Easy Livin’: Spa conference reveals relaxing trends

Kimberley McGee

Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2000 | 9:41 a.m.

Leah Kovitz of Scottsdale, Ariz., came to the International Spa Conference 2000 at the Venetian this week to be impressed by new treatments and gadgets.

She was not disappointed.

"I thought I heard it all being in this business 22 years," Kovitz said as she shook her head over a metal contraption and soothing music spilled from nearby speakers.

The object of her confusion was an Indian massage tool, the Svedana. It is a large stainless-steel pot with a fat red hose that snakes out from the sides, and winds under knobs and gauges that protrude from the lid. It is a modern take on an ancient practice in which herbs are cooked in boiling water, then released through the hose over massaged and oiled skin.

"It seems we are going back to the old ways," Kovitz said as she pondered the pot. "Probably because people are more open to these things than they have been. The toys are one thing, whatever gets them in to experience (the benefits of) the spa."

Spa treatments and visits have taken hold in America and the industry continues to grow in a lucrative market. More than 700 exhibitors were in town this week for the International Spa Conference, which concludes today at the Venetian, to get the latest on spa trends.

Splendor in the spa

Katernia Hostomsky-Mateo attends the spa conference every year and was surprised to learn at a lecture of the growth in the number of customers clamoring for spa items.

"I knew it was growing steadily but I had no idea that it was so fast, something like 56 percent from 1997 to 1999," she said. A PricewaterhouseCoopers survey found that the number of spas in the country has increased by 21 percent in the past five years, and visits by spa-goers are up 70 percent.

"People are getting it," Hostomsky-Mateo said.

Conference visitor Jo Niccolis came to get a leg up in new trends -- and jumped in with both feet.

She was propped up on a massage table with giant Frankenstein-looking boots (although in jungle trim) fitted over her bare feet to try a new reflexology remedy.

"It's different," she said as tiny probes in the thick soles of the boots massaged her feet.

While Niccolis was immobilized by the heavy boots, the wired footwear worked the knots out of her tortured feet. When the 15-minute massage ended, the boots were removed to reveal yellow, red and white areas on Niccolis' feet. The colors supposedly tell what is ailing the body and where.

"That's just really a neat idea," said Niccolis, relaxed and relieved to find she had good feet and a healthy body, according to what her size-9 appendages revealed.

Robin Carlson from the Desert Mountain spa in Scottsdale, Ariz., was more impressed with treatments for another region of the body. She has been giving facials for years and had heard of using stones for healing -- but not both together.

"(The stones) can open up your heart," Carlson said. "The facial is just very relaxing. If you are stressed-out, it shows in your face."

Carlson signed up at the conference to learn more about the Euro-stone facial, which combines crystals and warm stones for a full facial experience.

Carlson has found that more of her customers are taking lotions and other treatment accessories home for a mini-spa, and she wants to provide them with the latest trends in healing and maximizing the relaxing.

"This is something that my clients will like and I have heard of it, but I hadn't seen it before," Carlson said. "It'll be new to them."

Good things

Electric boots, gyrating tubs and hot rocks were some of the featured toys at the convention, but what took center stage was a simple element dating back to ancient times -- water.

America is a shower-driven society, said Sharon Christie, founder and president of the California fragrance company Aromafloria, and the bath is a forgotten luxury of childhood.

"I want to get everybody back in the bathtub," Christie said. "It's healing and it's medicinal and it just feels good." Reflexology boots aside, the spa industry is centered around the healing powers of water, which is much harder to sell than new gadgets -- but people are beginning to listen.

"If I had this talk 10 years ago people would look at me as if I had a martian head," Christie said. "But water is whence we come, floating on the embryonic sack."

Bath benefits, massage and aromatherapy are answering a big need to re-connect, get back to basics and get in touch with the mind and body spirit of the spa industry, she said.

"The consumer is very thirsty to be touched, not necessarily in a hands-on way, but also in a feeling of spirituality and the spa industry is answering that need," Christie said.

While a shower may wash away the dirt, a bath washes away tension and rejuvenates the body. A bath doesn't have to be reminiscent of the long, drawn- out baths of childhood with all the fun accessories. Instead, a simple 15-minute soak can ease tension and refresh a stressed body and mind.

"When you feel renewed, the whole look of things changes," Christie said.

In the tub the body is allowed to relax after the demands of the workday -- bent into the car, hunched over a the desk or twisted at the gym.

"Getting into the bath helps all that musculature and circulatory and vascular system to get realigned," Christie said. "There's a whole renewal aspect that takes place -- cleansing, purifying, and relaxing. It increases flexibility, it's almost like you are walking on air."

It's good for what ails you and it's also good for sweet dreams. A hot bath helps to reset your time clock and nudge you very gently into a deep, continuous sleep.

Nina Curtis, owner of the Nile Institute in Beverly Hills, also wants Americans to take a long, hot one for health. The concept of wellness, or better living, is not new to Kneipp, which has been championing baths for 100 years. Curtis uses the German company's oils, salts and teas with her customers and encourages them to take the elixirs home to use in their own baths and spas.

"What I've seen, from being in this industry for 20 years now, is that everybody is acknowledging what I've been talking about," Curtis said. "People are understanding the power of baths."

Consumers are bagging up their spa experiences and taking them home.

"People are incorporating this concept into their everyday lives and utilizing the treatments in their homes," Curtis said.

Herbal baths are the most popular consumer products, she said, and colors -- naturally enhanced, of course -- are becoming another avenue of holistic healing. The pick-me-up punch of scented rosemary oil is tainted red for visual sensory to also add a boost. The calming effects of lavender oil are enhanced with an eye-catching blue base.

"The trend is that there is more interest in the consumer to say, 'How can I make a difference in my life?' " she said. "And then, 'Make it easy for me.' "