five days of hair growth to make the process a success. At Belmora Spa and Salon (1213 W Fletcher Ave., Tampa) the Brazilian ($65) is the most popular sugaring treatment on the menu, says esthetician Heidi Arington. “It’s less painful than traditional wax and it doesn’t rip the skin,” she said.

Prefer to do it yourself? Head to shobha.com and pick up their signature sugaring kit for $30.

Waxing

The gold standard of hair removal is waxing, which can last up to eight weeks and can be used on most any part of the body that sports unwanted hair. Loyalists swear that with repeated waxing treatments, hair growth is visibly reduced.

While some say that waxing may be uncomfortable, fans say it’s no sweat. South Tampa’s Awa Spa and Wellness Sanctuary (5820 South MacDill Ave., Tampa) is popular for its Brazilian waxes ($45 to $55). At Kennedy Salon and Day Spa (220 N Howard Ave., Tampa), both women and men go for waxing.

Threading

Another age-old treatment experiencing new popularity is threading, most often used to remove unwanted hair on the brows, upper lip or chin area. The process involves the use of a thin, twisted cotton thread which is rolled over the hairline, removing unwanted hair at the follicle level.

Threading is ideal for those with very fine hair or those with sensitive skin because the top layer of skin is not traumatized. In fact, many salons and spas recommend threading to clients on certain medications or skin care regimes that include the use of alpha hydroxy acids.

And it’s affordable. At Paris Salon and Day Spa (3115 W Bay to Bay Blvd., Tampa), threading is on the menu for $18. If you prefer to do-it-yourself (and like pain) try the Lindo Twist-n-Roll Tweezers ($12.99 ).

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waxing Hair Removal, threading, waxing. sugaring

Melanie Engle was trying to just pluck the stray hairs here and there. She was trying to deliver an age-appropriate eyebrow wax to her client. It was hard, though, because there was a foot tapping next to her, and a voice shouting in her ear: “No! Not like that — like a supermodel’s. I want them arched.”

After years in the beauty biz, Engle had seen her share of crazy ladies demanding perfect, Glamour-cover-worthy brows. But this Crazy Lady wasn’t talking about her own brows. The brows in question belonged to Crazy Lady’s daughter. Who was eight.

After sweating through the kid’s eyebrow wax, Engle, today an aesthetician at the Adolf Biecker Salon/Spa outposts in the Rittenhouse Hotel and Strafford — and, it should be noted, one of the most sought-after eyebrow specialists in the region — was directed to give her pint-size client a … bikini wax.

Engle was, predictably, extremely uncomfortable with the idea. But she sent the girl next door to the spa to have it done anyway. “It was clear that this girl was getting a bikini wax no matter what,” she says. “Better for her that we did it, instead of her mother dragging her off somewhere else to get it done.”

Engle is sharing this tale with me one afternoon over my own eyebrow session, after I’ve remarked on another young girl — no more than 10 or 11 years old — ­sitting nearby, thumbing through a magazine and obviously waiting for some sort of spa service. As Engle talks, my head floods with images of breaking this poor young munchkin out of the clutches of her surely nipped-and-tucked mother, to let her grow old and hairy under my prudish wing. “But … there’s nothing there, right?” I ask Engle. “I mean, at eight? Am I forgetting something?”

“Nope,” she says. “There’s not. Doesn’t matter. That’s when the mothers are starting them these days.”

OVER THE PAST few years, we’ve witnessed the swell of a luxury-class culture — you’ve seen it in these pages, manifested in reports of $80,000 “push presents,” lavish condo buildings sprouting up like beanstalks, and weekends spent stockpiling couture with on-call personal ­shoppers. But just when we thought this consumerist takeover couldn’t get any worse, here comes the trend’s newest tributary: The kids of the pampered are being taken along for the ride, without a backward glance at the childhood left behind.

“I’ve actually been joking that I’m going to write a book called Where Has All the Pubic Hair Gone?” Janice Hillman, a doctor in the Penn Health System at Radnor who specializes in adolescent medicine, tells me. “It’s such a rarity to find it these days in 10- and 12-year-old girls, and older girls. I need to check for it at that age — it’s an indicator of puberty and development, how much there is, where it’s growing. And now, I need to ask girls, if it’s not there, ‘Do you wax? Do you shave?’ Because so many of them do.”

