Pavia Desiderata - The Newsletter of Pavia Day Spa

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1. 4th ANNUAL HEALING TOUCH A SUCCESS! For the 4th year in a row, Pavia staff members participated in the Preston Wynne-sponsored Healing Touch Spa Party. Theresa and I read Tarot cards all night long for party-goers, and we ran into quite a few Pavia clients! Thank you to all of you who came and generously donated to this worthy cause. Last year, we raised more than $57,000 for Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence, and this year, though ticket prices went up and attendance dropped, we are hopeful that even more funds were generated. I'll announce the final numbers when I know them!

2. CHRISTINA PERNG TO DEPART PAVIA: Aww, how sad I am that our beloved esthetician, Christina Perng, will no longer be working at Pavia. She has chosen to pursue a career in day care and while I wish her all the best, I will miss her (as will those of you who enjoyed her facials, I am sure)! If you'd like to get in with Christina before she leaves, her last day at Pavia is Sunday, September 16th. For those of you who are unsure whom to see in Christina's absence, please contact me and I will personally see to it that you are matched up with another esthetician on our staff who is a good "fit."

3. JESSICA RUIZ AND ALISHA EDDLEMAN JOIN PAVIA: Watch out for two new faces on our staff: Jessica Ruiz is our new esthetician, performing facials, waxing, makeup, and more, and Alisha is our new massage therapist. Jessica has an amazing touch and exquisite skill, while Alisha has a naturally nurturing and relaxing energy (you will see what I mean if you have either of them). I will be featuring them soon, so stay tuned.

4. NEW SECTION ADDED TO NEWSLETTER: I've decided to add a new section to the newsletter called, "Tell Mare What You Think." In it, I ask anyone who wants to advise me their opinion on how you think certain customer service issues and protocols should be handled. I will pose a question about an issue that I have struggled with and ask you for your opinion - after all, I am not perfect and can use all the help I can get on some of these thorny topics. If you would like to respond to me, I will definitely read and consider it, and will even post the most helpful responses in my next newsletter.

5. NEW BLOG: Lots of people ask me what it's like to run a day spa. If you want to know the ins and outs, the nitty-gritty, the unvarnished truth of what it's like to be in the spa business, you can read my blog, "Confessions of a Day Spa Owner," at http://spaownerconfessions.blogspot.com/. But only read it if you have the stomach for it, because it might burst your bubble!

As many of you know, I'm currently pursuing my Master Herbalist diploma at the Australasian College of Health Sciences (where I got my Aromatherapy certification), and have completed about 1/3 of the coursework so far. I've learned a lot, and wanted to share with you all some recipes for good herbal teas that I culled from my classes. Now that you all know how to prepare teas, infusions, and decoctions (from our previous newsletters), let's put our knowledge to use and make some healthful, beneficial teas for iron, calcium, stomach balance, cold season support, and good skin:

Iron Tea

This tea is useful if you want to include more iron in your diet. You'll need 1 ounce each of Dandelion root, Yellow Dock root, Nettle, Watercress, and Parsley. First, you blend the Dandelion and Yellow Dock roots together and weigh out half an ounce of the mixture. Next, simmer in a half-pint of water to make a decoction. Then, blend the Nettle, Watercress, and Parsley together, and weigh out another half an ounce. While the Dandelion/Yellow Dock decoction is still hot, pour it over the the half-ounce Nettle/Watercress/Parsley blend and infuse for 10 minutes.

Calcium Tea

This tea is great for PMS (especially cramps), during menstruation, and for nursing mothers. You'll need 1 ounce each of Chamomile flowers, Borage leaves and flowers, and Oatstraw. Then, you'll need 1 pint of apple juice. First prepare the Oatstraw as a decoction (simmer with 1 oz to 1 pt of water for 20 minutes). Pour the oatstraw decoction over the Chamomile and Borage, cover and let it stand for 10 minutes. Strain, cool, and then add the apple juice. You can drink it throughout the day, but don't store it in the refrigerator for more than 24 hours.

Stomach Balance Tea

This formula contains Turkey Rhubarb, one of the bitterest, yuckiest herbs I have ever tasted. This is why several aromatic herbs, like spearmint, cinnamon, and clove are also included:

1 teaspoon each of Turkey Rhubarb root, Cinnamon bark, and Clove, and 1 ounce of Spearmint herb. You'll want to simmer the Turkey Rhubarb and Spearmint gently for 10 minutes in a covered saucepan. You then pour that mixture over the Cinnamon and Cloves, cover it, and leave it to cool. Then, you'll want to strain it, sweeten with honey, bottle it, and store it in a cool place. For nausea and vomiting, you can use 1-2 Tablespoons every hour.

