The Perfect Back Facial at Spa Physiog

Yes, there is such a thing as a facial for the back. It's true name is a backacial or bacial. Every spring I get obsessed with making my back acceptable for my bathing suit. Mostly because it makes me want to vomit when I spend the first month of summer looking at everyone's white, pasty, pimply backs just laying unapologetically around the pool. (Yes. I know, I'm a horrible, judgmental person.) I understand we are all just human and God made us all this way for a reason but I'm a visual person and I happen to love beautiful things. So I usually spend the first month of summer with my eyes buried in the pages of enormously weighty fashion magazines until everyone's skin gets that perfect tint of brown which reflects the sun so beautifully. By that time it's usually too hot to think about clothes anyhow.

This winter is lasting longer than any other winter I have experienced in North Carolina. So I have had a little extra time to obsess over the condition of the skin I can't see without smoke and mirrors. During my recent playdate with Terri at Spa Physiog I was mentioning the poor condition of my back and she said plainly, "We'll fix that." When Terri says things like that I know it's true. The truth has a very certain ring to it and Terri's truths are especially harmonious and pleasing to my ears. Whether coming from my aesthetican or a boyfriend, the truth's voice is singular, like the sound of rain on a tin roof. I can also audibly identify the truth because its opposite is so vague and requires hours of thought and kneading in order to rise into a loaf of something truth-like rather than into a loaf of something BS like.

So anyhow when I got home tonight after my back facial at Spa Physiog I wasn't surprised to see instant results. After Terri applied numerous Eminence products to my back, my problem areas turned from nasty, pasty, white remnants of winter pimples and parched skin into a very specific beautiful shinny result. That specific result being the reduction of problems areas to only two discolorations which have become so slight that they will be invisible after the first tan. I know this from years of experimentation and mental documentation of results. I don't know how Terri works such miracles but she does. In years past I have had to suffer through the first ugly skin month with everyone else. This year I'm grateful to be able to turn that energy elsewhere, knowing my skin is lovely and ready for the sun. Now I'll just wait for the rain to stop falling.

Teri was kind enough to give me the recipe (save a few secret ingredients) for her perfect back facial. But I have to let you know that if you have not yet been lucky enough to meet Terri Exum, you are really missing out. Terri is bit more than an aestheticain. I venture to say she is healer of sorts, curing whatever ails you. And she tells it like is, in skin care and in life. I hope one day you all get to meet her. However if you live in say, California, the items with links below are available for purchase online and will be shipped right to your door in case you'd like to perform this spring ritual at home.

Terri's Perfect Back Facial:
Eight Greens Phyto Masque
Stone Crop Masque
Blueberry Soy Sugar Scrub
AHA Fruit Pulp Treatment
Hungarian Herbal Mud Treatment
Mandarin Grapefruit Body Butter
Paprika Herbal Treatment
Stone Crop Serum
Citrus Exfoliating Wash
Stone Crop Hydrating Mist

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Eminence Organic's Mandarin Grapefruit Body Butter

When Spa Physiog supplied me with Eminence's Mandarin Grapefruit Body Butter I was thankful but couldn't imagine the serendipitous gift it would provide later that day. Tonight, I got out of the shower after a long nap, which followed a long week, and a longer, loosing battle with a stomach illness, I was in dire need of some levity in my life. I applied it generously to my thighs and calves and was instantly transported to a sweeter, tropical world. If you ever wonder what it would have felt like to be an Egyptian Pharaoh bathed only in natural products derived from the land's finest fruits and vegetables, simply buy a few Eminence products from Beauty Gone Green, wait for them to arrive in your mailbox and be thankful you get the best of both worlds: richly nourishing concoctions derived from the earth for the benefit of your skin and indoor plumbing. Really, we have it made. I felt as if I was absorbing all the health benefits of eating a grapefruit but applying said nutrients and vitamins directly to my thighs. The result is skin that feels nourished and smells like absolute heaven.

