ELLE TESTS
EXFOLIATING TREATMENTS
By Amy Lawrenson
Exfoliating in the shower is a love or hate thing, you either see it as a treat or a chore. Either way regular buffing is one of life's necessities, a must for summer dressing and essential preparation for a long lasting, golden tan - fake or real. A skin sloughing salon treatment is the most luxurious and the least tedious way to indulge and the ELLE team have been scrubbed, sloughed and exfoliated to bring you our pick of the best buffing treatments, here's the results...
The Unique Le Kalon Spa Body Scrub, £70 for an hour at Le Kalon Spa, London
The spa
The spa is located in the basement of the Bentley Kempinski Hotel in Kensington. I reach the spa reception via a lift and the beauty therapist is ready and waiting for me. The spa is lit with a soft warm light and the Turkish inspired decor feels very opulent. Overall it feels relaxed as opposed to stark and clinical as many spas can be. The staff are very friendly and considerate throughout my treatment.
The treatment
The scrub takes place in the Turkish hamam. The room is lined, floor to ceiling in pale grey marble, with four marble sinks, one in each corner and a large, oval bench in the centre for treatments, the room is filled with steam from vents in the floor.
Towels are laid on the bench and I'm asked to lay down in the centre on the bench. The scrub is in three stages.First is the body brushing with a fairly soft bristled brush. Next, the scrub is applied, this is oily and quite fine, more like a massage oil really. You can't really feel any big grains on the skin as it is applied, instead you are scrubbed with the hamam mitt, which is quite course and is used with black olive soap to remove the oil. Finally, I'm given a head massage and rinsed off, head to toe, with bowls of water which start off warm and gradually get colder, to revive the body. The scrub is extremely thorough and i can see my skin actually peeling off as I am scrubbed with the hamam mitt (not very attractive!) It lasts an hour which seems the perfect length, as you have breaks from the heat of the steam room and can go outside to drink water throughout. The therapist encourages me to take a break whenever I feel too hot.
The result
The feeling lasts almost a week, which makes it perfect as a pre-holiday treatment. The actually products used had barely any scent so you don't come out smelling of coconuts or a fruit smoothie! I really enjoyed the scrub and the results, if I was going to have another exfoliating treatment I would definitely choose this spa to go back to, I didn't feel rushed and was able to relax in the Hamam for as long as I wanted, plus spa ammenities mean you can make a day of it.
Best for: A thorough and relaxing treatment.
Rating: 5/5
