I am a reformed junkie. A spa junkie, that is. The term “spa junkie” refers to the women and sometimes men who are nearly addicted to spas and will frequent them as much as humanly (or monetarily) possible. And I, admittedly, was one of them.
I received my first professional massage at age 9 because of a back problem. I was so very enamored with the relaxation that accompanied the massage that I have continued, from that moment on, to receive massage as often as possible. But I didn’t stop there. Some people comfort or reward themselves with food, shopping, or even sex, but I have always done it with beauty treatments. Hair, nails, massage, facials, waxing, you name it, I’ve done it. Not a bad way to cheer yourself up, but definitely a pricey one. Now that I am in college and in Maine, my limitations have increased considerably due to budget constraints (i.e. I’m a student), and, as there aren’t nearly as many spas here in Portland as in larger areas, there are some treatments that are unavailable (which is probably just as well, as less options equals less money spent). I have decided to not let this knowledge go to waste, and instead will help you to benefit from my empty wallet and hours spent trying out all that Portland has to offer by breaking down my very favorite places to get pampered, ways to do it on the end-of-semester-budget (really really cheap), and some at home DIY treatments for those times when you can barely afford ramen. So sit back, relax and play some Enya or something….
I figure we should start from the head down, so let’s chat about hair. I have been to, let’s see, seven different salons/stylists in the past three years that I have lived in Portland, and for two of them I was monogamous to just one stylist who I have recently parted ways with, which is very similar to a break-up, so if my experiences can help you find and stay with someone, all the more reason to share them. Jeffrey at Akari on Fore Street is a wonderful colorist, but doesn’t do cuts, as Akari separates their stylists and colorists, which I don’t care for. Also, I stopped going to Akari because of what I refer to as “bitchy spa girls.” All of the practitioners/stylists/therapists were always fabulous, professional and just plain lovely, but their front desk was consistently snotty. I finally decided (after dropping a small fortune) that I deserved to be treated with courtesy and respect and so opted to go elsewhere. But, if you don’t mind parsnippity I-think-I’m-better-than-you-because-I-get-people-cucumber-flavored-water-for-a-living front desk service, then by all means, brave the brats and get a fabulous color job. For a ridiculously unbelievable scalp massage, see Burke at Salon Burke on Congress Street. Seriously. If you talk to anyone who has been to him, this is, without a doubt one of the first things they will mention. Now, you’d have to get a cut, color or style in order to get the scalp massage (he does it while he washes your hair) but it’s worth it, I promise. Then, the ultimate hair god is my new stylist and colorist, Steve at Studio One Ltd. on Middle Street. He is wonderful, attentive, funny, and damned talented. My hair was not only in need of cut and color, but both areas needed to be fixed as my old stylist (the one I was faithful to for two years) and I had, uh, creative differences so to speak, and my hair was not to my liking (or symmetrical, as we discovered). So he is without one iota of a doubt my ultimate recommendation for fabulous hair.
Working our way down, let’s move onto skin in general; waxing, facials, make-up artists, and the like. I have had only two facials in Portland, and I wasn’t overly impressed with either. They weren’t bad, just not that great. Now I will preface the info I’m about to give you by acknowledging that it has been roughly two years since I received a facial at either of these places, so they may have improved. The first was at the Debbie Elliot Day Spa on Forest Avenue. I had an entire “day of beauty” spa package, and it lacked, well, quite a bit. The robes were old and worn through with holes in them, and they stuck me with a trainee for the day. Let me explain that for a moment so you can be sure to request otherwise. Spas and salons sometimes offer “apprenticeships” to wannabe stylists, estheticians, etc. so that they can obtain their license that way as opposed to attending cosmetology school. This is all well and good unless you are a customer who is, unbeknownst to you, paying full price for a service to be preformed by someone who is still learning. A spa day package is extremely expensive, and this particular one was given to me as a gift. So, imagine my lack of delight when my facial, body scrub, make-up application and blowout was all done by a trainee who, while being very sweet, had no idea what she was doing. I was on my way to an evening wedding after, and had to rush home to wet my frizzy hair (I had asked for loose waves) and scrub off my sea-foam green eye shadow covered eye area (and when I say eye area, understand that I mean eyelash line to eyebrow arch) and orange blush from my cirque de soleil inspired face. I am not employing hyperbole here, my friends; it was horrific.