Ingredients:
• Grapefruit: rich in Vitamin C, antioxidant, uplifting, stimulates and tones skin
• Mandarin: high in Vitamin C, stimulates circulation, helps clear skin impurities
• Shea Butter: High in triglycerides and fatty acids, it is an excellent emollient for skin
• Cocoa Butter: excellent emollient for skin, relieves irritation, heals skin
• Jojoba Oil: nourishing and hydrating with one of the best absorption rates
• Aloe Extract: healer, moisturizer, calms irritated skin, alleviates the effects of UV radiation

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hadaka no tsukiai: banishing winter skin blues with Eminence Organics

The Japanese have long-standing, deep cultural traditions surrounding health, healing, and hot springs. The term "hadaka no tsukiai" translates to "naked companionship" but refers to the bonding that happens between two people when they share in the ritual of submerging their worn injured bodies into to thermally heated water that erupts from the earth's surface. My in-house spa treatments this weekend called for another person. Luckily for me I have a dear friend who was a willing volunteer and I am happy to report that Japanese hot springs are not the only place where healing self care rituals invoke this kind of bonding refered to as "hadaka no tsukiai".

Tonight I am ready for summer to arrive. I spent parts of the day and evening walking around the new path cut by a lake in my neighborhood. The warmth was teasing me, whispering that summer is close but not here yet. Last year I was laying out by the pool in March. Then the terrifying thought came to me...."Oh god! Laying out - winter skin. I have winter skin” My skin needs a tune up badly. On returning home from my walk I dug through the growing pile of beauty products that crowd around my laptop like stuffed animals around a child’s bed pillows and found the perfect remedies. Eminence's Pear and Poppy Seed Microderm Polisher and Lime Stimulating Masque. I can not think of two better tonics for dreary winter skin. After applying both of these masques I am confident that if I were suddenly forced into a bikini, my skin does have the ability to go from winter blah to summer stunning in about 15 minutes. The wonderful ladies of Beauty Gone Green warned me that these two products act as intense exfoliating agents. This confirmed my hunch that I should try them out on my back before my face. I really still only trust Teri with my face. So products in hand, I wrangled Gigi out to my country abode for some Hadaka no tsukiai (John we are waiting for you and Alan to start Beast's Spot and tell us all about your male bonding adventures ;). With Gigi as my esthetician for the night we bravely set out to say goodbye to the winter skin blues. First she washed my back with Jason's Organic Citrus Soap. Then she applied the Pear and Poppy seed Microderm polisher. I could feel the dead skin being scrubbed away. The gel like substance is packed with actual pear and poppy seeds. After two minutes of scrubbing we put a hot towel on my back and left it in place for five minutes.

Beauty Gone Green accurately lists the benefits of the Pear and Poppy Seed Microderm Polisher as: • Natural microdermabrasion action • Perfectly exfoliates uneven, dry and rough skins • Minimizes fine lines and wrinkles • Relieves congested skins and prevents breakouts • Helps to increase micro-circulation and stimulates cell renewal • Supplies nutrition to the epidermis

The ingredients that make this incredible organic exfoliation possible are: • Pear: bioflavonoids, hydroxycinnamic acids (antioxidant) • Green Apple: Vitamin C, fruit flavonoids, quercetin (anti-inflammatory) • Poppy Seed: gentle exfoliation • Fine Walnut: Vitamin E, gentle exfoliation • Green Tea: antioxidant, phenol and Vitamin C rich • Apricot Kernel Oil: softening and soothing • Alfalfa: vitamin rich nutrition

Next Gigi applied the Lime Stimulating Masque. The label, not unlike infamous red chili based hot causes, cautions this product is hot. It's not heart attack warning label hot but it is in fact Vietnamese red chili sauce hot. It tingles and almost instantly turned my skin bright red but it is refreshing and I like instant gratification so for me this is a top notch product. You can actually see in this picture where the product was applied and as Gigi remarked as she left just now: It's incredible my skin really does feel like a baby's.

