Spa: The Superdrug Epidemic


by Camilla Blais - Date: 2010-08-19 - Word Count: 641 Share This!

As Pablo Picasso famously once stated "Beauty? To me it is a word without sense because I do not know where its meaning comes from nor where it leads to.

The Aztecs understood beauty as being born "without a face" only from taking part in society, establishing your position and learning from it could they become beautiful. They believed the face and the heart were very indivisible. Women were discouraged from dressing and making themselves up too lavishly.

In ancient Egypt, Cleopatra was famous for her beauty, her aesthetics were very different from today's ideals being desired by women for her hook nose and the layers of fat which encircled her neck known by art historians as 'Venus Rings'. However it was her attitude, intelligence, callousness and determination which allured men making her seem powerful and beautiful. It is these qualities which were a major influence to her success and status.

"Beauty isn't worth thinking about; what's important is your mind. You don't want a fifty-dollar haircut on a fifty-cent head." ~Garrison Keillor

In Fiji, the body traditionally represented the community. Therefore the bigger the body the more established and wealthy their community seemed. As Fiji is a country often wrapped in poverty a larger body is seen as being more beautiful, this is a similar trait in many poverty stricken countries such as Africa where bigger is seen as more beautiful.

In today's society beauty is seen as showing your identity through the fashion you indulge in to the way you do your hair and makeup. People are billboards for themselves and in these western culture consumers have more money to spend on their appearances and are more able to change aspects of ourselves in which we do not like or are discouraged to have by our society, for example the wrong shaped nose today can be changed into perfection using plastic surgery.

Due to the interest in beauty there are world wide over 3000 makeup brands and this number is only including the well established brands there are also hundreds more of smaller local brands. On top of that there are 15,000 beauty salons and approximately 300 health spas listed in the yellow pages for the UK alone. In 2008 adults in the UK spent around £5.2 billion on beauty and grooming services. Not only do specified beauty retailers push new products but now also clothing retails such as Top Shop have their own personal range of makeup products to make consumers more beautiful. Superdrug the high street store which sell many brands of makeup, hair products, perfumes are now also to open their own academy as a trail in a couple of stores in the UK, the classes are free and aimed towards 16- 19 year olds. This scheme has been backed by the brands such as Barry M and Bourjois and at the end of each session goody bags are given out to the participants to encourage them.

Not only has culture affected us artificially through the ages but also through to the way we relax including Spa's and their treatments. Once just hot water used by Romans has now developed to hot stones, aromatherapies, petal baths, massages all originating and being influenced by different cultures and eras.

Spas not only increase the feel good factor on the outside but also relax and rejuvenate the inside making the experience more luxurious to the user.

Thus maximizing the feeling of utter true beauty where the mind and body are entwined in a haven of relaxation and happiness as Garrison and Keillor said "Beauty isn't worth thinking about; what's important is your mind. You don't want a fifty-dollar haircut on a fifty-cent head." This is why people should just take a minute to themselves, stop worrying about their imperfections and stop for just a moment to be linked back to the blissful relationship they can endure through spa.


Camilla has been giving advice on Couples Spa Days for over 5 years, and now provides an enviable resource at http://www.ineedpampering.com which details the best Spa Days, Weekends and Pamper days on offer.n
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