At this new spa, a massage-averse Scouter finds fresh fruit, perspectives and patience.
A Fresh (Fruit) Perspective
Disclaimer: This Secret Scouter is not a fan of massages, scrubs, facials. She regards spas and their unnaturally still air, elevator music and lotion smells with a healthy dose of suspicion.
If you do however, insist on getting felt up by strangers, Snip Salon & Spa, the newest addition to Bandra’s wellness boom, is a good option. The first Mumbai outpost of a Goa favorite, it’s located in a pretty bungalow that once housed an Escada store, and features a service menu offering a ton of fruit in unusual avatars: yam and pumpkin pedicure (Rs 1,500); blueberry soy facial (Rs 2,600), raspberry sorbet scrub (Rs 2,500), sour cherry face pack for men (Rs 3,000). Apparently my aversion to spas, the other massage-friendly Secret Scouter believed, would lend a fresh perspective to the story: it looked like we were going to get that, in more ways than one.
Falling Flat
My Mangosteen soufflé scrub (Rs 2,200), was to last no more than an hour. I was led into a super-pretty private space (Snip has five dry, three individual and one couple room) with textured walls, colourful coat rack, single bed and it's own shower, but alas no Blackberry network! Barely had I gotten over the bad news when the attendant asked me to put on disposable underwear that looked like a surgical mask. Seriously?
To make things worse, the putrid yellow mixture in a bowl didn’t look like Mangosteen, and the smiley attendant - Suki from Bali - spoke no English and couldn’t understand that I had changed my mind and wanted to go home. She just waited patiently for me to get into Dr McDreamy’s face gear so she could proceed. Secret Scouter in trauma room one!
There are few things that I have done for our beloved Brown Paper Bag – moving across continents, forsaking paychecks, eating poisonous fish – more daunting than climbing onto that bed. Stomach-first, face in a hole and staring down at a pretty bowl of water lilies, I had my toes pulled, ankles examined and legs scrubbed with grainy goo. Just as I was going to demand that she speed it up, I noticed the amount of Mumbai grime coming off me, and subsided. Gross!
The sixty minute scrub came with extras, including an awkward face massage and fifteen minute session in the private steam room. I only lasted five.
Snip and Tuck
For those as wary of messy beauty treatments, Snip offers a pleasant foot reflexology service that we tried at the Goa branch earlier this year, as well as some dry massages. Hair services, for which the Goa Snip is most popular, are not functional at the Mumbai branch yet.
Session Finale
This is an exceedingly nice spa with an unusual range of treatments, top-grade equipment and attentive staff ( just don’t ask them to swipe your credit card). And despite many misgivings, I not only left here shiny and new, but also with a character-building lesson in patience. At Rs 2,200, that’s a pretty good deal.
Getting there: Snip Salon & Spa, ground floor, Villa Parker, Turner Road, Bandra (W), call 26421800/1900 or visit www.snip.co.in, treatments start at Rs 550.
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