We’ve got a great guest post today from Suzy at Maman Poulet. Taking a well deserved break from revealing the truths about politicans and lawers that they would have preferred to keep to themselves, she decided to hit one of the capital’s plushest spas:
“This is my first Beaut.ie confession – I’ve never been inside a beauty salon/spa etc. before and the rooster (my partner Karen) thought that I might like same for my birthday. Some consultations with the Beaut.ie team later and it was decided to try out the Tethra Spa at the Merrion Hotel.
One of the things that keeps me out of the beauty business are the steps and general able bodiedness of the beauty industry. Invariably these places are all up stairs or down stairs. Given I fell up the stairs at the cinema the night before my appointment it was not a bad idea that I decided to find somewhere with lifts and no/few steps. There is a side entrance to the Merrion is that is accessible and the hotel itself is accessible throughout.
And like many other women I have tended to believe that the lack of a size 10 figure means that these places are not for us either but that’s a subject for a whole different post!
Deciding what I wanted done – that was a easy! Due to my health massages are not advised, I bite my nails and don’t need a lot of waxing so it was to be a facial
I booked my appointment during the week and revealed my salon virginity to the receptionist who was unfazed by my ignorance at the type of treatment I wanted and we agreed when I said I’d leave that bit till I met the therapist. I ended up getting a 10am appointment for a Saturday which was a bit of a sacrifice. (No Saturday Kitchen for me!) The day before the appointment there was a call from the salon to confirm and it was all Ms. Byrne and Madam which is very 5 star but not very Maman Poulet!
I arrived at the door and a porter brought me to the lift and gave me further directions and I was greeted at the desk and given a robe and directed to the dressing room. After which Irene the therapist met me and brought me into the treatment room which was warm and comfortable and very therapyish. The treatment couch was heated, the towels were fluffy, the music was lovely. I was asked about my skin type etc. and it was decided that I’d have a skin brightening treatment. The lights were dimmed and I lay there and let Irene get to work.
Cleansing Milks, exfoliators, eye compresses, acupressure, lip treatments and a wonderful head, neck and shoulder massage later I had my brows shaped for the first time in my life. (Jaysus I wept a tear or two but they look so lovely!) All the treatments are from the Espa range and I particularly liked the eye compresses and fiddly bits that Irene did massaging my eyeballs. Oh it’s hard to explain and you’d have to be there but it was lovely!
It was all completed by moisturising treatment and a serum. A glass of water and time to get myself up of the treatment bed and readjust and I was a new woman. The facial was €90 and the eyebrow shaping an extra €20.
The only downside was I left looking like I’d been pulled through an oil slick backwards. The head massage and treatments left my hair in an awful state. So it’s not really something you can get done if you don’t plan going home after to clean yourself up (or like me sit in all day with greasy hair afraid to shower so as not to get rid of all the goodness you’ve paid money for to be put on your face.)
I’ll be back again to treat myself and indeed am open to suggestion to other treatments I can try and other locations in Dublin that are accessible (in mind as well as in physical structure!)”
Tags: facial, merrion hotel, review, spa, tethra
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on Monday, September 29th, 2008 at 2:30 pm and is filed under Brands, treatment & product reviews.
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Sounds like bliss! And we must get a list of accessible salons together, so many places have steep stairs up to their treatment rooms
it does, sounds fab.
PS: maman poulet, for future ref, ask for a dry head massage because as you say, you might be going out after. I hate when they do loads of oil in my hair – yuck!
[...] My colleagues in femme central amongst others may be interested to note that I’ve written a guest post on Beaut.ie about my recent visit to the Tethra Spa at the Merrion Hotel for a [...]
Sounds heavenly. That pink hair mud that they put in your hair in espa facials makes your hair so soft and shiny. It’s great as long as you arent going anywhere afterwards.
It sounds divine, I must do something like that with the Young Wan, she’d love it, as would I
Maman Poulet, sounds like you took to this beauty stuff like a duck (sorry chicken) to water! Great report.
Great post Suzy. Sounds heavenly. *Adds to Xmas list*
[...] Suzy gets a facial. [...]
Oooh Ma – I’m vry jealous! Ithink you may need to visit a few more spas – just for the sake of comparison, of course. And I also think it’s vital that you take along an objective friend in case you miss anything (*cough, me, cough*).
Sounds fab, and well-deserved!
Sounds great.
It really struck me reading this that while I’m acutely aware of accessibility in day to day places – banks, bars, hotels, even pavements! The difficulty of access regarding salons has never dawned on me. Probably to do with the fact that I’m not in them too often (or often enough! LOL) … but nevertheless I can barely get into the tiny treatment room in Therapie – a wheelchair user, or flying red machine user (Maman Poulet) would never get her wheels in. And that’s not to single out Therapie, at least it’s all on the one level.
Perhaps that’s something for salons to consider: – providing treatment rooms with doors wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair; a water bowl and some biscuits for guide dogs; treatment menus in braille; ISL lessons for nominated therapists. So Salons of Ireland here’s a gauntlet for ya! What can you do to make your Salon’s more inclusive?
@Principessa woah there’s a gauntlet if ever I saw one. Actually Admins – how about the Beaut.ie Irish Beauty Awards including an access category! Then I can take Siobhan and a few others out to do some inspections!!!
Suzy – yep, it’s a very important area and one we now intend to look into. When aphrodite asked me for recommendations for places for you to to, I was a bit stumped actually – and it made me think about it a lot. Outside of town there are lots of places that would be more accessible, but Dublin city centre is badly off for very nice day spas in any case.
Principesa – L’Occitane put braille on their packaging, which is a touch I always think is really nice.
Yeah admin, I’ve noticed that and agree it is a lovely touch and probably doesn’t add a whole lot more to the packaging price, shame more don’t do it.