Engle’s anecdote might be scary, but it’s not her only horror tale. She’s seen a pair of sisters — one nine, the other 10 — brought in for microdermabrasion. (Note: Microdermabrasion sloughs off dead cells to reveal glowing “younger” skin beneath. Which is awesome if you’re, say, 45.) And at Adolf Biecker, it’s normal to see 12-year-olds coming in for their first eyebrow jobs.

There you have it — the new norm for young, privileged, growing girls. It’s not just designer clothes, luxury cars, and the best-of-the-best in schools, lessons and tutors: It’s narcissism, and it’s inherited from — no, encouraged by — Mom. Mom, who not only lifts, tans and waxes herself into oblivion, but who has now turned her attentions to her daughter, hauling her from spa to spa before the school ­pictures or big dance, or, well, just because — for facial after blowout after wax. After a handful of appointments, the transformation from little girl to prepubescent supermodel is complete, thanks to beauty ­treatments that not long ago were reserved for big girls — with little consideration that the same beauty treatments meant to fix “imperfections” will probably screw the kids up down the road.

Lauren Albert, spa director at Rescue Rittenhouse Spa, says mothers frequently bring in their daughters between the ages of 10 and 14 for various waxes, nail services and facials; she’s booked more than one Sweet Sixteen spa ­extravaganza. Some moms even present their naked-faced ’tweens to Nives Riddle, Rescue’s award-winning and Vogue photo-shooting makeup artist
, for early lessons in makeup application — you know, lest they learn the tricks of eyeliner by haphazardly painting it on Elvira-style a few times. Moms are also setting up pre-bat mitzvah spa treatment series for their daughters. “It’s not just to get them ready for their big party,” says Albert. “It’s like, ‘Okay, you’re becoming a woman now, here are the things you’ll need to do as a woman.’”

Except, of course, they’re not women. This new, unstoppable desire of mothers to pluck and paint their daughters has created an unexpected conundrum for spa owners and aestheticians, who can’t afford to lose the moms’ lucrative business — but who also don’t want to be partners in crime. When moms book appointments to get their preteens waxed at Pierre & Carlo European Salon & Spa inside the Bellevue in Center City, owner Joseph Cutrufello makes it a point to run through with them exactly what will be happening to their child (read: pain, sweating, high ­probability of ensuing red bumps on young, sensitive, not-in-need-of-a-wax skin). At Bernard’s Salon & Day Spa in Cherry Hill, it wasn’t enough to simply suggest to moms that it’s not the best idea to apply harsh chemicals to the scalps and hair of their six-year-olds just to make their hair “more blond.” “We’ve flat-out told mothers that highlighting such a young girl’s hair is a bad idea, and something we’d rather not do,” says Carla Ciociola-Toppi, the spa’s marketing director. “But so many mothers push anyway that now we have them sign a waiver.” The waiver basically states that the spa prefers not to perform various services on children, that the mom understands this, and that she decrees it happen anyway. “It’s so weird,” says Ciociola-­Toppi. “It’s like they’re stage moms.”

In an effort to appease their ­consciences and avoid complicity, spa owners have gotten more creative, offering up palatable alternatives to moms intent on turning their daughters into eight-year-old Heidi Klums. Maurice Tannenbaum, who owns OMG Salon & Spa in Gladwyne, hawks an all-natural product to moms who want to lighten their five-year-olds’ locks; applied daily, it brings out subtle highlights. He has also drawn a line in his salon. “I had a mother once ask me to relax her 12-year-old daughter’s beautiful, wavy hair,” he says. “I just refused. I said absolutely not, that’s ridiculous, and turned her away.”

At the Phoenix Salon & Spa, on the bottom floor of the luxe Phoenix condo building in Center City, owner Sarah Keating finally drew up a waiver to deal with the constant influx of ’tweens (often the children of building residents) coming in — unaccompanied — for facials, highlights, waxes and massages. Some girls are in so often that they request specific spa employees. Keating recalls the day she informed one mother, who wanted to drop her 12-year-old off for a full body wax before a modeling casting call, that it wasn’t going to happen unless she, the mother, came in, signed a waiver, and sat with her daughter as any wayward hair that dared to grow on her adolescent skin — from head to toe — was ripped out.

