Take A Moment Relax Physically And Mentally With A Spa-At-Home Experience

A trip to the spa sounds like just the thing you need, but it’s not in your budget any time soon.

No problem. Create a spa experience for yourself right at home.

Part of the allure of going to a spa is the sense of escaping from everyday cares.

So turn your bathroom into a private place where you can withdraw from the world for a little while.

Make it a sanctuary, suggests Jill S. Cury, owner of Renaissance Spa Treatments of Kenwood, Calif.

Use music and candles to create a special atmosphere; draw a bath and turn off the phone. Then revel in whatever amount of time you’re able to set aside. “Take that time, even if it’s only 30 minutes,” Cury says.

Clinical esthetician Janis Sandstrom understands when clients complain about not having enough time for themselves. She has a full set-up for doing facials at home. “I have it there. Do I use it?” she says.

But Sandstrom, of Aesthetics Skin Care Clinic in Spokane, says you don’t have to go to elaborate lengths to do something nice for yourself. Getting too complicated “isn’t necessary and I don’t think people will do it,” Sandstrom says.

Maybe just one night a month, when you jump out of the shower, take a moment to put on a good-smelling essential oil to lift your spirits, she suggests.

Essential oils, which are distilled from flowering plants and retain their scent, are increasingly found in product lines. Dermalogica, for instance, a line sold through dermatologists and estheticians, has a Spa Body Therapy System that includes a stress relief treatment oil containing fragrant botanical extracts.

Mineral salts are also showing up in product lines. For a simple at-home treatment, mix them with water and massage into your skin as you shower. Mineral salts will exfoliate, cleanse and invigorate your skin, Sandstrom says. After showering, put on lotion to rehydrate the skin.

Like Cury, Sandstrom says it’s important to create a soothing atmosphere. Put on some quiet music, and place fresh flowers in the bathroom.

Cury suggests putting a snapshot or poster of a scene you love above your bathtub. “Visuals mean a lot,” she says.

Cury spent 20 years managing and consulting with spas in the United States, Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean before starting Renaissance Spa Treatments in 1994 as a way to market spa products through direct mail. In addition to her catalog, she started the Bath of the Month Club a year ago. Club membership is now approaching 2,000.

The club’s success is partly due to people’s affinity for water. “All of us love the feeling of water around us,” Cury says. “It’s a very therapeutic thing to sit in water. It’s just a way to relax.”

For $29.95 plus shipping and handling, members of the Bath of the Month Club receive a start-up kit that contains Fango Mud Bath powder imported from a spa in Italy (relieves aches and pains, leaves the skin soft and relaxes the body); Savar Sea Salts imported from Hungary (eliminates toxins and restores skin “to its natural glow,” according to the catalog); and a bottle of Eucalyptus Oil Bath therapy (enhances breathing and leaves you feeling refreshed). A candle is included with the kit to get the user started on creating a relaxing atmosphere, says Cury.

From then on, the monthly shipments (usually two bath and beauty treatments and Cury’s spa newsletter) cost $9 per month plus shipping/handling.

Cury promises that “all the treatments have a therapeutic value so you feel it physically as well as mentally.” It’s one way of having a spa-at-home experience.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Staff illustration by A. Heitner

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: SOME SPA-AT-HOME RESOURCES Renaissance Spa Treatments from Around the World and the Bath of the Month Club. For a catalog and ordering information, call (800) 406-BATH (2284). Dermalogica’s Spa Body Therapy System, available through skin-care clinics such as Aesthetics, 105 W. Eighth Ave., Suite 250, Spokane 99204 (458-SKIN). Spa Original Dead Sea products, manufactured by Spa Cosmetics in Savron, Israel, contain mud from the Dead Sea, which has long been a mecca for people with skin disorders. The mud is also purported to help prevent the dermal breakdown that causes aging. Call (800) 228-7101. “The Healing Bath” by Maribeth Riggs (Penguin Studio, $14.95). This just-published book gives directions for 19 theme baths, ranging from the Deep Sleep Soak (ingredients include dried basil, sage, marjoram and star anise) to the Inspiration Solution (bergamot oil, lemon balm oil, bay oil and grapefruit oil). Magic’s Elixir Foaming-Relaxing Bath Soak was introduced six weeks ago by Kiehls, a hair care and skin care company. Magic’s Elixir is supposed to soothe and relax muscles while at the same time moisturizing and conditioning the skin. Profits benefit the Magic Johnson Foundation, which raises funds for HIV/AIDS organizations. Call (800) KIEHLS-1 or -2.