Cold Season Support Tea

Summer isn't over yet, but this is a handy formula for those upcoming cold-and-flu months.

1 ounce each of Garlic, Rose hips, Parsley, Rosemary, and Thyme. Crush the Garlic and mix with the remaining herbs, then prepare an infusion using 1 ounce of the final herb mixture with 1 pint of boiling purified water. Adults can take 2-4 tablespoons every hour, and children can take half this amount for additional support against those nasty winter viruses.

Good Skin Tea

For gorgeous skin, drink this formula regularly. It contains some good alterative (blood cleansers), diaphoretic (sweat inducers), and demulcent (emollient) herbs. You'll need 1 ounce each of Burdock, Yellow Dock, Yarrow, and Marshmallow flowers. Blend the herbs and use a half-ounce of the blend and a half-pint of the water to prepare a decoction. Simmer until the water reduces by approximately one-third. You can take one tablespoon three times a day (between meals) for healthy, supple skin - but don't store for longer than 72 hours in a refrigerator. If you want, you can also apply this blend topically!

IN OUR NEXT ISSUE: We'll give some tips for drinking tea, including what kind of teapot you should choose, how long to steep herbs for, how many cups a day you should drink, and when to drink them. Stay tuned!

HOROSCOPE UPDATE!

As we first mentioned in June, Theresa Hatcher's horoscopes have been moved to a separate newsletter called "Pavia Soul-itudes." If you'd like to get the Virgo horoscope and subscribe to the Pavia Soul-itudes newsletter, please click here to update your profile and answer "Yes" to the question, "Would you like to subscribe to our Pavia Soul-itudes newsletter?" Thanks!

Chelsea Boyer, Certified Massage Therapist and graduate of NHI (National Holistic Institute) has been with Pavia a year now. Clients describe her as nurturing, gentle, sweet, and loving. One client even enthused about Chelsea's salt glow to her friends, calling it an "Oooh aaahh" experience!

You can make an appointment with Chelsea by calling us at 408-741-1555. Her hours are Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 4:40pm to 8pm, and Sundays 11am to 5pm. Here are some other lesser-known facts about Chelsea that may interest you:

Just got back from the 2007 Face & Body Convention (August 25-27) in San Francisco, where I dropped a bundle on these AWESOME hand & foot paraffin treatments. What's so great about them, you ask? Well, in the "old" days, you'd have your hands dipped in a paraffin tub, then put into plastic baggies, then inserted into warmers. And even though we always had everyone wash their hands immediately before, there was never any way to truly prevent cross-contamination. After all, everybody else's hands were dipped in the same tub. An even worse thought: how about the feet? Ever since I first entered the spa industry 4 years ago, I've always thought to myself, "There has to be a better way."

At this last trade show convention, I found and fell in love with a new, completely revolutionary, and very sanitary way of doing these treatments. The paraffin comes pre-packaged already in plastic gloves and booties. These are inserted into a chamber, along with an AromaVapor that produces a chemical reaction (using magnesium - remember high school chemistry class?), heating up the paraffin to 122 degrees, whereupon it melts perfectly in 5 minutes. Then, the client's hands and feet are inserted into the gloves/booties, the paraffin then hardens, providing a protective coating, and seals in moisture and nutrients in the process. All of this is with no fuss, no mess, and no electricity! (That's the other reason I love it...no drain on our energy resources).

Anyway, because I'm always on a quest to upgrade our services and ensure that our clients always receive the highest quality, I decided to incorporate this new technique into Pavia's hand and foot paraffin treatments. I think you will all agree with me when you actually try it for yourselves, so this month, I am offering you the chance to experience Warm Hand & Foot Paraffin Treatments - Pavia-style.

Newsletter members who book more than $100 of nail services will have the option to add on the Hand & Foot Paraffin Treatment at NO additional charge (a value of $50)! Here are some mani/pedi combinations that qualify:

Happy Hands Manicure & Thrilla From Manila Pedicure
Happy Hands Manicure & Lavender Lemongrass Sole Salvation Pedicure
Happy Hands & Warm Stone-Cure
Gardener-Cure & ANY Pedicure

Just make sure you tell us when booking the appointments, "I'm a newsletter member and I want to take you up on your Paraffin Offer!"