Helping out your kid whose ­cosmetic/semi-medical problem is causing low self-esteem is respectable, as is spending time with her in ways other than loading up the shopping cart with mini-me Juicy. But somewhere along the line — well, the line gets crossed. We slip down the slope, and we’re back to seeing eight-year-olds waxing nothing but, um, skin, 10-year-olds requesting certain therapists for their Saturday-afternoon massages, and ­early-onset Botox.

“I do think, in some ways, this started as mothers and daughters spending time together, maybe getting their nails ­painted — but then it morphed into something else,” Hillman says. “A lot of times, these girls’ mothers have unresolved issues of their own — even perhaps an unresolved eating disorder — and are taking control over making some aspect of their daughter perfect. And then these issues transcend.” As beauty treatments become a habit, kids start to think this magazine-cover ideal is normal — and so is being pampered all the time. “Now, kids are asking for this stuff. It’s like a way of coping, an external support system,” Hillman says. “And it’s a huge problem.”

The Phoenix’s Keating, who sees nine-year-olds in her spa on a regular basis, says she’d refuse any spa-going request by her own nine-year-old daughter, save for nail-painting as a treat. Klein takes her almost-12-year-old daughter into spas for the occasional cleansing facial (“Good skin care is a habit, and I’d like her to learn that habit early”), but draws the line at other spa services (mommy-daughter manis excluded). “She has her whole life to do what she wants,” she says. “I want her to make those decisions about her body for herself, when she’s an adult. Plus, I know so many girls who go into debt in college trying to keep up with all of this — the spa treatments, the nice clothes. They feel like all this superficial B.S. is so important.”

And it’s not just an expensive spa habit young women are learning at the hands of their moms, Hillman says. “When you’re under the age of 16, change implies that something is wrong,” she says. “So you have to be very careful about the message you send to your kids. They need acceptance to build confidence, and when you’re bringing them in at a young age — ­especially when it comes to the bikini wax — you’re telling them that part of their pubescent bodies shouldn’t be there. And they think what mommy teaches is right.”

I remember something else. I was a senior in high school, writing papers for a string of AP classes, held hostage by the computer for so long that my shoulders and neck cramped, creating a constant, throbbing headache. My mom scheduled a series of intensive massages for me, in which the therapist both loosened my muscles and taught me ways to combat the grapefruit-sized knots, making writing my 1,500 words on FDR’s New Deal (virtually) painless. Until then, I had viewed ­massages as something only ­middle-aged people got, as a treat, to relax, to be pampered. But when my mom booked me, it wasn’t a treat; it was a lifesaver. And it made her a good mother. (Thanks, Mom!)

Which makes me hope there are other good moms who have found the happy medium. Maybe gentle facials for (emotionally and physically) scarring acne are a good idea. Maybe mini-mani birthday parties are just fun. Maybe moms can figure out a way to keep the bonding, and lose the creepy but-she’s-just-a-baby part. But for now, there’s backtracking to do if we want this happy medium to be the norm, not the exception. Consider Tannenbaum’s regular client at OMG, the one who schedules two blowouts per week — one for her, one for her six-year-old. “Oh, I don’t think it’s a treat,” he says. “This kid expects it. She expects her blowout.”

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Children Spa, PA Day Spa, Spas, waxing Pa Day Spas

Maybe your nose is twitching for a facial with organic avocado or the skin is crying out for an invigorating cane sugar rub. How do you find a green spa to fulfill these desires?

The Green Spa Network is a good place to start. The network launched in 2007 with six founding spa members and has already grown to include nearly 60 spas across the nation. The network prides itself on spearheading the green spa movement, which is all about utilizing low-impact facilities and sustainable products for traditional spa treatments.

The GSN consistently challenges spa owners to deepen their commitment to green practices by undergoing a “green audit” to make sure member spas are using principles of low energy, reduced waste, recycling programs, stocking natural products and incorporating community outreach education programs.

