5 Tips to Enjoying Your Day Spa Visit

There's just something about walking into a day spa, isn't there? It's a haven from your hectic every day life, an oasis that lets you do something just for you. That massage or body treatment feels like a guilty indulgence, even though it's probably necessary for your sanity!

Whether you're visiting a day spa for the first time or the fiftieth, these tips will help you get the most out of your massage, body wrap, aromatherapy, etc.

1. Remember when Mom told you not to swim for an hour after eating? Well, the same holds true for spa visits. Don't eat for at least an hour before a massage or body treatment.

2. Arrive 30 minutes early. If you're worried about being late, tapping your foot waiting for the elevator and rushing to the receptionist desk, you won't get nearly as much out of your visit.

3. RELAX! I know, that's how you're supposed to feel after you're done. If you can take a few deep breaths before your treatment (in the waiting room, since you're early, right?), your experience will be that much more rewarding.

4. Drink LOTS of water before and after. Water enhances the detoxifying and rehydrating benefits.

5. Talk to your therapists - they don't bite! If anything feels off, let them know: too hot/cold, too much pressure/too little pressure, music's too loud - anything. They want you to have the best experience possible so you'll come back for more.

Theresa Carter is the creator and publisher of TheLocalTourist.com, a free online guide to downtown Chicago. Find restaurants, bars, spas, salons, events, attractions, shopping, media, transportation ? anything Chicago. Theresa also provides a weekly events newsletter. http://www.thelocaltourist.com

In The News:

Yahoo! News: Top Stories

President-elect Barack Obama makes remarks on the nations economy, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009, at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. (AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson)AP - President-elect Barack Obama's proposed tax cuts ran into opposition Thursday from senators in his own party who said they wouldn't do much to stimulate the economy or create jobs. Senators from both parties agreed that Congress should do something to stimulate the economy. But Democratic senators emerging from a private meeting of the Senate Finance Committee criticized business and individual tax cuts in Obama's stimulus plan.



Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, right, hugs his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy at the end of a press conference on Tuesday Jan. 6, 2009 in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt. Sarkozy said Wednesday Jan. 7, 2009 that Israel and the Palestinian Authority have accepted an Egyptian-French plan for Gaza.   (AP Photo/Eric Feferberg/Pool)AP - In a surprise move, the United States abstained from a U.N. Security Council vote Thursday night urging an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, saying it wanted to see the results of Egyptian-mediated talks with Hamas and Israel before calling for a halt to military action.



Palestinian demonstrators use sling-shots to hurl stones at Israeli soldiers during a demonstration against Israel's military operation in Gaza, in the West Bank village of Bilin, near Ramallah,Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009. Israel resumed its Gaza offensive Wednesday after a three-hour lull to allow delivery of humanitarian aid, bombing heavily around suspected smuggling tunnels near the border with Egypt. Despite the heavy fighting, strides appeared to be being made on the diplomatic front with the U.S. throwing its weight behind a deal being brokered by France and Egypt. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)AP - The U.N. Security Council called for an "immediate" and "durable" cease-fire in Gaza in a resolution Thursday night even as fighting between Israel and Hamas raged — with early morning airstrikes killing seven Palestinians and pushing the death toll to about 760 in the near two-week conflict.



Florida's Tim Tebow (15) tackles Oklahoma's Gerald McCoy (93) after McCoy intercepted a Tebow pass during the second quarter of the BCS Championship NCAA college football game in Miami, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009. (AP Photo/J. Pat Carter)AP - The game defied expectations. Tim Tebow fulfilled them.



Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock) votes to recommend the impeachment of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to the House during an Illinois House Impeachment Committee hearing Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009, in Springfield, Ill. The committee voted unanimously to recommend impeachment putting the matter before the full house.  (AP Photo/Seth Perlman)AP - A key panel unanimously recommended impeachment for Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Thursday, setting up a vote that could make him the first governor to face such fate in Illinois' sordid political history. Blagojevich should lose his job for abusing power, mismanaging government and committing possible criminal acts, including federal allegations he tried to sell off a U.S. Senate seat, the special committee concluded.



A sign instructs job seekers at the California Employment Development Department in Sunnyvale, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009. The country lost nearly 2 million jobs through November and more bad news is expected this week when the government releases data on weekly jobless claims and December unemployment. No matter how bad those numbers are, and economists expect at least another 500,000 jobs were lost last month, the pain is stretching into 2009.  (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)AP - Trying to survive a deepening recession, employers are cutting their work forces to the bone, leaving more Americans unemployed and with dim prospects of finding a new job any time soon.



Neel Kashkari, the assistant treasury secretary in charge of the bailout program, speaks at the Brookings Institution in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)AP - Less than a month after its first report, a congressional panel overseeing the Treasury Department's $700 billion financial bailout is demanding more answers.



Freida Pinto backstage with the best picture award for 'Slumdog Millionaire' at the 14th Annual Critics' Choice Awards on Thursday Jan. 8, 2009 in Santa Monica, Calif. (AP Photo/Dan Steinberg)AP - The critics have spoken, and "Slumdog Millionaire" is their final answer.