SEPTEMBER PRODUCT SPECIAL: TAKE IT HOME!

If you decide that you like the Hand & Foot Paraffin treatments, you can take them home and do them yourself in the comfort of your own space. That's right - you don't have to buy a paraffin tub or worry about cleaning up messy, gooey wax or scraping dried bits of it off your countertops.

The Pavia-style Paraffin treatments also come in kit-form, wherein each kit contains enough for 4 Hand or 4 Foot Paraffin treatments. And nothing is wasted here either, because the plastic packaging that it comes in is itself the heating chamber! Normally priced at $39.95 per kit (you would have to specify whether you wanted a hand or foot treatment kit), I'm giving newsletter members the jump on these at 20% OFF, so you can get them for only $31.96 this month! These make great gifts, and I bet you can guess what I'm giving my family members for Christmas!

Thank you VERY MUCH to those of you who responded to my last question. To refresh your memory, I asked: "What do you think a therapist should do if a client wants something that the therapist KNOWS is not good for them?"

The gist of your responses was that you are all interested in hearing from the therapist if they feel that what you have chosen is not the most beneficial for you, but that you still wish to make your own decision about it after all the information is presented to you. And, after having made a decision, you would like the therapist to respect your wishes, even if it goes against their advice. I will certainly pass these responses along to my staff. But I do want to thank you all again for at least being OPEN to the possibility that what might feel good for you at that moment may not be the best thing for you.

Now, onto my next question, and it's another thorny one: What do you think a spa's cancellation policy should be? I have wrestled with this one for the last 4 years because I see it from both the spa's and the customer's perspectives. Currently, we are asking for 24-hour notice for cancellation on a weekday, and 48-hour notice for the weekends. Cancellations within these periods are charged 50% of the services that would have been rendered, while no-shows are charged 100%.

This policy is the same as most other day spas in the Bay Area (all of them require a credit card or gift certificate to book the appointment). Most of them also say that no exceptions are possible - and they mean it. I have had the experience where I was stuck in another city due to bad weather once and could not make it back in time for a spa appointment, but was charged for the whole amount (at a very prominent Bay Area spa).

And while we could excuse clients for medical or emergency reasons, there is no way to know if the client is telling the truth or simply invoking that as a convenience. I used to think no one would ever lie about something like that, until I received a phone call from a client who had just left our spa after having a facial. She said, "Hi, I was calling because I missed my appointment! A tree fell on my car in the driveway while my daughter was inside it and I was just so frantic that I couldn't come this morning." I replied, "Huh? But you were just here - you just walked out the door! Is your daughter okay?" And she laughed and said, "Oh shoot, I called the wrong spa. I realized that I had a waxing appointment at another spa today at exactly the same time, and I was just making up an excuse to get out of paying their cancellation fee." Hmmm. Well, my eyes were definitely opened!

The bottom line is, when we book an appointment, we secure a therapist and a room, and we do not book anyone else in that same spot. So if we get a cancellation, it is almost impossible to fill up that same spot with another person with just a few hour's notice. Meanwhile, we have lost the revenue we would have generated from the original client, as well as incurred the opportunity cost of having another client be in that same spot. It would be just like missing an appointment with any other professional who reserves time for you out of their day: a doctor, a lawyer, an accountant, a contractor, or a hair stylist.

On the other hand, I do sympathize with clients. Much of the time, even if we do charge them, I just usually set that money towards their next services so that they don't "lose" it. In most cases, we don't enforce the policy at all, knowing that it has such a large impact on client goodwill. If you have any thoughts or feedback or insight on this issue that you would liket offer, please send them my way via email - as always, I am eager to learn from you.

When you pay us the compliment of referring your friends to Pavia, we will express our appreciation for this gesture by sending you a $20 spa credit (good for 6 months) for each friend or family member you refer (make sure they mention your name when they come). You can then save them up for a nice spa treatment for yourself!

SPA FINDER & SPAWISH POLICY

We are happy to take Spa Finder and SpaWish cards as payment for services and products at Pavia Day Spa, but we cannot combine them with product discounts and specials any longer. The nature of the Spa Finder/SpaWish program is such that we must accept a significant discount on the services/products to begin with, and then to combine that with any of our corporate, series, rebooking, birthday, or newsletter discounts would greatly injure our business.

Therefore, SpaFinder and SpaWish cards will only be accepted as payment for full-price services and products at Pavia. Thank you for your understanding.