My girls have their own distinct personalities. If you created a Venn diagram of the three of us – focusing on our personality traits and interests – the overlapping section would be tiny.
While my two twenty-something daughters were visiting recently, a small miracle happened. The three of us stumbled upon an activity that we were all passionate about. This alignment of the stars is rare. Greer, who recently moved back to the southern New York area, told us about head spas. We were all – there – ready to leave together.
Don’t know what a head spa is? It is a salon that focuses on scalp and hair health. Spas originated in Asia and are also known as scalp or hair spas.
Piper Naudin relaxes in a massage chair at Lotus Head Spa in New Orleans.
“They have cameras that they put in your hair and on your scalp and show you what’s going on,” she said, adding that there was one in New Orleans.
“I’m in,” I said.
Just like Piper, our youngest daughter.
Realizing the magnitude of this moment, I went straight to the Lotus Head Spa website to see the options. There were plenty of them.
There was the “Essential Head Treatment” for $40, the “Japanese Nourishing Head Treatment” for $75, the “Lotus Luxury Head Treatment” for $100, and the “24 Karat Gold Head Treatment” for $100. $200.
I decided to add to their Christmas gifts and splurged on the 90 minute package at $100 for each of us.
Lotus Head Spa technicians use cameras to examine scalp health.
Two days later, the three of us walked into the salon – greeted by ladies who directed us to full massage chairs. To add to the experience, they put thrilling eye masks on our faces.
It was one of those situations where all three of us just followed what was happening. The masks blocked all the light and sort of massaged the eyes – a feeling I had never felt before.
After about five minutes we were taken to another room where one of the technicians used a camera to look at us and show us our scalps.
“You’re using too hot water to wash your hair,” the woman told me.
Later, as we recounted the afternoon to my husband, he said, “I could have, for free, told you that the water you are using to wash your hair is too hot.”
“But would you have massaged my scalp for 90 minutes?” I asked.
A few moments after the scalp cameras, we moved to a third room, which, I admit, is a little blurry for me.
Along the way, however, I caught a glimpse of their bathroom – which was something of a 24-karat gold experience in itself.
The gold-themed bathroom at Lotus Head Spa in New Orleans.
In the treatment room, I remember we had to put on special gowns and my daughters were on tables next to me. Once they start working on my head and hair, things get blurry.
Here’s what I know: We were in that room for an hour. First, she put some sort of warm wrap on the top of my head. It smelled good, but it wasn’t a smell I could identify. Then they put strips of something on my face – about 14 of them.
My daughters say they were cucumber strips – I couldn’t be sure. They smelled like cucumbers, but they didn’t look like cucumber to me. Then she put something on top that looked like very cold little metal balls chained together.
There were plenty of things to do to eat and relax.
Piper said: “It felt like a million different oils were being applied to my face.”
Of course, several creams, rinses and oils were involved. At one point my head was under what I can best describe as a rainbow-shaped waterfall. The water temperature was perfect. The technician continued to massage my scalp and apply cream to my hair while the water ran for about 20 minutes.
Then there were hot stones and she massaged my feet. From there, the foot and leg massagers built into the table added to the sensory overload.
Then we were taken back to the second room where they re-examined and used a red light treatment on our scalp – while putting our feet in a detox bath and offering us treats to eat – for the last few minutes of care from head to toe. .
Overall, it was a wonderful experience – not only because I came away feeling like the cleanest head in the world, but because I got to share the adventure with my girls. We would all do it again!
Lotus Head Spa is located at 1831 Rousseau Street in New Orleans.