By Ken Sakamoto, Star-Bulletin
Esthetician Tina Stephenson's work inspires client Claude Heon
to problem-solving:"Instead of going head-to-head with someone,
I could sit next to him instead of across the table, in a figurative way.
And that's what the client needs, support, as opposed to being adversarial."
Just call it a
jacuzzi for the brain
Stress relieving tools
By Nadine Kam
like massages and facials aren't
just for the wealthy
Assistant features editorLONG before workaholism became a norm, and stress a fact of life, Claude Heon learned how to take a vacation without ever leaving the state. A real vacation is long overdue, he said, but his idea of a vacation is to treat himself to a relaxing massage or facial.
"See, with little treatments like this, you don't store so much fatigue. You release it as it comes," he said, while his esthetician Tina Stephenson kneaded his moisturized face in the spa section of the Paul Brown Salon and Day Spa.
The spa is run under the direction of Dawn Marie, who operated her own spa in Kapahulu for 6-1/2 years before joining forces with Paul Brown, of hair styling fame, to pamper clientele with a complete head-to-toe regimen.
By Ken Sakamoto, Star-Bulletin
1 An enzyme exfoliant is massaged into Claude Heon's skin before he goes under a sauna.By expanding, she said they could make a bigger statement as to the therapeutic benefits of a spa.
"We want to make sure everyone has an experience that enhances their quality of life, not for just one or two hours," Dawn Marie said. "We tell people, 'Here's what you can do for your honey, or for yourself.' We give them the tools for daily life.
"It's not just for the wealthy, or for travelers, but for people who want to look and feel better."
As the questioning continued during his session, i.e. "How does that mud pack feel, Claude?" his answers were slow to materialize as he summoned all his energy to coax a thought. The languor in his voice suggested his brain had left the building for serene destinations far, far away.
"It's a jacuzzi for the brain. When something feels good, you don't want to budge," he apologized.
By Ken Sakamoto, Star-Bulletin
2 After the cleansing, cold spoons glide across his face for a stimulative effect, followed by application of a therapeutic cream and placement of warm spoons.Many still consider massages and facials to be luxuries. Certainly, they are not necessities in the same way that bread and water are for survival, but that depends on how you define "survival."
Many in the mental health profession believe some form of stress relief is necessary for both mental and physical well-being.
"The most recent report from the AMA (American Medical Association) on stress and heart disease indicates that stress contributes to heart disease in a significant way; it exacerbates it," said David Dameron, a clinical psychologist and director of Clinical Services for Castle Medical Center's Counseling Services.
"It seems to me, patients I see are dealing with more complex life stressors than we were addressing 10, 15, or even 5 years ago," Dameron said. "People who do things like going to a spa, or going to get a massage, are generally tuned into their own needs. They're saying, 'I'm in a stressful situation, but I'm going to take care of myself.' It's a preventative approach to health.
By Ken Sakamoto, Star-Bulletin
3 A Moorish mud mask tightens up pores while drawing out the last impurities from the skin."As we know, most people don't take that approach to life. They don't do preventative things, which makes them more inclined to stress or opportunistic kinds of illness, whether flu, depression or anxiety."
Dameron said a spa treatment just may be the boost one needs to make it through the week or month. He cautions that more important than spa treatments is the idea of achieving balance in life.
"I would never condone any one thing," he said. "Doing something like jogging all the time is not healthy. There is always the possibility of knee or orthopedic injury.
"Rewarding yourself can take the form of going to the spa, or it might simply be a matter of taking time out to spend with your children or significant other.
"It's all a matter of being sensitive to needs both psychological and physical. It's important to keep a balance of friends, exercise and diet."
Heon learned this lesson long ago. He started looking at facials as a form of reward while he was a student in Montreal. "After a major event like an exam or graduate debate, instead of getting drunk, I would go get a facial, celebrating in that way.
"In Montreal the practice of facials for men has been long accepted. Here, I think it just began a couple of years ago, which is good."
Now, a facial is something Heon can do on a lunch break from his duties as owner of Claude Heon Realtor.
"It doesn't take long. Many people are into meditation and it has the same effect. After a facial, you're relaxed. When you can get back to work you can see more clearly."
Although the facial allows him to feel his skin breathe, he said, "I focus more on what it does to my mind."
On this day, Stephenson's gentle strokes across the musculature of face have inspired him to rethink his strategy for approaching difficult clients.
"Instead of going head-to-head with someone, I could sit next to him instead of across the table, in a figurative way. And that's what the client needs, support, as opposed to being adversarial."
Today he has opted for the "golden spoons," one of nine facial treatments on the spa's menu. In this treatment, 24K gold-plated cold spoons and warm spoons alternately glide across his face. The cold spoons, Dawn Marie explains, stimulates the skin to absorb a therapeutic cream, which is massaged into the skin before the warm spoons are applied.
The experience of the cold spoons, Heon said, is like jumping in cold water. "I feel every pore open."
But he can't remember the sensation of the warm spoons arrive. "I was someplace else," he said.
The last part of the treatment involves a pack of Austrian Moor mud, said to be rich in herbs, minerals, mosses and peats. The mud is rich and creamy to the touch, and odorless.
"I usually don't know the name of the treatments," Heon said. "I just give them my body for an hour."
By Ken Sakamoto, Star-Bulletin
The high-tech salon interior is busy with clientele.
If you suspect there's a vibrant and vital you waiting to emerge from its mantle of sallow skin, scaly heels, split ends and lactic acid build-up, Paul Brown Salon and Day Spa offers the Metamorphosis. How much for all this spa luxury?
You'll need to clear your calendar to partake of the ultimate pampering package, which demands a good seven hours of your time. For $375, you will enjoy an herbal body loofah polish, seaweed body wrap, one-hour body massage, golden spoons facial, paraffin hand treatment with manicure, pedicure, haircut and style, makeup application, and lunch, too.
Individual spa treatments start at $25 for an eye lift treatment, a facial for the delicate eyelids. Massage, with your choice of Swedish, reflexology, sports, trigger point, aromatherapy or shiatsu styles run $55 to $65 per hour.
Packages start at $150 for "Island Magic," with its exfoliating Hawaiian Salt Glow mineral treatment, thermal seaweed body wrap and an hourlong massage.
They will be happy to create a custom beauty and wellness package for you also. Call 591-1881 for more information.
Keep in mind that because the spa works can only polish your outside shell. What's inside is still left to you.