Last fall, the GSN sponsored the Green Spa Congress in Atlanta with the aim of developing standards for environmentally minded spas and health/wellness centers. The Green Spa Network Sustainability Assessment Tool (GSN-SAT) was designed with the help of 24 members of the network. It offers guidelines and benchmarks against which spas can measure their green progress, in the absence of any formal certification for green spas.

The Atlanta meeting covered everything from spa marketing and architecture to equipment and skin care products; an expert discussed the lack of transparency in beauty products used in the U.S. and the emerging openness about product ingredients worldwide.

Another national green spa listing service is the Spa Index, which has a section devoted to eco-friendly and green spas.

As you sort through the listings, be sure to take note of whether the spas are day spas or destination spas. Some destination spas strive to create a more holistic, green experience, and focus on things like beauty treatments based on indigenous customs. They operate in buildings that are built to maintain green standards.

Green day spas offer green services like organic waxing and chemical-free facials while also selling lines of beauty products that meet the highest green standards.

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Carrie Bradshaw on “Sex and the City” once declared that she felt like walking sex after she had a Brazilian. “I’m very aware of down there now,” she quipped after visiting one of Los Angeles’ premier waxers to the stars.

Vegas now has its own spa that caters solely to waxing and takes its name from that classic female friends show. Wax in the City devotes all of its services to the art of hair removal. Owner Kelly Knapp says that the aforementioned Brazilian (where all of the pubic hair is removed) and eyebrows are the two most popular services. “You name it, we wax it,” she proclaimed. Knapp has a City Slicker that leaves a landing strip down there, and she can design triangles and hearts or use hair dye for the truly artistic client. Every client who receives a Brazilian or City Slicker walks out with a new thong, compliments of the spa.

The spa removes hair with Caron hard wax, which requires no cotton sheets and hardens quickly to be taken off. For those afraid of the pain of having hair ripped out by the root, Knapp recommends some ibuprofen beforehand, or attending one of her special girls night out parties where she brings in her best clients in for discounted services and cocktails. Its upstairs location makes it private, and customers rarely have to wait long to get in.

And the main reason clients want a Brazilian? Says Knapp: “Sexually, it’s so much better.”For more info:

Wax in the City
9555 S. Eastern Ave., Suite 290
Las Vegas
702-889-2727

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Nevada Spa, waxing

The plan: primping, prepping, plucking

A summer body takes some work, and men are getting into it, too

Ready? Deep breath now.
One, two, three.
Riiipppppppppp.
YEOW!

Oh, the excruciating sounds of summer.
While some people flop down on beach towels looking like hairy, pasty-skinned winter beasts, many won’t step foot on the stand until they’ve made an appointment at a local salon to get plucked, waxed, scrubbed, soaked and sprayed.

Baring it on the beach often means stepping up the beauty routine.
When the season of skin gets underway, Devon Tucker, owner of Covet Spa in Hockessin, said she sees an uptick in grooming services, such as manicures, pedicures, spray tanning, body exfoliation and facials.

“Every quarter there is something you must do,” said Tucker. “Getting ready for summer is not different than getting ready for any other season.”
And it’s no longer just gals doing head-to-toe primping.

“Men are getting into everything,” said Katie Soyka, a make-up artist and skin care specialist at Bad Hair Day in Rehoboth Beach and Lewes. “Not just gay men, but straight men, too. They are caring about themselves, too.”

Young men are an important and growing sector of the health and beauty care industry, representing a potential market in 2008 of $2.8 billion, according to a report by Packaged Facts at Market Research.com.
Chris DiStefano, 42, of Wilmington, started getting spa treatments after some convincing from a former girlfriend.
So far, the 42-year-old, who has a house in Dewey Beach, has had facials, pedicures and a chest wax.

“I think more men should [go to the spa],” said DiStefano, who has pedicures to soften his soccer-hardened feet and finds facials soothing. “The only problem is it gets expensive.”

Services at some salons can cost anywhere from $15 for a basic pedicure to $135 for a full facial.

But that’s only part of the daily, weekly and monthly regimen to think about before you tie on a bikini, pull up the board shorts and slide into flip-flops.

To Brazilian or to bikini?

Hamlet never had to wrestle with a question so intimate and a survey of local salons reveals an array of euphemisms and opinions when it comes to intimate hair removal.