My other facial was done at Akari, which we discussed previously. It was fine, nothing much to write home about, so let’s not, shall we?
Onto waxing then. Again, this was done at Akari, and upon further inspection that evening I discovered that there were spots on my legs that she had missed. Stephanie did do wonderful eyebrows though. A necessary tidbit about waxing that I noticed they neglected to remind me of when I booked the appointment is the following; my esthetician in LA had explained to me that hair growth has cycles, meaning that if you wax in the middle of the growth cycle, then you aren’t getting your money’s worth, as the hair will grow back much quicker, because it wasn’t finished its cycle. So, make sure you always have at LEAST two weeks growth. Yuck, right? Who the hell wants to walk around with hairy legs for two weeks? This is why I don’t wax anymore unless I’m going away for a week somewhere warm, say the beach, or a camping trip, and I don’t want to have to worry about shaving. This is my personal waxing choice, and it’s one every woman has to make for herself.
Now we come to my very favorite part, the piece de r?sistance of any spa experience. The massage. I can’t say that I have ever actually had a bad massage, but I will share with you my favorite place/person to go and see. Mark at Akari is unbelievable. He does this whole foot-in-warm-towels thing that I absolutely adore, and he is one of the best massage therapists that I have ever, ever been to. Phenomenal. I have had massage from other people at Akari as well, and they were enjoyable, but nothing like Mark. Also, Nine Stones on Commercial Street is supposed to be divine. I have been told from two separate people that it is fabulous. From my understanding, they strictly do massage, and it’s a very healing/Zen like environment.
My new favorite spa-esque place is Soak in Monument Square (next to Longfellow Books). Ohhhhh. I can’t even begin to do justice to the amazing experience I had. They describe themselves as a “Foot sanctuary and tea house”. You can have a cup of traditionally prepared tea and a light lunch upstairs, or move downstairs to their cocoon-like communal spa area. I hoisted myself up into a huge cushiony chair, and had a lap tray brought to me with my lavender chamomile tea. They then wheeled this giant bowl filled with warm water and lavender oil and rested my feet inside, covering them with the heated stones that had been warming at the bottom of the large bowl. Heaven, I’m telling you. Then they set warm packs across my knees and shoulders, and let me lie back and relax for fifteen minutes or so. Don (my amazing massage therapist) came back and then gave me the most incredible twenty-minute foot massage. I was melted butter, I’m telling you. There is nothing about the space that encourages rushing, or hurrying, or even any realization of a world outside of Soak’s warm, and soothing sanctuary.
Ok, so all of these places sound well and good, but what about pampering on a serious budget, right? Well, there are at least two cosmetology schools here in the Portland area that host clinics for their students, in order to offer them real-life experience. The prices are a mere sliver of what they would be at a spa/salon, and the student is being supervised by a teacher, so you don’t have to worry about your hair being butchered. You can get your hair done, nails, waxing (though I wouldn’t recommend that, I mean there isn’t a lot of room for error with your eyebrows), facials, and massage. My personal recommendation for the least risky service to be done by a student would be nails and massage. Just my two cents.
And if you are really really broke, then by all means, grab a bottle of honey, jump in the bath and smear it all over you, let it sit, and then wipe it off. Honey is an amazing moisturizer, and will leave your skin just as silky as any salt scrub from a spa.
So, that’s that, my tour o’ the Portland Pamper scene. I hope you were able to find some of the info useful. Here’s to taking care of you.