If you've been out and about in the blistering heat this Bangalore summer, you can't possibly resist the promise of a chilled radiance facial now, can you? And if you're imagining relaxing under a face mask of fruity pulp, you've got the idea, all right!
Green Trends Hair and Style Salon has a special Summer Skin Coolers offer that's on this season. It promises to take care of those summer scares — tanned dry skin, frizzy dry hair — a fruity summer antidote.
On the menu there's a cherry and melon facial, raspberry and spearmint manicure/pedicure, and a hibiscus head massage. Shobha, the trainer at the salon starts off with the assurance that all the ingredients used are natural, though they come pre-packaged (so that they are standardised across the salon chain) and chilled. The facial and head massage make a good combination, is Shobha's friendly advice.
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Therapist Lalitha with the soft massage-friendly hands knows her business and fastidiously sets about the initial cleansing of grime off the face. Once the canvas is all cleaned up, she's ready to create her masterpiece.
She brings on the steamer, opens up the skin pores, and then the light exfoliation massage begins — with a cool blast of aloe vera and apricot scrub. Once the secrets of the face are laid bare, it's time to get rid of the chequered history of black and white heads.
I'm imagining a whole layer of the past month's impurities just swished off my face and neck. I can only imagine, with my eyes wide shut. Never hurts to feel good.
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Then begins a heavenly head-neck-back massage with shea butter. More the butter, it's always better and as Lalitha dabs on generous helpings, my imagination makes me believe the butter is seeping into my skin and I will be transformed into a soft and supple being.
The sweet aroma of the cooled shea butter is soothing as is the pliant massage. The hot-cold sensation, the sudden jump in blood circulation brings about is so palpable and makes you aware of what's happening just below the surface of your skin.
The promised melon-cherry concoction makes its grand entry — the chilled face mask is applied generously and you begin to feel the exhaustion of the summer heat and its contingent of irritants melt away under its umbrella. Enjoy the 15 minutes of rest with the mask on. Then it is peel off time, only to emerge from its cocoon with a silken glow.
A quick hibiscus head massage is next on the cards. “If you keep the oil on overnight, the effect will be better,” I'm assured. I go for it. At first the stark red colour of the oil on the cotton ball psyches me out, but I'm told that's the colour the coconut oil acquires when you boil hibiscus flowers in it! And so with eyes closed I sit back to float into another world where the head is floating in nothingness and the many muscles in the arm and back are worked on again with just enough pressure to ease out the stress.
The facial is priced Rs. 1,100, the Misty Hands manicure is Rs. 250, the Misty Feet pedicure Rs. 400, and the Cool Heads hibiscus massage for women is Rs. 300 and for men Rs. 225.
Green Trends Salons are located at Banashankari, JP Nagar, R.T Nagar, Brookefield, Sahakar Nagar, Rajajinagar, Malleswaram, Frazer Town and BTM. For phone numbers and details check www.mygreentrends.in