Benefits include: • Deep active stimulant for cellular renewal • Detoxifies the skin • Assists in increasing oxygenation in the skin • Clears blemished or acne skin • Reduces fatigue in the skin • Increases the absorption rate for other products

Ingredients include: • Lime & Lemon: supplies Vitamin C, antioxidant agent • Thermal Water: supplies minerals to the skin, softens and nourishes • Nettle: assists in increasing stimulation and oxygenation of skin • Biocomplex™: an antioxidant booster of Vitamins A, Ester-C, E, Coenzyme Q10, Alpha Lipoic Acid

The combination of the two has left my back shinny, bright, smooth, and suntan ready. Now I'll wait for the weather to catch up.

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"Fun Betty"

It's time to talk about some other hair. They are making hair dye for the hair down there. I have yet to feel compelled to dye my hair down there hot pink, or black, or blond, but if I did I could order "Fun Betty" from Beauty Gone Green. I'm single. I've been single for a while and I'm looking forward to being single for another long while. I may get to try this out and no one else will ever know.

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Heavenly

Today one of my long standing fantasies came true. Teri let me behind the scenes to check out the genius that is Beauty Gone Green and get some pictures of my favorite stuff at Spa Physiog. Now when I tell you all how heavenly Spa Physiog is, you'll have a visual reference. I also found out Eminence is making Chocolate. This could be very dangerous.

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Up-dos to Brazilian Hair Straightening: It's time to talk about my hair.

I have been holding out on you in a very big way. My motives have been selfish; fear and insecurity. I have only been to Blu Icon once so I wasn't sure I would be able to write adeptly about it. Also, Julie who is the only hair stylist worth going to below the Mason Dixon Line, is an absolute treasure, and I have wanted to keep her to myself for fear of not being able to get an appointment once I let the cat out of the bag. But I now realize these motives are poor and it's 3:50 a.m, I can't sleep, and I can't think of anything better to do. So in 2008, Julie and Blu Icon are my gift to you.

My reluctance to talk about Julie and Blu Icon at first surprised me because, especially with beauty products, I figure the more the merrier. Being a woman is hard enough with out jealously guarding the very things (namely good beauty products and providers) that can make it utterly heavenly. Then I realized...oh yes this is about my hair. I have never wanted to talk about my hair. Growing up I was teased mercilessly (at least by myself, and at most by slightly older teeny-boppers) about my big hair. Thick hair doesn't cover it. It's massive in volume, excessively curly in the back while only wavy in front. There is no way to succinctly describe my hair. Frankly now that I have found Julie, that doesn't matter. So I have the styling covered. She is a genius. But the daily maintenance is well, a bitch. Mostly I am defeated and wear it up.



When I have $30 to spend I'll have it blown out which lasts for fours days due my nearly ethnic maine's thickness which can go four days and not even look remotely dirty. I told you its thick. I dream of Brazilian or Japanese Hair straightening which will leave me with beautiful pin straight, even Jenifer Aniston straight, locks indefinitely but it costs $400. So I leave myself with mostly ugly hair and then about once a month it is stunning for 4 days. During these four days I often have people who I have known for years introduce themselves to me or at least take a few minutes to recognize me. My hair can make me look like a completely different person if styled.



I just don't feel like investing two hours a day in that. So if you have made it this far you deserve the goods.... Blu Icon Color Group has been given a Carrboro Small Business loan. This loan is responsible for starting several local staples such as Weaver Street Market, Orange County Social Club and Carrburritos. Needless to say our town would be a completely different place with out the numerous businesses that have begun with this humble loan. Not unlike Weaver Street's co-op, each stylist at Blu Icon rents their own work area, books their own appointments, and makes their own schedules. This makes for very happy stylists. Anyone who has ever sat down for a blow out that takes an hour and half and realizes their stylist is nearly homicidal due to their working conditions can understand how valuable this is. Julie is happy to be there and I'm happy to be there. It makes the whole process much more enjoyable. And it's located across the street form my lovely dear Teri at Spa Physiog.

