Mariam Nihal

Saudi Gazette

 

The obsession with losing weight is timeless. Lately body wraps, which help decrease the fat quotient allowing one to lose inches, have been the rage. SensAsia, an urban spa in UAE, quickly picked up on the trend, and created ‘Skinny Beach’ and ‘Shrinking Violet’ treatments.



SensAsia Urban Spa first opened in 2004 in Jumeirah and has spread across four locations across Dubai.



Alexandra Hurt, the head of operations at SensAsia, said the spa adds a twist to the mundane idea of spas. It offers a range of treatments from temple taming frangipani massages, to bikini-ready body sculpting, to getting your glow on with a hand-picked selection of their award-winning facials. “Consistency across all spas is achieved by having both high standards and expectations, training and education of our team is the magic ingredient to our success,” Hurt told Saudi Gazette.



Commenting on the ‘Skinny Beach’ treatment, Hurt said the more fat you have, the more you will lose. If you are looking to smoothen out your wobbly bits, lessen the orange peel and feel a new svelte self, then this “will boost your confidence.” However it was not the case with our experience.



But Hurt maintained that every treatment offers results. Maybe in theory. Perhaps it is important to understand they said you lose up to a size and losing 8-10 centimeters overall from your body not just any fat area.  “If you lost centimeters, you got a result. We simply have to remember that our wobbly bits probably did not appear overnight, therefore we cannot expect them to disappear through a one-hour body wrap alone.” She said there are three major elements of looking after your body.



“There are three things that work together in synergy, and that’s eating clean, exercise and ‘Skinny Beach’! Boost the effects of these by detoxing the body first, internally through a cleanse, and externally through the super powerful ‘The Detox’ wrap. Then, I would recommend ‘The Lifestyle Reboot’, this is a series of six sessions of Shrinking Violet, which will visibly smoothen out the lumpy bumpy bits, and assist in shaping your fabulous curves.”



The treatment begins with full body brushing. This increases blood and lymphatic flow to help eliminate toxins from those stubborn areas. “We then measure you before the treatment (and again afterwards), to assess your results in real time. We apply specialized oil, rich in phospholipids, to the body, concentrating on any key areas that you would like us to target. Then, we wrap you from the legs upwards in the specialist ‘wrapture’ to seal in the oil,” Hurt explained. The heat generated from the wrap forces the 20% active oil deep down inside the skin to the fat cells, rubbing against the cells and popping the fat cells with their little horns. The result is that the fatty acids inside of the fat cells are released in the blood and lymphatic system and excreted out of the body. “Leaving you up to a whole dress size smaller in one treatment, along with smoother skin,” Hurt said. However this depends on your body type and it is not necessary that you will lose what you really want to, especially upper arms and stomach. “Whilst you are cocooned in the wrap, we perform a peppermint foot cleanse, along with a relaxing 15-minute foot massage. This is also the perfect time to become a ‘Skinny Beach’ and add-on one of our award-winning facials, or a heavenly Temple Time head massage infused with frangipani.  After an hour in the wrap, we then remove and re-measure to reveal your loss. Post treatment, we serve our famous Detox Drink with spicy cayenne pepper and maple syrup.”



 You are advised to avoid tea, coffee and cigarettes. Drink a lot of water to flush out toxins. “Two litres would be a great start. After the treatment, avoid showering and don’t exercise until tomorrow! Remember – for best results you need to have a series of treatments in the spa, use the prescribed products at home to help with those stubborn areas and, of course, eat a balanced diet and exercise daily.”



SensAsia is built as a sanctuary, passionate about pampering and rejuvenation for people on the move.