If your highlights are fading, your nail polish is chipped and your skin is in need of a spring clean but you're too busy to make three different appointments, it's time to check out the new supersalons.
Currently springing up all around the country, these one-stop pampering pit-stops offer head-to-toe treatments under one roof.
You can get your hair done while your fingers and toes are being tended to, after lying back and enjoying a massage or facial during your lunch hour.
Dorset's first supersalon, Oxygen in Poole, offers all of the above plus various cosmetic procedures including Botox, collagen and chemical peels as well as alternative therapies like reflexology and hypnotherapy.
Emma Culpan-Scott, who owns the supersalon in Fernside Road, explained: "People lead busy lives and don't want to have to make several trips to different salons so we decided to offer as much as we could all at the same place."
Mother of three Lisa Perry, who had never been to a beauty salon before, agreed to check it out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"The main reason I have never been to a beauty salon is fear," she said.
"I always thought they looked very intimidating places and that they might look down their noses at me because I wasn't glamorous enough!"
But 36-year-old Lisa, who lives in Charminster with husband Neil, five-year-old twins and a seven-month old baby, said she was ready for a change.
"I think I had a touch of the baby blues for a while. I had a third, unexpected baby and I was desperate to look and feel different.
Lisa's first treatment was a quick stint in the Instant Tan booth followed by a pedicure, manicure and make-up lesson.
"I was asked which colour mascara I wanted which rather took me by surprise because I didn't know you could get any other shade apart from black!" said Lisa.
"I haven't worn make-up since I was 15 when I experimented with some mascara and eyeliner. I ended up with black panda eyes because I kept rubbing them so I never wore it again!"
Lisa, who can count on one hand how many times she has gone to the hairdressers, also had her hair cut and coloured.
"I went to a hairdressing salon when I was 13 and I had it cut really short and spiky. It looked dreadful and it took two years to grow out. Since then I only go when it gets really desperate and I need the back trimmed. I usually cut my own fringe with a pair of nail scissors!"


Senior stylist Lisa Elphick said she had
chosen a style that suited Lisa's busy
lifestyle. "It's a shoulder-length, choppy,
feminine style that will be easy for her
to manage. It is also still long enough to
put up in a ponytail if all else fails!
I didn't want to do anything too drastic
because Lisa has never had her hair
coloured before so I used a semi-permanent
rich mahogany colour and then added a few
copper streaks through the top to give it more life."

Lisa was delighted with her new look. "I never thought I could look like this," she said."It has been an amazing experience. It is such a different world. While I was here someone rang up to book a lip wax! I didn't even know that could be done!
But I was made to feel very welcome and at ease. I shall have to stock up my make-up bag now because all I've got in it is a blusher my mother bought me 12 years ago when I got married!"


Reproduced courtesy Daily Echo

 

 


Top | Home | Products & Services | Contact Us | Daily Echo: Makeover

Life & Soul
by Nicky Findley
Daily Echo
Feb. 28th 2004

The beauty is, it's all under one roof

THE WHOLE LOOK (left to right), Lisa Perry before undergoing Oxygen's pampering treatments; having her hair cut and coloured; yes, mascara does come in other colours than just black

GLOWING FROM HEAD TO TOE:
Lisa Perry after the day at Oxygen

MAKING ME BLUSH: The final touches are put to Lisa's make-up.

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