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27 is stunning, it enters through Spa Physiog

It's been a while since I have written. December was a busy month. The holidays, new car, new job, two trips to D.C., and one trip to the beach. By the end of the month I was haggard. I needed a facial and I was dangerously low on funds. I was one of the only people in my building on the official work days of Thursday December 27 and Friday December 28. I was so exhausted I was beginning to feel completely insane. I knew my funds were limited but I also knew that a call to my dear sweet earth angel, Teri Exum at Spa Physiog, would remedy every frazzled nerve and help me welcome 27 with beauty strength and confidence. I left her a message Thursday night and she agreed to see me Friday immediately after work. Dear woman. We covered the usual ground: the holidays, family, a mutual friend's wedding. Teri is excellent at the unofficial part of her job (and perhaps the unofficial job of every service provider in the beauty industry): emotional care taker. Teri understood immediately what I needed. My 27th birthday was coming up. I had just finished interacting with the monstrosity I loosely refer to as family and I was going to yet another friend's wedding. She could also tell because in the last year I had only scheduled working appointments, meaning that there was some painful but essential function to be performed such as a chemical or glycolic peel. This time I asked for just the facial, "just the fun stuff", as we call it. The pure and absolutely indulgent pleasure of a Teri Exum facial is like visiting a lush tropical garden, a shrink, and a massage therapist all in the very same hour.

She put no less than 15 different Eminence organic creations on my face each one carefully applied and infused into my face with two hot towels. My favorite this time was a new product by eminence called Raspberry Eye Masque. A week later, I still feel like it took 8 years off my eyes. I am finally at the age where a special eye cream is a necessity and I think I have decided on the Herbal Eye Contour Cream. If you try only one eminence product in your life (which would be an incredibly foolish mistake given the tremendous amount of pleasure offered and the fleeting nature of life and joy) try this one. I do not know how they make an eye treatment product (of which you put only a minute amount around your eyes) that makes your entire body smile like a confident super model, but they do. At one point I was so relaxed my body began twitching. If it weren't for this twitching I wouldn't have woken myself up thus missing the remaining 45 minutes of this ultimate sensory pleasure. This has happened to me before and I imagine it is the equivalent of a junkie buying a bag of baking soda with their last pile of cash. It is not pleasant and I recommend doing whatever necessary to avoid falling asleep on Teri's table.

That night I was a completely different person with no trace of insanity left. I ran into an old friend at the market and happily gave her and her groceries a ride home. Everyone I encountered that evening commented that I seemed to be glowing. I knew the facial was going to leave me financially broke. That seemed a small price to pay for a complete lobotomy that left me smelling of blueberries, raspberries, Jasmine Flower Petals, Evening Primrose Oil, Stone Crop, and any other fruit, spice or heavenly essence that Eminence adeptly packs into their facial treatments. Over the course the beach vacation that followed my facial it increasingly came to my attention that my day spa affinity is more accurately described as an addiction - seeing as how I am completely willing to spend my last metaphorical dime on a number of "necessary" treatments. And at the suggestion of friend I have changed the title of this blog to reflect this admission. It also seems more fitting to rename the blog as I am obsessed with day spa treatments and yet am completely willing to spend the three days immediately following said pricey treatment dressed in torn jeans and fleece pullovers with a massive knot of curly unwashed hair piled atop my head. These are not so much the habits of a beauty queen. I suppose since I was little grooming and hygiene which allowed inner beauty to shine interested me much more than loads of makeup and hairspray which somehow seemed to negate any feeling of glamour. At least that's how it was, and is, for me. And at 27 it's so nice to be me.

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Yesterday San Francisco, Tomorrow Winston-Salem.