Vice President Dick Cheney pauses during an interview with the Associated Press at the White House in Washington Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)AP - Vice President Dick Cheney said Thursday that he sees no reason for President George W. Bush to pre-emptively pardon anyone at the CIA involved in harsh interrogations of suspected terrorists. "I don't have any reason to believe that anybody in the agency did anything illegal," he said.



The east side apartment building where Bernard Madoff remains under house arrest is seen Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009, in New York. Prosecutors said Thursday that investigators found 100 signed checks worth $173 million in Bernard Madoff's office desk that he was ready to send out to his closest family and friends at the time of his arrest last month. (AP Photo/ Louis Lanzano)AP - Prosecutors said Thursday that investigators found 100 signed checks worth $173 million in Bernard Madoff's office desk that he was ready to send out to his closest family and friends at the time of his arrest last month in what is alleged to be largest financial fraud in history.



Palestinian women mourn as they watch the funeral of Palestinians killed at a U.N. school, in Jabalya in the northern Gaza Strip January 7, 2009. (Mohammed Salem/Reuters)Reuters - Israel pushed ahead with its offensive in the Gaza Strip on Friday, ignoring a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire to the 14-day-old conflict.



Jaclyn Holt (R) fills out an application form at a job fair organized by the New Hampshire Employment Security agency in Salem, New Hampshire December 17, 2008. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)Reuters - U.S. employers probably cut the most jobs in at least 34 years last month as the global economic crisis gathered pace and moves by policy makers took time to filter through to struggling companies.



People taking the Long Island Foreclosure Tour arrive at a foreclosed home for sale in New Hyde Park, New York in this May 17, 2008 file photo. Citigroup could soon agree to principles that would let troubled borrowers save their homes through bankruptcy, sources familiar with the talks said on Thursday, while industry groups are easing their opposition to the plan. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)Reuters - Financial giant Citigroup Inc will support a proposal in Congress to rewrite U.S. bankruptcy law to help troubled mortgage borrowers avoid foreclosure, Chief Executive Vikram Pandit said on Thursday.



Reuters - A report being released on Friday alleges that the U.S. Treasury has failed to reveal its strategy for stabilizing the financial system, not answered questions asked by a government watchdog, and has done nothing to help struggling homeowners, the Wall Street Journal said.

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich gestures as he announces former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris as his choice to fill the vacant U.S. Senate seat of President-elect Barack Obama during a news conference in Chicago, Illinois December 30, 2008. (Frank Polich/Reuters)Reuters - A legislative committee on Thursday recommended the impeachment of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, citing widespread abuse of power including allegations he tried to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.



Timothy Geithner (R), pictured in Chicago, November 24, 2008. (Jeff Haynes/Reuters)Reuters - President-elect Barack Obama's economic team is urgently overhauling the $700 billion financial rescue package to broaden its scope beyond Wall Street, The Washington Post reported on Friday.



Usama al-Kini, Al Qaeda's operations chief in Pakistan, is pictured in this undated FBI Most Wanted photograph. Al-Kini, also known as Fahid Mohammed Ally Msalam, and a top aide are believed to be dead, a U.S. counterterrorism official said on January 8, 2009, in what appeared to be the latest results of a campaign targeting the militant group's leadership. Operations chief al-Kini was thought responsible for attacks, including the bombing of a Marriott hotel in Islamabad that killed 55 people in September, and an unsuccessful attempt to kill former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was later assassinated in a separate attack, the official said. (FBI/Handout/Reuters)Reuters - Al Qaeda's operations chief in Pakistan and a top aide are believed to be dead, a U.S. counterterrorism official said on Thursday, in what appeared to be the latest results of a campaign targeting the militant group's leadership.



Reuters - Some friends of accused swindler Bernard Madoff considered him a "warm and charming" man, and one of his alleged victims praised him just before his death in 2005, Fox Business Network reported on Thursday.

Three rockets were fired into northern Israel from Lebanon, sparking Israeli artillery retaliation and the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon sending reinforcements to the region(AFPTV)AFP - Israel carried out new deadly air raids on the Gaza Strip on Friday as the UN Security Council called for an immediate ceasefire to end the two-week-old conflict in the Palestinian territory.



A man carries firewood in the suburbs of Sofia, Bulgaria. Hopes for a quick resumption of Russian gas supplies to Europe were rising Friday after Russia agreed on the terms for the deployment of monitors in Ukraine.(AFP/Dimitar Dilkoff)AFP - Hopes for a quick resumption of Russian gas supplies to Europe were rising Friday after Russia agreed on the terms for the deployment of monitors in Ukraine.




Face Lift Without Surgery

As we age facial muscles weaken, and skin begins to sag. But... Read More

If Youre Not Born With It, You Can Just Buy It!

Ring! Ring! Ring!Customer Service Center: Hello, Thank you for calling the Get... Read More

5 Hot Hair Style Trends For 2005

Folks are so diverse in 2005, which means that there's never just... Read More

Sunless Tanning: Tips For A Safe, Gorgeous Tan

Tanning products, both sunless and sun, work on the epidermis, or the... Read More

Wearable Art: The Great Conversation Starter

Ok, you are heading to a small get together or large party... Read More

Your Skin - Are You Creating An Asset or a Liability?

