More local spas pampering both Moms and daughters

Krys Stefansky Virginian-Pilot. 14 August, 2007

“Thank you,” said Gracie, and her brown eyes fluttered shut.

When you are 8, it’s all pretty skin. Gracie had come to Spa Phoenix in Virginia Beach with her mom for a little relaxation. As far as Gracie was concerned, this visit was not about smoothing out wrinkles, de-puffing the eye area, or plumping up collagen-poor lip lines.

Spas are seeing younger clients these days, following in the footsteps of teens who discovered the indulgence a few years ago. A 2006 survey of teenage spa-goers conducted by the International SPA Association based in Lexington, Ky., showed that nearly 4 million teens ages 13 to 19 had patronized spas in the United States. The organization has not studied the use of spas by younger children.

This was a treat.

But an unscientific survey of several local spas revealed that little girls in Hampton Roads have developed spa tastes. Some spas are designing services especially for them.

Gracie is having a busy summer, said her mom, Jessica Zoby. There’s camp for field hockey and lacrosse, tennis team, and swim team. The kitchen of the family’s home in the Little Neck section of Virginia Beach is being renovated and, just as school was out, they were in a car accident.

“And she had a tough time this week,” Zoby said about her daughter. “She had her first time trials for swim.”

Cynthia Galumbeck is president, CEO and co-owns Spa Phoenix with her husband, Matthew A. Galumbeck, a plastic surgeon and the spa’s medical director. Before entering the skin care industry, Cindy Galumbeck was a child and adolescent psychiatrist.

She is not surprised that she’s seen more children in her spa in the past 12 to 24 months .

“I think it has a lot to do with the general trend in society,” she said. “Adults are much more stressed, and kids are too. There are scheduled practices for swimming and soccer, and they need this kind of relaxation just as adults do. Parents are becoming more aware of the benefits of spa treatment.”

Teens, she said, come in for lessons on good skin care routines to help them with acne. Young children tend to arrive with their mothers for joint treatments, especially pedicures where they can sit together and chat. That was the plan for Gracie and her mom – facials, then partner pedicures.

Around Hampton Roads, spa menus now list things like the “Little Miss Sunshine.” For that package, in Suffolk at Anthony’s Salon and Spa, children 8 to 12 years old receive a $60 mini-pedicure and oatmeal facial.

The salon opened in February and, in deciding what services to include, studied brochures from other spas and salons.

The “Little Miss Sunshine” caught on quickly. “It’s very popular for, like, birthdays,” Amanda Dryden said. She is a cosmetologist apprentice at Anthony’s.

In Norfolk’s Ghent neighborhood, Serenity Spa manager Sandy Nguyen said she recently revised the spa’s menu to include offerings for children.

“We had about six parties and moms brought a whole bunch of kids here, sometimes four, five or six per party, sometimes seven or eight,” Nguyen said. “They had a lot of fun.”

In Portsmouth, Totally Pampered on the corner of Washington and High streets is also seeing younger and younger clients. They’ve performed ear candling for children for a while. A hollow candle of paraffin wax is put into the ear canal and lit. The resulting vacuum removes ear wax and impurities. The spa has had regulars for that $40 service. The kids especially like the part where the candle is cut open and they can see what came out of their ears.

“Another really popular thing,” Rhonnie Smith, the spa’s owner, said, “is your 'Spa Buddies.’ A lot of moms and daughters come in and get couples massage, a full hour massage with heated stones and oil on tables that are side by side. Each has her own therapist. That’s $115 together.”

Valerie Jackson recently booked that massage for herself and her 12-year-old daughter. Destinee Jackson had begged her mother for a spa treatment for a couple of years. She was even willing to pay for it herself with money she received for making straight A’s in school. Finally, Jackson decided to allow Destinee the experience as a birthday gift. The occasion also conveyed a message from mother to daughter. “I’m 42,” said Jackson, a medical assistant and phlebotomist who lives in Suffolk, “and that was my first massage. A lot of her friends don’t get to do a lot of things. I want Destinee to know that there’s more out there, that things cost money, and that you have to go out there and work hard for what you want.”

Afterwards, Destinee – who loved the feeling of the stones on her back – said it had been the best part of her summer vacation so far. It was just like she had always seen in the movies. Gracie enjoyed her mother/daughter spa day, too. She lay limp under steamed towels, toner, sea mineral mask and a facial massage.

Georgia Petridis gave Gracie the lecture prearranged by Gracie’s mom about the need for daily face-washing and regular sunscreen use. Petridis also took a look at Gracie’s pores. A magnifying lens shows any congestion.

“This is where usually I would do an extraction,” Petridis said, patting Gracie’s smooth, pink cheek and pushing the magnifier out of the way. “But she’s a teeny bit young.”

Instead, she gave Gracie another face massage, a vitamin nourishing mask, an arm, hand and finger massage, another warm towel, a moisturizer full of vitamin C serum, another facial massage and, finally, a scalp massage. It lasted 45 minutes. Petridis limits the amount of time she spends on young clients, she said, to keep them from getting antsy.

Instead, she gave Gracie another face massage, a vitamin nourishing mask, an arm, hand and finger massage, another warm towel, a moisturizer full of vitamin C serum, another facial massage and, finally, a scalp massage. It lasted 45 minutes. Petridis limits the amount of time she spends on young clients, she said, to keep them from getting antsy.

Gracie heaved a deep sigh, opened her eyes, and climbed off the table. Her waffle-weave spa robe dragged the floor on her way to the waiting room, where anti-aging minerals anchored a cosmetic display. Sitting cross-legged on a gray sofa, Gracie sipped a glass of ice water and thumbed through “Interior Design” magazine while she waited for her mom.

Fifteen minutes later, Zoby emerged from her own facial, took a look at Gracie and said, “Oooh, you’re all glowy.”