SPA TREND: HIGH-END, RETRO-SPA GLAMOUR IS IN

The higher-end spa market is trending EVEN MORE high-end these days. The new upper classes are exploding in markets like China, Russia and India. The high-end spa/beauty trend isn’t just generic “luxe,” it’s very retro. Think Old Hollywood glamour. The look of spa has lately been dominated by a medical, hyper-modern or wellness themes. 

"Hope in a jar” is a big trend. The pendulum is swinging back to old school spa glamour. Spa beauty and grooming will boom in 2012 around the world. Chinese women weren’t even allowed to wear makeup until 1982, and that beauty market is now worth roughly $21 billion. Brazil, Russia, China and India alone will contribute over half of the total $43 billion growth for the global beauty industry by 2014.

TREND 2012: FEET SPA TREATMENTS

SpaFinders's Top 10 2012 Global Spa Trends list is out and the number one trend is all about focusing now on the foot!

Spa and wellness centers are now putting a big focus on feet. “Foot fitness” classes to new 100-percent foot-focused med-spas to podiatrist-overseen “medi-pedis” to treatments specifically targeting high-heel pain.

The human foot has 33 joints and 26 bones, wrapped in a web of 126 muscles, ligaments and nerves. The most utilized part of our bodies, the average person spends four hours (pounding out 8,000 to 10,000 steps) on their feet every day. We exert a force equivalent to several hundred tons every day on our poor southern extremities.

The problem: women are now wearing the sky-highest heels in history, bombarded with images of Lady Gaga or Victoria Beckham teetering around in six inch-plus mega-heels. Two in five North American women now wear high heels every day, and 43 percent claim they won’t give them up, despite the misery.

There is now an epidemic of plantar fasciitis, bunions, hammertoes, corns, metatarsalgia, flat feet, Achilles tendonitis, neuromas, Hagland’s deformity and arthritis.

Medical experts argue that high heels share the blame for the fact that four in five women now suffer foot problems — and also for the arthritis pandemic underway in the UK, with 60 percent of cases now occurring in feet.

The pain can be so agonizing that some women are actually having Botox, silicone and Restylane injected into the bottoms of their feet, to counteract the damage their high heels have done!

SPA TRENDS: 2012

Here are some new things you could expect to see in your spa visits in the new year.

Focus on feet: The feet are getting more attention now. Special classes are being taught to improve muscles in the feet and repair damage from high heals.

Wellness coaching: Many spas are now offering coaching packages with post-visit consultations by phone, emails and Skype.

Healthy food/spa combo packages: Healthy food combined with spas is nothing new – but they are being marketed together like never before. Culi-spa weekends are offered by San Francisco's Cavallo Point, which includes expeditions to local farmers' markets. Another example: the Plates And Pilates retreat at Italy's Cascina Papaveri, where guests help harvest and cook food around their daily sessions.

Vibration, sound, music, light, and color therapies: We’re going to be seeing things like Tibetan sound massages which relies on singing bowls to calm frazzled nerves. Some spas are also incorporating Ayurvedic medicine and correcting chakra imbalances with color therapy. Color, music, and sound are also being weaved together in saunas, steam capsules, lounge chairs, massage tables and tubs.

SPA TREND:
CUSTOMIZED TREATMENTS

The trend right now at the big spas here in Los Angeles are customized treatments.

In addition to 30-minute facials and massages, spas are listening to the demands and desires of their customers. Spa treatments are now being designed and tailored to the exact specifications of their customers. No two customers walk out with the same treatments anymore. Customers are in full control and spa-going is becoming a really customized experience.

Spas are also moving their focus more towards mind and spirit rather than just the body. Spas are focusing their services more on mind-body balance, self discovery, energy and connection with the soul.  Many spas are increasing self-discovery services like ropes courses, art classes and other learning activities that help consumers to stop, be still and focus on themselves.

BRANDING TREND: DESIGNER SPAS


The latest spa trend: Branding.

Spas are now branding with big designer names. Following in the trend: Shiseido, Dove and Nivea. High-end luxury fashion brands like Prada are expanding into spas as well.

These brand names offer a very powerful advantage that has been attracting guests - and with about 72,000 spas around the world, they now find they have to distinguish themselves.

Nivea announced the plan to open Nivea House spa in Dubai.
Dove spa has been opened in Oakville and Toronto, Canada.

Another trend is 'eco-embedded spas.' Spas that go green affect every part of their operation. Mexico's Rancho La Puerta Spa is a perfect example of an eco-embedded spa putting in a nine-acre organic garden that supplies the kitchen.

Spas have now even turned to the to web to remind customers of last minute deals, spa packages and bookings.