Skincare consists of Skin and Care ? obvious really, but let's look... Read More

Tips on Choosing the Best Skin Care Product for You

Your face is the first thing that people notice when they meet... Read More

Cosmetic Surgery ? Vanity or Healthy Choice?

Cosmetic and plastic surgery has long been associated with vanity, but mounting... Read More

Tanning Salon Equipment

Tanning salons continue to be extremely popular in all areas of the... Read More

Spring and Summer Make-up Trends 2005

Natural, Radiant skinThat's right, summer is upon us already, which means less... Read More

Dermaglow For Natural Skin

Bring natural beauty to your skin with the launch of Dermaglow an... Read More

Plastic Surgery - A Risky Business

When most of us think of plastic surgery, we contemplate the different... Read More

Mineral Baths: Smart Bathing Versus Hard Bathing

"There is a power of choice- what we do today with our... Read More

Effective Make-up and Beauty Tips and Products: Dos and Donts, Avoid These Most Common Mistakes!

With the amount of importance given to make-up these days, many women... Read More

Natural Beauty: The Benefits of Holistic Skin Care

What is holistic skin care? It's a regimen that recognizes that your... Read More

Contact Lenses and the Over 40s

The over-40s crowd are suffering from discovering that their arms are growing... Read More

Color Contact Lenses - an Easy Way to Change Your Look!

Want to change something about your appearance? How about your eye color?... Read More

The Perfect Sun Tanning Bed

The perfect sun tanning bed can mean different things to different people.The... Read More

Skin Care Enhance Your Pretty Look

Who doesn't want to look beautiful? Everybody wants to look pretty and... Read More

What is Lasik Eye Surgery?

Individuals with imperfect vision now have an option available to them that... Read More

Hair Raising Stuff

Definately without a doubt it was a new image that was needed... Read More

The Importance Of Moisturizing

The age of your skin has no bearing on whether you should... Read More

Top Ten Tips for Beautiful Skin

Is Beauty Skin Deep?The answer is yes and no. It's a paradox,... Read More

Are You Happy With Your Hairdresser and Salon?

How many times in your life do you think you will go... Read More

The Advantages of Sunless Tanning Booths

While many people recall seemingly endless hours outdoors soaking up the sun's... Read More

Finding your way : Tanning Bed Tips

Looking to get a great tan for yourself? Wanna do it without... Read More

How Do You Take Care of Your Bodys Biggest Organ?

How do you take care of your body's biggest organ ? Let's... Read More

Sunglasses ? The Benefits of Wearing Shades

You can find many styles of sunglasses in stores today. These styles... Read More

How to Choose the Right Sunless Tanning Product

Sunless tanning products come in several forms. The efficacy and results of... Read More

How To Purchase Tanning Beds

So, you want a tanning bed. You can purchase tanning beds for... Read More

Taming The Frizz

My daughter hates her hair. Several of my friends hate their hair,... Read More

Aromatherapy Skin Care

When there is easy way to do your aromatherapy skin care at... Read More

How to Exfoliate Dead Skin Cells

Exfoliating dead skin cells is one of the simplest ways to achieve... Read More

The 3 Things You are Doing Right Now that are Causing Your Dark Eyes Circles

When I started searching for a solution for dark circles under the... Read More

Where to Find Wholesale Hair Extensions

Many people turn to hair extensions to change their looks and, in... Read More

Makeup Artist Tricks of the Trade - Skincare Advice and Makeup for Your Wedding or Special Event

Skincare - in preparation to your wedding this should be an essential... Read More

Color Contacts: Fashionable, Dramatic and HOT!

"A great way to give you a subtle or dramatic change is... Read More

Thinking About A Spray Tan For Your Wedding? Be Careful.. Be Very Very Careful...

Your wedding day is one of the most important days in your... Read More

Mexican Living: Haircuts, Doctors, and Things

There is a universal, absolute, immutable, infrangible, and inviolable fact of the... Read More

Importance of Skin Care: Ever Wondered Just What Exactly Our Skin Does?

The following article provides some insight into why good skin care is... Read More

Risks Of Tanning Beds - Not All They Are Hyped Up To Be

The risks of tanning beds aren't all that it's hyped up to... Read More

Fashionable Mom

You're a mom and you're still thinking about being 'fashionable'? That's the... Read More

Indoor Tanning Beds - All You Wanted to Know!

So you are nearing the end of your search for the formula... Read More

How You Can Use Your Kitchen to Develop an All Natural Skin Care Regimen

Today when we want to try out a skin care product, we... Read More

How Does Sunless Tanning Lotion Work?

Perhaps you want a suntanned look for just one occasion such as... Read More

Los Angeles Plastic Surgeon: Treat Yourself to Surgery at Its Best

Los Angeles is the city as infamous as it is famous, as... Read More

The Benefits of Sunless Tanning Sprays

Some people desire enough of a tan for just one occasion such... Read More