So what is the difference between a bikini wax and a Brazilian wax?
“Ummm, it’s almost like a bikini is a double scoop ice cream cone and a Brazilian is with the jimmies and the frosting,” said a coy Soyka of Bad Hair
Day.

Monika Hibbard, esthetician at Wilmington’s Michael Christopher’s Hair Salon and Day Spa, and owner of the latter half of the title, is a little more direct.
“A Brazilian is not a hair left from stem to stern. Not one hair left on your genitalia,” she said.

That includes the back part too, by the way.
“People come in with all sorts of craziness,” Hibbard said.
But, it’s not any “craziness” Hibbard has to deal with. The day spa does not do Brazilians because “we don’t think it’s necessary,” she said “It’s not a good thing to do because, for one thing, it’s mucus membrane down there and could give you folliculitis.” (That just means a sprouting of those nasty red and white-
headed pimples. Yuck.)

Soyka and Tucker said Brazilian waxes are still popular at their salons, but, because so many people have different ideas, estheticians handling the wax are always careful to talk about what a client thinks they want.

“It’s a delicate thing, but it’s handled professionally,” said Soyka.
Christine Givens, 23, of Elkton, Md., said she gets waxed, but when pressed for details, she retorts, “I can’t tell you all that!” The mother of two does admit she doesn’t always get the opportunity to do the regular maintenance she requires.
Men who opt for the service — a recent US Weekly article included this too-much-information-tidbit from Sean “Diddy” Combs: “I wax my privates” — usually request a bikini, rather than the Brazilian. A basic bikini wax is often enough to cover any embarrassing pop-outs.

Fashion magazines have said that the Brazilian is going out of style. Having a simple but groomed “down there” hair is good enough, said Hibbard.
Bikini waxes start at $25 at Michael Christopher’s and run to $35 at Covet Spa for a basic bikini and cost $45 for a partial brazilian. At Bad Hair Day, a bikini wax is $30 and $65 for a Brazilian.

Hair removal isn’t limited

“We also have a few male clients who do their backs,” said Hibbard of Michael Christopher’s.

So how to do they deal with the pain that sometimes feels like hundreds of Band-Aids are being removed from your body at one time?

“We have a bar next door, and [some men] have a drink before their appointment so they’re feeling good and happy as clams,” Hibbard said. “Men can’t handle pain.”

Shane Plumley, 35, a bartender at Baxter’s Restaurant and Lounge next to Michael Christopher’s, said he doesn’t always know if guys are finding courage in a glass pre-appointment but he adds “I’d definitely have to have lots of vodka before I get waxed.”

For those unable or unwilling to imbibe before the Big Rip, taking ibuprofen half an hour before the appointment helps reduce pain and inflammation.
DiStefano said he wished he knew about downing a shot of liquor or popping ibuprofen before he had his one and only chest wax.

“I went in hardcore,” said the teacher, who vows never to have the service again. “It looked great but I felt numb.”

Leave the roasting for the grill

Slathering up with sunscreen is a no-brainer. Healthy skin is always in style.
“If you’re properly protected, you can gradually build your tan,” said Hibbard, of Michael Christopher. “I believe in sun, it promotes Vitamin D. I think people are lacking in that ’cause they are so crazy about diets.”

But Tucker said spray tanning is a popular option at Covet, which starts with a 30-minute exfoliation to prepare the skin for the airbrush. An organic spray tan system with a number of specific shades is used and it lasts seven to 10 days. It costs $48 per 30-minute session, with packages available.

Self-tanners and bronzers are also a good idea, but not all bottles are created alike.

Meredith Coons, 23, of Hockessin, said she prefers the Estee Lauder Sunless SuperTan ($22.50 for a 1.7 ounce bottle) or, for a cheaper brand, any of the
Jergens Natural Glow products (from $5.59 to $7.99).

“I used to tan, but my mom screamed at me for doing that. It’s so bad for you,” said Coons. Finding a good self-tanner is about trial and error, she said, something a family member discovered when trying an over-the-counter self-tanner.
“I made my sister do it, and she turned orange. It was right before prom,” said Coons. “Luckily it was on her back, and I was able to wipe off most of it.”
Soyka, of Bad Hair Day, said she doesn’t recommend tanning salons.

