After a summer of too much sun and fun, it’s time to start taking care of yourself again. Here, the services you need to erase sun damage, nourish your skin, soothe sore muscles, and more.
Integrative Massage
Whether you’re training for your local turkey trot or the New York City Marathon (or even just hitting Soul Cycle a few times a week to get rid of those summer rosé pounds), you probably have some achy muscles this season. Relieve pain and soreness with Melinda Loo’s Integrative Massage, a customizable rubdown that focuses on myofascial release. Myofasciae are collagen webs that wrap around all the muscles in the body. Injury, overuse, stress and inflammation can cause these webs to stiffen and tighten. “Think of it like a sausage casing squeezing a sausage (the muscle) too tight,” explains Loo. “This restriction not only can make your muscles tight and less functional, it can decrease nerve function, decrease blood flow and create poor posture.”
Loo begins the treatment by massaging your body with a small, nubby tool called a FasciaBlaster in a fast, brush like motion (which feels good, not at all painful) to loosen up the fascia. Once the fascia is released, she uses a combination of deep tissue, stretching, trigger point and acupressure techniques to soothe the muscles. Loo’s space is low-key (it feels like you’re lying in someone’s pretty, exposed-brick office), but her treatment is nothing short of luxurious—and unlike a marathon, you never want it to end. Cost: $145 for 60 minutes.
Integrative Massage, Essential Bodywork & Wellness, New Canaan, CT
Autumn Glow Pumpkin Facial
Pumpkin isn’t just for pies and lattes: This ubiquitous fall veggie packs antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that nourish the skin. For Derma Glow’s Autumn Glow Pumpkin Facial, the aesthetician first applies a vitamin C lactic cleanser to remove dirt and even out skin tone. After swiping on a glycolic toner, she applies a pumpkin enzyme mask for 15 minutes. “This mask not only smells delicious, but it dissolves impurities and dead skin cells while encouraging healthy skin renewal. A targeted blend of organic fruit enzymes, humectants, and antioxidants helps decrease the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, hydrates, and refines the skin,” says aesthetician JoAnna Kopczyk. She will then extract black heads before performing a 15-minute face massage. (Not that you’ll remember this part—pretty much everyone falls asleep.) Next comes another revitalizing mask to firm and lift the skin, which sits on for 15 minutes, during which you are treated to a relaxing hand, arm, neck, décolleté and scalp massage. Cost: $105 for 60 minutes. Derma Glow Autumn Glow Pumpkin Facial, Derma Glow Spa and Boutique, North Salem, NY
Non-Surgical Hand Rejuvenation
It’s not your face that reveals your age—it’s your hands! Starting in your 40s (or even younger if you’re thin and exercise a lot) your hands begin to lose volume and look weathered. “Patients complain about tendons and veins looking more prominent,” says facial plastic surgeon Joelle Rogal, MD, of Cosmetic Surgery Associates of New York in Harrison. She uses a filler called Restylane Lyft (which was just FDA approved for use in the hands) to plump hands back up a bit, making them look younger and smoother. Here’s how it works: Rogal numbs you up between your fingers (this part stings a little), and then makes three needle pricks to create ports in which she threads a cannula to dispense the filler (a cannula is like a long needle with a blunt end and hollow middle). This allows her to direct the filler into the areas of your hands that need plumping and smoothing. After 20 minutes you’ll be to waving goodbye to your old lady hands! Results last for about a year. Cost: around $2,800. Cosmetic Surgery Associates of New York, Harrison, NY
Intense Pulsed Light (IPL)
A spattering of freckles can look charming and youthful with a summer tan, but once your bronze glow fades, you begin to see those spots for what they really are: sun damage. IPL involves shining a bright, hot light over the face (or other freckled area of the body) to target the melanin in the skin. “IPL is a highly effective light therapy for treating pigment from sun damage and age spots, as well as redness from rosacea and broken blood vessels,” says Deanne Mraz Robinson, MD, of Modern Dermatology of Connecticut in Westport, CT. The treatment hurts a little (the laser feels like something snapping or pinching your skin) but only takes about 15 minutes per area. Freckles and other dark spots will get darker for up to a week and then flake off. (This process isn’t pretty so don’t plan any cocktail parties or Christmas card photo sessions for a few days post-treatment.) Cost: About $500 and more than one treatment may be necessary. Modern Dermatology of Connecticut, Westport, CT and Cosmetic Surgery Associates of New York in Harrison, NY
