Don't get me wrong: I love nothing more than getting the opportunity to lay back and relax; little feels more luxurious than having extra time on my hands. And I'm often at my best when doing absolutely nothing other than just pressing pause on my life and chilling out. (Or heating up, as the case may be.) But regularly fitting in time to pamper myself and indulge in this particular form of self-care can be hard. There just aren't enough hours in the day (or the week, the month, the year, or, like, ever), and so I often find myself canceling appointments (with plenty of advance notice, naturally, I'm not a monster) and, as a result, not having any time to relax or pamper myself at all. And this? This sucks.
And, look, I understand that this is not the worst problem in the world to have. There are all sorts of ways of taking care of yourself, and they don't all involve beauty or spa treatments. One of my favorite ways is honestly just to take a long quiet walk. But there's no shame in admitting that it is also nice to go get a professional facial and wind up with glowing, baby soft skin that you just can't stop touching because it is hard to believe that your face is still covered with your own skin and not the finest silk ever woven.
But so, my desire to have silky skin and my ability to carve two hours or so out of my schedule are often at odds. And it didn't really feel like there was much of a way around that until quite recently, I was introduced to the idea of a quickie facial at New York's Heyday, now one of my favorite facial spots in the city. The people behind Heyday have a few core beliefs, including that skin care "shouldn't be so complicated," that "you should love the skin you're in," and that facials should "fit into your schedule, your wallet, and your life." Which, ME TOO. I also believe these things.
What all these positive aphorisms translate to in the real world is a facial experience that not only doesn't break the bank, it also doesn't mess up your already jammed calendar. Heyday offers facials that take as long as 75-minutes, but they also have a 30-minute option which is thorough and effective (and affordable) and involves a deep clean, a skin analysis, exfoliation, targeted treatment, major hydration, and SPF protection. The way that Heyday is able to pull all this off in just half an hour is simple: Unlike other spas, there's no time spent disrobing or waiting in a secluded room while Enya plays in the background. (Not that there's anything wrong with that, we love being naked and listening to Enya, but we just don't always have enough time, you know?) At Heyday, there are no private rooms. Clients lay down on tables demarcated by curtains, and don't get undressed. And then the facial fun begins. Heyday uses natural and organic brands like Herbivore, Naturopathica, and One Love Organics (all of which are also on sale at their streamlined shop at the front of the spa). My facialist was incredibly knowledgeable and explained to me clearly what I needed to do to keep my ultra-sensitive, preternaturally dry skin in the best possible shape. She offered lucid explanations and recommended products but did not try to upsell me by suggestion expensive add-ons to my treatment, nor did she pressure me to buy anything from the shop. This is pretty unique in my spa-going experience.
Before I knew it, my facial was over and my skin was glowy and smooth—and I didn't feel like I'd fallen into a time hole, wherein I'd lost track of everything and disrupted my whole life in pursuit of nice skin. And the other benefit of this experience is that it served as a reminder that taking care of ourselves, in the form of facials or other beauty treatments, need not feel like we have to disrupt our lives in order to have a little self-care time. Rather, there are ways to achieve the luminous look we never want to leave us in a way that fits into our busy lives. And, hey, is there any better way to care for ourselves than that?
For more info about Heyday, visit its site here.