“What’s going on in tanning salons is also skin cancer,” said Soyka, a big believer in gorgeous, floppy sun hats.

She scoffs at the notion that pre-tanning helps prepare skin for constant exposure to the sun. “What are you preparing, to burn more? Tanning is just burning your skin brown instead of red.”

New birthday suit

Like salt left crusted on the side of the road, the skin also has a lot of winter residue left, namely a crust of dead skin.

Tucker, of Covet Spa, said the build-up is why many people break out during the change of seasons, and it’s also why the skin feels drier. For the summer, she recommends switching to a cleanser that has more astringent to cut through sweat and perspiration and using a lighter moisturizer with sunscreen.
Hibbard recommends a good facial for men to help prevent ingrown hairs along the beardline.

And a good sloughing never hurts.
“Do a body scrub,” said Tucker. Basic body scrubs at Covet run from $50 for a 30-minute treatment to $135 for a 90-minute treatment and include an application of after-bath cream. Some include a hydrating mask and coconut milk spray and after-bath that, she said, “mimics the lining on the inside of your mouth and encourages skin regeneration.”

Hibbard said keeping a sugar or salt scrub or loofah or exfoliating glove in the shower and gently using it two to three times a week can slough off dead skin and keep skin glowing. Exfoliating can also prevent ingrown hairs, especially in that sensitive bikini area where the elastic band of underwear can put pressure on the skin.

Foot fetish

Walking in the sand does not equal a pedicure. Soaking and sloughing off dead skin will reveal a bright new nail bed.
Indeed, pedicures “bring your feet back to life,” said Soyka, especially for removing that nasty white stuff from your heels.

Katie Davis, 27, of Wilmington, said she prefers bright colors when getting her pre-shore pedicure, while her friend Tasana Pattaratara, 31, of Wilmington, prefers natural color on her toes. Tucker said bright, primary colors such as reds, blues and green are in style this summer.

Sokya also sees more men than ever getting their toenails trimmed. They’ll usually forgo the color though “some like a clear gloss or something without the sheen,” she said.

Plumley, the Baxter’s bartender, said he always gets a manicure and pedicure before going on vacation to Provincetown, Mass. He likes to have his nails done, especially when he is wearing sandals.
Polish is always part of the service. “I think this year I’m going to get a midnight blue,” Plumley said.

But some men will only go so far when it comes to primping and preening.
Andrew Austria, 30, of Wilmington, said he would consider getting a manicure or pedicure, but he hasn’t yet made the jump.

“Apparently a lot of guys want to do it, and I’ve had friends who’ve done it and liked it,” he said . “But it’s not a top priority [for me].”

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Beauty Tip, Day Spa, Men Spa, Men Spas, Men's Shave, Nail Treatments, Skin Care, Spa Experience, Spa Product, Spa Treatments, Tanning, waxing

Mens Spa / Chicago Spas / The Spa at Halo

This article is brought to you by Spavelous.com.

First impression: Walking into The Spa at Halo [For Men], I felt an odd sense of “been here, done that.” All the “guy-spa” prerequisites are there: Stylish, black leather barber stations with hanging, full-size mirrors. A waiting area with “Wedding Crashers” playing on a huge, flat-screen television. Gourmet soda pop available at the front desk.

Where The Spa at Halo [For Men] differed was in the attitude. Owner Bob Patrizi insisted on a laid-back vibe, but this Gold Coast spa, part of a chain Patrizi started with a pair of salons, operates with a swagger. Just look at the treatment names: “The Pimp.” “The Backscratch”  “The Milehigh.” But Patrizi said the names were all in fun. “It’s not too uptight,” he said. “We’re just comfortable.”

With this in mind, I stopped by for the spa’s “Crackberry” treatment, a pay-by-the-minute chair massage designed to unknot my hands, gnarled to the point of soreness thanks to my new BlackBerry.

Zoning In: A massage therapist, Amber, led me to a large treatment room. A waterfall took up most of a far wall, creating a serene gurgle to go with the low-volume indie rock. Amber guided me into a chair, which looked to me like one of those exercise machines that’s advertised on late-night TV. Resting my head, face first, on the chair’s circular cushion, Amber stood behind me and issued a warning: if she got too forceful, let her know.