TREATMENT FOR HOLLYWOOD'S A-LISTERS: THEATA HEALING


Theta Healing is a technique making headlines in Hollywood. Dr. Kenneth Best is a leading Theta Healing practitioner. The technique uses theta brain waves and there's a frequency that connects and lets the cells talk to each other. It helps reprogram negative thoughts you send to yourself.. Ken Best is a celebrity holistic practioner of applied kinesiology and a chiropractor. He has worked on the casts of ‘24', ‘Brothers and Sisters' and Hollywood movies helping with all sorts of back issues. Now he's helping Hollywood with the energy psychology

Dr. Best says celebrities especially find Theta Healing helpful. He says, "Theta healing uses the theta brain wave which is most dominant when we're asleep dreaming or when we are under deep hypnosis; And it's the frequency that cells communicate to other cells in the body. So, this allows us to connect with a creative force and with the cells in the body. When we're here talking, we're in the beta, so we're in a much higher level of frequency. But, it's at the lower frequencies that cells actually talk to other cells in the body. So Alpha is when you're meditating, visualizing in your mind. When you go into a deeper state, like when you're hypnotized, that's theta. You're using a different part of the brain."

For information on Theta Healing you can contact Dr. Best here in Los Angeles. He is an expert on all things theta, back issues, and muscle testing. He is definitely one of the best in his field, and here's what's amazing about him: he takes all phone calls and answers all personal emails right away.

You can contact him at drkenbest@drkenbest.com and if you're planning a trip to L.A., book a session. You will feel so much better. He also does Skype sessions from wherever you are. Tell him I told you to call, he will reply right away!

Hollywood's Most Popular Treatment: Fractionated Laser


Beverly Hills' Dr. Peter Kopelson of the famed Kopelson Clinic, on Sunset Blvd, specializes in skin rejuvenation through cosmetic laser surgery. He says that new fractionated Laser is the celebrity treatment ‘de jour'. You get a couple of numbing shots, then some topical freezing, then the laser vaporizes the skin and makes room for new skin to come in. Collagen growth is therefore stimulated.

All you need is one visit, unlike the average 3 or 4 in other laser treatments.

The process takes just 3-5 days to get rid of the redness but it could take up to 6 months to see full effect.

This November, photos of Cubs baseball player, Sammy Sosa, surfaced and his skin was a few shades lighter than his original coloring. Rumors speculated that he was following in the path of the late Michael Jackson. He admitted to using skin rejuvenation, causing his pigmentation to change.

The cost is around $1,500 US.

For more on the treatments and Kopelson Clinic, one of Beverly Hills' top skincare clinics, visit kopelsonclinic.com.

SPA SURVEY: THE SPA, NOT A LUXURY, A LIFESTYLE


It's now official that the spa visit is now deemed a lifestyle, not a luxury. Consumers today are looking for wellness, for ways to live a balanced life. The spa industry worldwide association ISPA (The International Spa Association), says: "Spas are not about luxury. They're about re-charging your battery, taking time to re-new, and learning how to take care of yourself. Spas are about health, reducing stress and aging gracefully." The key is to take the information you learn at the spa, and incorporate it into your daily routine at home. The number one reason people around the world go to the spa is to relax, and relieve and reduce stress. In 11 of the 15 countries surveyed, overall wellness and health was one of the top three reasons consumers do the spa. In eight of the 15 countries surveyed, healthcare practitioner recommendation was one of the top three motivators for visiting a spa.

LA DOGWORKS


So you love your dog? WELL - did you throw him a BARK-MITZVAH yet? LA DOGWORKS Training Academy is a state of the art dog Mecca!

24 hundred square feet of warehouse and indoor dog park now available now for dog birthday parties, sleepovers' and dog pampering never seen before.

Celebrity clients include Jake Gyllenhal, Nicole Ritchie, Joel Madden, Mischa Barton, Minnie Driver, Selma Blair, and Jennifer Hudson.

Here you'll find every possible dog amenity and the best dog care on the planet.

At LA DOGWORKS you'll find: Astro-Turf, known here as the Zen Den.

Here dogs get dog massage, aromatherapy, amnesia free denial hygiene, hydrotherapy (did I mention this is for DOGS) the only underwater treadmill hydrotherapy tank, weight maintenance, dog boarding, holistic dog products and a DOGGIE DEN where they can relax - chill - put their legs up ON COUCHES. The beds are plush. Wait its gets better....There's a plasma TV, and a FETCH mobile car service to pick up and drop off Rover.

Recruiting leading industry professionals to create a pleasant and contemporary aesthetic; LA DOGWORKSS is equipped with ultra-modern technology to ensure the highest level of health and safety for dogs of all shapes and sizes.

Their five-star membership resort, located in the heart of Hollywood, is an American Boarding Kennel Association (ABKA) member, and has required all staff to become certified pet care technicians through the ABKA.

Open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, our professionally trained and certified staff will be at your dog's bark and call.

LA DOGWORKS

(323) 461-5151