New Year, New You? But what if you’ve spent all your money on the Christmas you? And now you’ve nothing left to invest in all the resolutions you made to get your summer body kick started this cold winter?
Well, one thing you can do is cut down on hair and beauty charges by heading along to Urban Escape at Belfast Met – a fully functioning hair and beauty salon which is run by experts and manned by stylists and therapists in training.
It is open every Friday for appointments from 9am-12 midday and the range of treatments serves most beauty purposes – everything from dry flotation tank therapy to massages, waxes, manicures, pedicures and facial treatments as well as a full range of hair treatments and services.
I popped along last month for a fab Dermalogica facial, plus a full body massage AND a blow dry (which turned into a trim) and I loved the treatments and the prices.
I also met some lovely people too – from the older 80-something gentleman who chatted charmingly with me before we both went in for our massages, to my therapists Emma and Georgia plus my hairdresser Michael Keogh who came to Belfast from Dublin a decade ago and hasn’t looked back.
The only downside, if you’re funny like that, is that the beauty therapists work in one large room, with the beauty beds separated by curtains, but this didn’t put me off whatsoever and in fact I heard my older pal chatting away about his joints on another bed nearby – and that brought me a wee smile. The therapists may still be in training but the service I received from Georgia and Emma was amazing – they took direction well when I asked about pressure during massage and later when I (probably very annoyingly) asked Emma what each product was as she worked through the steps of the facial. It’s important to note that most of the staff working on clients here are already out in the beauty industry and not complete rookies going crazy on your skin and hair!
My hairdresser Michael, who works in George salon in Church Lane, complimented my hair (it is almost as long as Rapunzel’s) but we agreed to chop a bit off to take a few dead ends away. Looking at his photo now I wish he’d actually taken more off – but again, I was very pleased with his work.
All in all I loved the treatments and felt revived and refreshed afterwards. I definitely recommend a trip down – your purse will thank you for it! As will your feet – there is ample car parking underneath the building too.
For further details or to book an appointment contact Sandra on 028 9026 5000 ext. 3299 or email sjohnston@belfastmet.ac.uk
My product of the week this week is the Skinician Hand Cream: It’s so important to ensure you protect your hands from the winter elements this season using local product Skinician Luxe Hand Lotion (£15.00 from Skinician.com). The skin on our hands is much thinner than on the rest of our body and therefore much more prone to drying out quickly – particularly when they are regularly exposed at this time of year. Your hands are also a tell-tale sign of age so be sure to keep yours looking, and feeling, soft and youthful this winter using Skinician’s nourishing combination of soothing Aloe Vera and deeply hydrating Cocoa butter, Shea butter and the ever-reliable Vitamin E.