Having never experienced a hand massage, I settled on 30 minutes, thinking that would be enough time for a treatment. Apparently that was more than enough, as Amber informed me that the massage would also include my back, shoulders, neck and arms.

Now, I’m a big guy who likes a strong massage. But during this rubdown, Amber manhandled me. In a good way, mind you. For 30 minutes, she worked her elbows and palms deep into my back. Her strong hands pressed into my neck and my shoulders, working me over like bread dough until she moved down to my forearms and hands.

When she finished, my arms and neck felt loose. The soreness in my hands was gone. Also, I couldn’t move for a few seconds, I was so relaxed.

Buzzkill: The indie rock music was a little distracting. Apparently, the spa’s stereo system was set to Patrizi’s iPod. Next time, I’d just go with “Echoes of Nature.”

The Crackberry at The Spa at Halo [For Men]

21 W. Elm St.; 312-642-4256

Mens Spa / Chicago Spas / The Spa at Halo

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Men Spa, Men Spas, Spa, Spa Day, Spa Treatments, Spas, waxing

Put down your tweezers, chill that wax, and roll up your thread. Don’t make another move until you’ve read through this text.Throughout our years of troubles and toils, ups and downs, peaks and valleys, one essential answer always manages to evade us: How do we achieve and maintain the perfect brow?

Beverly Hills’ Salon Maxime celebrity makeup artist Robyn Cosio views eyebrow shaping as a way of giving a woman an “instant facelift”. Her technique is traditionalist: she shapes with wax and then tweezes for detail. Robyn also tints brows and lashes, for richer and more detailed looks, a technique that especially works well with pale or gray brows.

Because the average number of days it takes eyebrow hair to completely grow back after being plucked is 64 days, eyebrow shaping may become a more frequent concern than gassing up your car. Many people wax or thread as often as every 2-3 weeks, and plucking in the interim to catch “strays” can be an almost daily task for many with thicker hair.

“Easy brows don’t come from kits,” says Kat James, author of The Truth about Beauty and a celebrity makeup artist. “They come from a great pair of tweezers and a great eye for architecture.” She advises avoiding plucking under the inner half of the brow and only cleaning up under the outer half. “Then, to elongate the brow, fill in hairless spots from past over-plucking and create the perfect arch placement.”

Filling in spots is where a lot of us come in to problems.

“Often clients will choose a brow pencil color based on their hair color instead of their skin tone. By using a darker shade than necessary, the brow pencil application gives a more artificial, drawn-on look instead of naturally enhancing the existing shape,” offers Shobha Tummala, owner of two high-end spas in New York City that specialize in ancient hair removal methods like threading and sugaring.

According to Shobha, threading is superior to waxing or tweezing because:

• The Ouch-less factor — Since threading is able to target the individual hairs, skin irritation is kept to a minimum, unlike waxing which often causes unnecessary stretching and the removal of the skin’s delicate top layers.

• An art of perfection — Threading is very precise and allows the specialist performing the service to have greater control than waxing. This precision is especially useful in eyebrow shaping, where every hair is important. Often times when people wax they tend to take the tail of their eyebrow off, making it too short.

• Precision is everything — Especially when it comes to eyebrow shaping. Threading allows the freedom to create a more manicured brow or just enhance a person’s existing natural shape.

• Au naturale — Threading is 100 percent natural, there are no artificial waxes, chemicals, or invasive techniques used. Thus, individuals using certain medications like Retin-A and Accutane and those who have even had recent cosmetic surgery can still get hair removal without the worries of waxing. These medications/procedures make the skin ultra-sensitive and waxing could literally remove the top layers of the skin, exposing the delicate under tissue. Proper Brow ShapeHold a pencil on the side of your nose. Your eyebrow should start at the tip of the pencil. Then hold the pencil diagonally, and extend it to the other end of your eye. That is where your brow should end. To determine where the arch should be highest, hold the pencil from the nostril to the outside edge of the iris – and that is the apex of your arch. Ideally, the inner edge of the brow should be equal to your nostril. The space between your brows should be equal to the width of your eye. Full Article

Spa, Spa Experience, Spa Treatments, Spas, waxing