I can still feel the Bliss of Angel’s massage in San Francisco. But my impending responsibilities loom in the very near future. I returned today from San Francisco. I'll spend one night in my adorable little apartment then pack up and leave for Winston-Salem tomorrow. I am a bridesmaid in my friend Sally’s wedding. Friday is filled with lingerie showers, bridesmaid brunches and of course the rehearsal dinner. Saturday night is the wedding. With hair like mine all of this socializing requires a very sound plan. I must call in the best hair straightener in town. I have come to know her as Kelley, the “new talent” at Mina’s. Because she is “new talent” she is inexpensive. A meticulous, shinny blowout for $30 plus tip. Kelley is friendly, and attacks small frizzy errant hairs as if they are the ferret from the Big Lebowski. She is very very good. And she has to be with hair like mine. As far as I know I am ethnically Caucasian, although this is called into question anytime a hand attempts to run itself through my hair. Jewish, likely. Hispanic very likely. This hair is thick, course, fizzy and unruly. Wavy to curly in back, straight in front and enough volume to easily cover the heads of three dready hippies. I’m not kidding. Usually it’s up in a clip or piled on top of my head in a hair tie. The latter creates neck problems so it usually doesn’t last long. Kelley isn’t intimidated. She leaves my hair looking like LC’s from Laguna Beach every time. Shinny and “pin-straight” as she calls it.

Since I just went to bliss I wouldn’t normally venture to Mina’s so quickly. That is a heavy assault on the pocketbook. But two days of wedding events calls for such measures. Anyhow the proximity of my Bliss and Mina’s experiences allows me to draw some comparisons. Kelley knows me. She knows my dating history over the last 6 months since we have been working together. I know hers. On this particular trip I also run into my dear dear friend Gigi who is getting her hair done. And a mutual friend of ours has also started working there. I notice a minute into my hairwash that it’s Gabriella washing my hair and doing an absolutely fantastic job. Gabriella gave me my first Brazilian. I say to her “Do you also do waxing?” She replies “Yes I have waxed you before” I shutter and recall her demanding, terrifying question from our last visit, “Don’t you want me to do back there? It’s the best part.” I decline and think, ‘See this is what no one tells you. A Brazilian also includes ‘back there’’ Seriously how would you find that out? What exactly would you Google? Gabriella learned to wax and do all things aesthetician starting at age twelve when her female relatives starting using her services. And I start to think, you know Bliss is amazing and I am willing (utterly and completely) to move my entire life across the country just to have regular access to it and all the other bliss that is San Francisco, but sometimes don’t you just want to go where everyone knows your name? Yes me too…

“Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got. Taking a break from all your worries sure would help a lot. Wouldn't you like to get away? Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came.”

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Organic SPF 30 Minerals at Spa Physiog

Spa Physiog is an organic skincare goldmine. In fact the term goldmine is limiting because it would imply there is only one valuable ore to be found in Terri Exum's 2nd story lair. In truth ores worth more than their weight in gold abound. Hawaiian Ruby Guava Body Butter, Blueberry Soy Massage Soufflé, Sugar Plum Whip Moisturizer, and Yam and Pumpkin Enzyme Peel. It's all organic. It's all handmade in Hungary. An hour on Terri's table for her Mini-Facial proves you've never truly known the extent of pleasure that can be derived from the human senses.

This mine is large, and as such will take numerous posts to cover. I'm going to go straight to the Blood Diamond for this first post and reveal the product that I can no longer live with out.

Eminence is Terri's primary line, although she also carries Pacifica, CosMedix, and Chinese Herbs. In fact Terri has so much to offer she has recently created a virtual mine which you can shop freely from home right now - Beauty Gone Green. Back to the Blood Diamond... at some point in the last year Eminence delivered Organic Sun Defense, Water Resistant SPF 30. It's not a lotion. Its an organic mineral powder, dispensed through the brush that contains it.

