Saratoga News

Photograph by Robert Scheer

Dana Barnes gets a facial cleansing mask applied at Preston Wynne.

Saratoga's Spas

Massages, facials and wraps help both skin and spirit

By Mary Ann Cook

Can this country's Puritan work ethic be overthrown--at least for a few hours--by the current wave of health spas? Three Saratoga establishments are out to prove so. They are confident they can convert the masses, at least the masses willing to spend $35 and upward for massages, facials, wraps and other toning processes to help rejuvenate skin and spirit.

The three are Preston Wynne and Harmonie, both on Big Basin Way, and Nilou in the Quito Village Shopping Center on Cox Avenue.

Massage, facials, body wraps and other skin treatments are "one of the few things in life that feel really good and are good for you at the same time," says Peggy Wynne Borgman, Preston Wynne's co-founder/director.

Preston Wynne has been in business as a skin treatment salon since 1984 and became a full-fledged day spa in 1989. It's expanded three times, doubling space and staff each time. With its recent expansion to two stories and 3,600 square feet, it now employs 40.

Douglas Preston is the other co-founder/director, and his concentration is consulting, the newest part of the business. He speaks all over the country at industry shows and advises those who want to open their own spas--"a real accolade," Borgman notes, "because it comes from the industry itself."

This year Preston helped set up a spa technician certification program at Skyline College, the first in the country, with Preston Wynne employees as faculty. Another real accolade: Preston Wynne was named Day Spa of the Year in 1997 by Spa Management Magazine.

Service, Borgman says, is the basis of the spa's success. She defines service as "a combination of the system, the attitude and the art." And since some of these can't be taught, Preston Wynne is extremely discerning about selecting its employees, with an emphasis placed on in-house training.

Employees can see what it's like from the other side of the table: once a month they can treat themselves to spa services for an hour, a Preston Wynne perk.

The variety of treatments offered and the level of expertise of its employees are other high-water marks of their operation, Borgman says. Regular beauty treatment has been part of the European culture for some time; here it was considered pampering, a luxury, but that outlook is changing. "Now it's seen as maintenance," says Elizabeth Kuhns, marketing director for Preston Wynne.

This change in attitude is "riding the wave of increased awareness of responsibility for one's own health and well-being," Kuhns says, adding that it's a complement to alternative medicine, another practice gaining more credence the past few years.

In earlier days women set aside a week and several thousand dollars for a trek to a spa. Now, "people want the spa experience in their back yard, readily available on a regular basis," Kuhns says. Another thing that's changing: the percentage of male clients.

Though women make up 90 percent of the clientele, more and more men are realizing there's nothing feminine about treating yourself well, Borgman says. The spa's newly expanded space is designed not to be gender-specific in color and decor.

Revitalizing at a spa as a duo is a relatively new trend. A suite for couples, connecting rooms and a bath built for two, are part of the spa's revamp. The day package for two includes soaking tub, specialty massage, facial treatment, private lunch and optional makeup design. All of this takes 312 hours and costs $215 per person. The overnight package adds a night at the Saratoga Inn with continental breakfast and costs $579 for two.

Also new is the hydrotherapy tub. "It's like a turbo-charged Jacuzzi. You get the same results in 20 minutes in it that you would with a two-hour massage. It's a powerful detoxifier," says Borgman. "We make our own seaweed water."

Add a compression wrap and an algae mask after the hydrotherapy, and deep tissues will be replenished so your skin will hold more moisture, she says.

Spas can be a support system for people going through life traumas such as divorce, the death of a loved one or illness, Kuhns notes. Those dieting, quitting smoking or detoxifying are also benefited by regular spa treatments.

"People leave here transported, transformed in how they feel about themselves," Kuhns says.

At Harmonie, employees believe every woman is beautiful and set out to prove it with their treatment plan. The emphasis here is on the European day spa style, says director Francois Geerebaert.

A European facial is more treatment-oriented, less a pampering procedure, Geerebaert says. "We're looking at prevention, not an overnight cure." She claims the regime of natural products helps combat aging, as French women will testify.

Massage is part of the European facial, and tending to pressure points on the back, neck and shoulder area is part of the Harmonie facial. These ministrations aim to cleanse, purify, treat, protect and relax.

Waxing is another specialty of Harmonie. "We're one of the best. Because of our skills and products used, it doesn't hurt too much."

Harmonie has been at its present location for eight years and is owned by Patricia Bottero, whose Harmonie Skin and Body Care was in El Paseo Shopping Center for three years.

Unique to Harmonie is acupressure by Francoise Vincent. Acupressure is the East Asian practice of applying finger pressure to specific points to bring the body back into balance, increase energy, relieve stress and promote healing. Also unique to Harmonie is a children's playroom, open Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Special Harmonie packages include the Executive Getaway: a facial with back, neck, shoulder and scalp massage, a hand treatment and a tension-relief foot remedy that take 212 hours all told. Day of Beauty, which takes 512 hours, offers a sea-salt glow aromatherm lavender envelopment, a facial, a foot remedy, makeup and a spa meal.

The new kid on the spa block is Nilou ahimi, whose Nilou Spa opened Valentine's Day 1996 at Quito Village Shopping Center. Her shop's growth has been "like an avalanche," she says. In a little more than a year, her staff has grown from zero to seven people. Mia Raybal is her right-hand woman, and Tania Richman is her chief esthetician (facialist) and massage therapist.

Nilou, who is 41 but looks years younger, is a living advertisement for her treatment center. "It's very rewarding work," she says. "You get rewarded with each client; maybe 10 times a day you get rewarded. People will say to me, 'Could you keep me here all day? I don't want to leave.' "

Pat Anderson, Saratoga Chamber of Commerce president, will come in just to sit, Nilou relates, because she likes the tranquil feeling that surrounds her here. And she sometimes signs on for services, too. A recent client was Mayor Gillian Moran, and that was a thrill, say Nilou employees.

Rahini chose this line of work because she loves people. "They make me feel alive," she says. "Physically touching others is much more acceptable in the Eastern culture than it is here," so such a vocation came naturally. A native Iranian, she left that country because of the revolution.

Her beauty training was in Belgium, more intense than here, she says. There it's a two-year program, with students serving an apprenticeship for 18 months after six months of study. Rahimi worked for Beau Visage in Palo Alto for a year and Harmonie in Saratoga for five years before opening up Nilou.

"I love to pamper people. I want people to feel they are guests in my home, not clients. My approach is a family feeling, much more personal than a client relationship."

The Nilou Spa serves about 20 people a day. Packages include Head to Toe Revival: a facial and full body massage, warm mask and foot treatment for two hours and $105. A Little Night Magic includes aromatherapy scalp massage, body contour, detoxifying herbal wrap, foot bath, foot reflexology and facial. It takes five hours and costs $196.

At Nilou's you can get a stress reduction massage at $35, an aromatherapy massage for $55, and a foot reflexology for $55. Nilou is open seven days a week.

Phone numbers: Preston Wynne, 741-5525; Harmonie, 741-4997; Nilou, 866-5036.

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