Monday, March 10, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
They've been dubbed "urban retreats," where harried soccer moms and time-pressed corporate types go to be soaked and soothed between their respective appointments.
From mud baths to detoxifying body wraps, day spas offer the latest in relaxation and rejuvenation techniques to heal the skin and the soul.
A handful of these suburban oases -- most located in or affiliated with upscale beauty salons -- have surfaced in Las Vegas in recent months and several more are on the way.
The Aida Grey Day Spa opened last summer, tucked away in the back half of the E'Lan Unlimited salon on Valley View Boulevard. The spa's owner, Vicky Carter, and her small staff of massage therapists and estheticians see 20-30 clients a week, most of whom come in for facials.
"Women expect more now," Carter says. "They're not just going in for their hair and to get a manicure, they want a full-body experience."
Like being scrubbed from shoulders to toes with exfoliating salts and rubbed down with "essential oils," topped off with a massage.
Ahhhhhh.
"It's so relaxing," Carter says.
"Everyone's so tense and has so much stress in their life. Many people now have to find an escape, and massages and the therapy to your body is one of those escapes, where you can go and just totally forget about everything and feel good when you leave."
That healthy glow
Patterned after the destination spas popular in Northern California -- where seven-day stays can cost upwards of $3,000 -- day spas provide patrons many of the same chichi services but on a smaller, less-costly scale.
"They're huge," says Kim Marshall, spokeswoman for the Virginia-based International Spa and Fitness Association (I/SPA), which promotes the spa industry worldwide.
According to the association's count last fall, there were 600 day spas throughout the country, up from 30 just five years ago.
Marshall attributes much of the phenomenal growth to people (particularly business professionals) being "hip about their health."
"Spas go into that," she says, "because it's (about) taking responsibility for your own health. It's preventive maintenance. Do you want to go in for colon surgery or back surgery, or do you want to fix it before it breaks?"
"It's no longer a pampering experience," assures Lois Millar, owner of Facials by Lois Microspa, which opened six months ago inside the Destinations Salon and Spa on South Durango Drive.
"Stress is one of the biggest factors of aging, of serious health conditions," she says. "People are taking alternative methods to (surgery) and pills. It's health maintenance instead of just a look."
Mary Twesme is a believer. The Las Vegan started going to Carter -- who worked at a local salon before opening the Aida Grey spa -- for monthly facials 15 years ago.
Back then, she "had some skin problems," which she claims the facials helped tame.
Now, Twesme says, "It would take a lot for me to give it up because I feel that it's beneficial. I like the way my face looks, so it's almost a necessity."
Still, she's a little leery about dabbling with some of the other treatments offered at the spa.
Like the fango mud baths ($45). A couple scoops of a powdered, Italian mud mixture are added to a bubbling hot tub. "It looks muddy, but it's got pine in it and it smells so good and it detoxifies you," Carter says.
"It all sounds really good," Twesme says, "but it never seems like I have time to do it. To me, that's really a luxury. It's not something I can see myself doing on a regular basis."
Rub-a-dub
Don't let the name fool you, Mary: One needn't spend an entire day at a day spa to receive a generous dose of R and R.
At the new Euphoria Day Spa in Green Valley, mini-European facials take only 30 minutes.
But if you have the time to spare, this reporter recommends the hourlong procedure ($60), as administered by the spa's director, Maria Monteiro.
It's pure heaven.
Once I was comfy under the cozy cotton covers on the massage table, Monteiro dimmed the lights in the tiny room and urged me to breathe in the pore- and sinus-opening "exfoliation steam."
Eyes closed, I let my thoughts tangle with the piped-in, New Age music while she gently massaged my face and shoulders. A refreshingly cool face mask left my skin feeling silky and light...
And turned the rest of me into a jiggling lump of Jell-O.
"Stay on that cloud," Monteiro said, spotting the trouble my overly relaxed mind -- and mouth -- had forming a few words of gratitude.
I stepped into the plush "relaxing room," where the trickle of a small fountain and the blue mood lighting helps set Euphoria's truly euphoric atmosphere.
(This must be where you go when Calgon takes you away.)
"We're always in a rush to get to work, to do things for other people," Monteiro explains. "We wanted to create an atmosphere where, when people walk in, they don't want to leave."
Still, the emphasis at Euphoria, which also has outlets in the New York-New York and Monte Carlo hotel-casinos, focuses more on the importance of proper skin care than vanity.
"Skin is skin," Monteiro reminds, "and it needs to be taken care of, no matter who it's on."
While many of Euphoria's clients are "housewives and professional women," Monteiro says her male clientele is on the rise.
"At first, they're a little intimidated to come in here," she says, "but then they turn around and book their appointments."
It's a similar situation around town, as day spas work to build their customer bases.
"I think each individual establishment has a target audience," Millar says, adding that she and her staff see about 40 customers a day for body waxes ($6.75 and up), chair massages (30 minutes, $75) and therapeutic body wraps ($40-$75).
"It's just a matter of the clients finding what place they feel comfortable in," she says. "This should be something people should be able to do on a regular basis."
Carter agrees. "I think people are getting more and more into this. It's not a fad, it's not gonna go away."
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