Here is what it has done for me: it has cured my 15 year battle with Rosacea. I could end this post right here. As anyone who has had Rosacea and knows the embarrassment of being the only red-colored human at the party is most certainly calling Terri right now to get their hands on this, the only effective treatment I have found for the embarrassing “I have a red face” disorder. For those of you lucky enough to have been born without Rosacea, the organic mineral sun defense has also prevented an ounce of sun from over coloring my skin while gradually allowing a slight tan to soak through. It has covered every hormonally induced pimple that has appeared since I began using it. Although a chemical peel of Terri's eliminated all of my twenty something breakouts about six months ago, I do still get about three pimples a month right before my period. But you will never see them. It also completely erases any old zit scars while it’s on. Oh yes and unlike SPF lotions, it has never ever caused a pimple or anything resembling a pimple. In short it has made me willing to use SPF 30 everyday, aided the clearing of my skin and cured previously untreatable rosacea. I would like to give this product to every 15 year old I know and spare them those painful pimply sun burned years. Since I can't do that I'll have to settle for being able to point you all in the direction of skincare serenity and hope you follow the mile markers along the way.

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assalam aleykum

This blog has been a long time coming. Around age twenty three I started to be increasingly alarmed about the elements of womanhood that no one tells you about, or at least no one told me about. Little black hairs in places where they don't belong. Darkening upper lip. Changes in hair texture. Stretchmarks as prevalent as black stripes on a zebra. Oh yes and is it possible that my hair is getting thicker and curlier in the back while at the same time completely abandoning the hair line above my forehead? Fortunately for you my less than stellar genes have led me into a deep encompassing obsession with beauty products, treatments, spas, laser's, plumpers, and slimmers and I’m here to share the dark and dirty. I have tried everything short of a plastic surgeon and at this rate I'd be willing to bet my twenty-something day spa obsession will bloom into my thirty something plastic surgery obsession. If only I weren't raised by wasps I'd lack my hyperactive self judgment and already be instantly rid of the Pillsbury dough boy belly I’ve had since age 9.

So here I am in the lobby of the W Hotel in San Francisco. I just finished a 75 minute treatment at my Mecca, Bliss. Call me Hajji Laurie for I have reached a new level of spiritual enlightenment. Bliss. I have saved. Pined. Prayed. God please organize my life so that one day I may be graced enough to receive regular treatments at Bliss. Or maybe lucky enough for one.

So when my dear, dear mentor moved to San Francisco on a whim and asked me to drive her car out here I had no idea it was all part of the plan. I had no idea the plan would end in spring water bubbling with fresh-cut strawberry and lemon buoys in the waiting room of bliss San Francisco. But it did. And it makes a great opening for this; my tell-all, behind-the-scenes, nothing left untold, beauty blog. I'll sacrifice my ego, any remnants of self-preservation, and reveal the most embarrassing tidbits of personal information in the name of sisterhood and tearing the cloak off of all that goes unsaid about our bodies and womanhood. I know there are others like me. I know you are out there too. Maybe it wasn’t the darkening of your upper lip that brought you to the door step of your local aesthetician, but I have met you in day spa lobbies from Bali to Boston, and I know that something (errant hair, droopy waddle, whatever…) brought you there. You are the women who, like me, have been infected with some bizarre onslaught of womanhood and although you wish you could embrace and love yourself and possibly even feel sexier with that black hair on your chin - you, like me, find yourself searching for the day spa that will explain, nurture, and remedy that black hair, stretch mark, or love handle and make you feel all the more fabulous just for showing up.


If you live in a major city chances are that spa is Bliss. If you live in a smaller town, as I do, the adventure to find the cheapest, most affective treatments for each unique manifestation of your ever-evolving adulthood is infinitely more cumbersome. My goal is lighten the load. Share information and possibly at the expense of my own ego, entertain. Ok ok enough intros on to post one…

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