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How to Spa in Las Vegas
The spa comes at us from a long tradition that includes Turkish and Roman Baths from thousands of years ago. Spa started out as a geographical location. The first spa was Spa, a town in Belgium known since Roman times for its waters. Spas usually developed at places where underground thermal springs passed to the surface. In the 19th century, “taking the waters” was a common therapeutic remedy for all sorts of maladies. Today, throughout the American West, many towns are named “something Springs” after such healing waters. For example, Wyatt Earp’s friend, Doc Holliday, died in Glenwood Springs, Colorado in 1887, hoping for relief from his tuberculosis. Steamboat Springs and Pagosa Springs are other examples.
Today, a spa is really a facility rather than a geographical spot, and it is more for personal pleasure than for healing – although healing is often a feature of the treatments sought after and provided. The techniques have expanded greatly, and the location is no longer dependent on the earth to provide the hot water. The so-called “Mega-resorts” of Las Vegas have all entered the competition for the title of most extravagant, luxurious, exotic and otherwise over-the-top-in-personal-service spa.
There is a competing view that it is an acronym invented by Roman soldiers for “sanus per aquam,” meaning they could recover from wounds and injuries by sitting in the hot water. If that is true, it explains perhaps where the Belgian town derived its name.
Beauty Salons
Virtually every spa either provides beauty salon services or is on a property where such services are provided separately. The approach is the same as in anyone’s home town: make an appointment for what you want and then show up. Billing is often handled in the same way as for spa services, so it is fair to ask first or check on this detail. Prices are probably a little higher than in the home town, so it is also fair to ask about that. Services are usually the full gamut, including all hair cutting, clipping and styling, coloring, perms and other hair treatments, manicures and pedicures and foot beauty care generally, waxing and spray tans. Some other services sometimes offered by beauty salons may be available through the spa, such as a tanning booths and facials.
Barber shops are less common. However, the salons are often “unisex,” meaning that a man can have the services of a hair stylist, including coloring. Shaves are probably unavailable almost everywhere, except maybe on a dare.
Body Treatments
Body treatments are a mainstay of spa life. They almost always start with a scrub of some sort for the purpose of exfoliation, followed by a massage, and concluded, optionally, with a wrap. The variety comes in the types of scrubs available, the types of mists and creams applied afterwards, and form of the wrap. Spray-on tanning is also a fre-quent body service offered. Paraffin treatments to soften the hands may also be a service offered.
Scrubs can include salts from all over the world, almonds and minerals of different kinds, chamomile, coffee, pineapple, cucumber and melon, mandarin orange, papaya, grape seed or even Swiss chocolate. Mists might be any of the aromatherapy essences, like lavender or orange blossom. Creams and applications may be cocoa butter, coconut butter, shea butter, nut oils or mint.
Wraps can include vitamins, essential oils, fruit or herbal mud combinations, seaweed, other marine plants, spices like paprika, cinnamon and ginger, and aloe vera.
Waxing includes a great variety of individualized services, addressed to different parts of the body for the removal of hair.
Massage
Massage is the principal service provided by a spa. Massages come in several varieties. This is but a sampling of the types most common ones found in Las Vegas spas:
Lots of combinations are offered, like ice and hot stone together. Also, packs (like mud or seaweed), gel treatments (for athletic training) and other additions can be made as an up-grade to almost any massage.
Wellness Centers
Some spas have staff trainers, physical therapists, nutritionists, and acupuncturists, each of whom can assist a guest with a regimen of rehabilitation, strength- or endurance training, or any other, specific goal related to the body.
Classes & Instruction
Some spas have rooms for classes, including yoga, tai chi, spinning, general movement, and aerobic dancing. Recently some spas have added “body pump” which combines aerobic workouts with light free weights.
Fitness Centers
A proper resort will provide a fitness center. Some of the smaller hotels may simply make an “exercise room” available, which is not the same scale as the fitness centers usually ad-junct to spas. The main items of equipment are the cardiovascular machines as one group (including treadmills, stationary bikes, stair climbers, rowing machines, and elliptical trainers) and weight machines (usually a set of 12-15 stations) as another group. Often free weights are also offered in a separate area, including large and small bars, weights, benches, racks and other accessories. Fitness centers also stock up on large balls and other devices to help with crunches and other floor exercises. Look for pads to be ample and soft. Check for TV’s. Most fitness centers have a choice of TV programs running with a wireless sound system that attaches through earphones. In a case of doubt, bring earphones. A serious conditioner should probably bring his or her own heart rate monitor as well.
One detail worth remembering is that resistance weight machines (like the Nautilus series) vary in intensity from manufacturer to manufacturer, and some machines subtly exercise different muscles from a similar machine from another source. If there is a staff personal trainer, as there almost always is in the larger spas, ask about any adjustments in a weight program that may be necessary to carry over from what one is accustomed to at home.
Facials
Facials replace nutrients in the skin and make the skin moist and pliable. Products are supposed to be “natural” or “organic” – meaning that no artificial chemicals are intro-duced back into the skin. Treatments with vitamin C and E are common. Often facials are comprised of aromatic fresh herbs or fruit pulp. Like massages and wraps, various ingredients (such as cream or paprika) are applied in order to clean the skin, improve circulation, clarify and hydrate the skin, clean off old cells and detoxify and revitalize those remaining. Many treatments are designed to “exfoliate” or “peel” the surface skin on the face. While techniques and results can vary from spa to spa, the objective is to get rid of the old skin cells, and expose new ones. Each spa will have a menu of services with names and descriptions of each specific treatment. The conventional “European Facial” that started the trend is a treatment of “marine-sourced” ingredients (read seaweed and possibly seawater, too) with a facial massage.
Aromatherapy can also be applied in facials. Usually a spa will have a special approach for sensitive skin, and a few “quick” services that involve skin refresh-ment without a big investment of time or exotic ingredients. Many of these treatments can also be applied to the hands. A full service spa will also have something special for the eyes, with the objective of relieving tiredness and of reducing fine lines, circles under the eyes and puffy eyes.
Services for Men
Many spas have created combinations of massage and other services especially for men, usually avoiding the fruits and herbs in favor of eucalyptus, manly spices and more neutral essences as well as sports massage.