It's interesting that CNN published an article today title ‘Haute Couture’ facials and re-energizing mattresses: Inside Dior’s first permanent spa in the US, because I just had a massage at a Dior spa in Paris, and it was definitely something to write about!
If you’d like to enjoy massage therapy at its finest, then look no further than Dior Spa Cheval Blanc in Paris, France. Dior is a major luxury lifestyle brand which is deeply rooted in its fragrance and cosmetic lines. Those lines have been transferred into professional spa services at the upscale Cheval Blanc Hotel in Paris, amongst other high-end destinations, which now include New York!
The spa is decorated in a light colored modern interior with extra thick and impressively esthetic doors for soundproofing. Upon entering the spa for your massage appointment, you will be greeted by a smiling attendant who will invite you to sit in a decent sized reception area where they will serve you a light peach refreshment and cool fragranced hand towel.
The receptionist is the one who will review any medical conditions or contraindications with you prior to your service, so that the therapist is prepared before they even meet you. Once you’ve completed some brief questions, your massage therapist will then greet you, and invite you to one of their private massage suites. The suites contain two separate rooms:
A shower/changing area:
Joining the treatment room and changing room/shower into one suite/entrance has both benefits and disadvantages. The benefits are, high profile clients can easily relax in this extremely private environment which they do not have to share with anyone, or worry about a common locker area picture being taken while they’re in various states of undress, etc. The downside for the business is, you’ll have to schedule additional non-revenue time for the suite for changing, showering, etc. My 30-minute massage reserved the suite for 60-minutes, so that I would have time to change and shower, etc. Spas with common area showers and changing rooms would easily be able to more efficiently schedule a 30-minute massage in 45-minutes, and then all the client to shower and/or change in the common/shared locker room instead of massage suite where you would no longer have access to the treatment table while the client is doing things that they could probably do elsewhere, with less privacy.
At the Cheval Blanc, the spa was SOLD OUT the day I sought services, so charging $330+ euros for a 90-minute treatment isn’t an issue. They’re sold out at that price which means they could likely increase their prices during peak times, and maintain a healthy clientele. However, if they wanted to maximize their income, then relegating the changing/shower area to a common area to allow maximum revenue use of the treatment room would be advised. It’s possible they could have less clientele if they chose that type of standard operation, because some clients might be scheduling here for those private suites and exclusivity; although, the celebrities and royalty legitimately seeking that type of privacy out of necessity is probably not enough to offset the increased income the establishment would achieve if they separate their shower/changing rooms from the treatment stations. Usually celebrities and royalty that are highly photographed and at risk of having their privacy invaded in public would have their spa services provided in their hotel suites, or they might rent a second hotel room to receive massage and spa services. Rarely would we ever encounter what Dior has offered which is a fairly exclusive and unique setup.
The service and massage treatment room:
Both are elegantly appointed with the finest touches, including bottled water, slippers, robe, toiletries, spa products and of course, more fragrance.
Everything between the two rooms of the massage suite, reception area, bathroom and beyond is branded. Dior and Cheval Blanc are never out of sight. The brand’s constant presence reminds you of where you are which is in their lap of luxury.
The therapist invited me to change into a robe and slippers in the changing room, and then had me enter the massage treatment room where she provided three different scents to choose from for the massage medium. I chose the scent that was the strongest and most exotice. The scents were contained on patterned fabric in three different glass jars with lids. She removed the lid of each, one at a time, and had me smell them to choose.
I only had a 30-minute massage appointment because that is all they had - the spa was fully booked. So I was lucky to even get that! I had tried to book online and call but there was nothing available. So to get the appointment, I actually went to the spa, and told the receptionist that I am massage therapist myself, and I’m trying all the various high-end spas in Paris, and I’d like to try theirs, so she squeezed me in. I’m not sure they even offer 30-minute massage appointments to the public. That might just be an add-on service to their other body treatment specialities and services.
When she asked me what type of pressure I wished for and where to focus, I shared again that I’m a massage therapist and was just there to try it all out, so to do whatever she wanted. She said the receptionist had already told her and it made her very happy. She asked me if there was any area I wanted to avoid (there wasn’t), and then asked if it was okay to massage my face, scalp, abdomen, etc. - and I told her it was all good with medium pressure.
Once we determined the style, pressure and fragrance of the massage, she then asked me for my choice of music. I told her to play whatever she liked best because I knew the happier she was, the better my massage was likely to be, which allowed us to share a little laughter together. Then she left the room so I could disrobe and lie on the table in the pronated position. I took this picture of the massage tools in the treatment room shown below - they're quite impress and on display for sale in the retail area too!
As typical of high end European spas, they offer a 40” extra wide spa table with a hole in it instead of a face cradle. This hole was different though. It was extra small. My entire face did not fit in it. My eyes were closed and on the table itself because the hole was only large enough for my mouth and nose and nothing more. There was an elegant setup where a branded Dior towel was visible through the table hold but you couldn’t view this with your eyes being closed and lying on the table itself.
The massage started typically as all other high end spas, with hot towels to the feet and compressions through the sheet, and then the real luxury began. The massage. She undraped my back from the head of the table, and then covered me with fragranced lubricant. Then a fusion of lomi lomi magic began. Her massage strokes were long and continuous to the point that they felt neverending. She started at the upper trapezius with a full hand and firm palm and worked inferiorly, introducing her forearms as she continued towards the ileums and beyond into the upper gluteus muscles. She then kept contact with her forearms in the reverse direction superiorly back towards my upper trapezius and repeated different variations of this. She moved to the side of the table and performed more lomi fusion strokes in the shape of boxes over my back. The massage on the back alone was complete, engulfing and superior. She worked both arms while pronated and she finished the back massage with repeated massage strokes that started around my sacrum and continued superior up my back, neck and over my scalp to the crown of my head.
She then worked both posterior legs individually, appropriately undraping each area as she worked on it, and redraping it when she finished. The posterior leg work included knee flexion range of motion (ROM), where she flexed my knee and placed a fabric barrier between my lower leg and her shoulder to work my hamstrings and more. It was an experienced, detailed and wholesome extremity massage, similar to how we teach some of our posterior leg work in our lomi lomi massage training here at the school.
I then rolled over into supinated position where she worked my anterior legs and arms individually, not missing a square inch of the extremities. Almost every massage stroke was repeated at least twice, with every toe, finger and joint in between caressed with skilled therapy.
The massage therapist then draped my chest to perform an abdominal massage. After the abdominal massage was complete, which included strokes through the obliques to the low back, she then turned her forearm parallel to my sternum, and stroked inferiorly to superiorly over my sternum to my cervical area back to my abdomen. It was expertly executed and divine.
She finished her thirty minute full body massage with facial and scalp work. The work over my head was brief due to the limited time we had, but perfect. She used extraordinary pressure to trace my mandible and zygomatic bones and it felt wonderful. It was fairly extreme pressure but not too much at the same time. The contact of her hands was always full, similar to how lomi lomi massage should be executed. Lomi is rarely about digging or pointing. Lomi lomi massage is more about long strokes that feel like they never end which was terrifically mastered by this Dior massage therapist. I never expected her to attempt a full body massage in just 30-minutes, but she did it, and it didn’t feel rushed either. It was perfect.
After I got up and got dressed, the massage therapist led me back to the reception area where she had a jasmine infusion tea with cookie waiting and a small gift in a canvas bag as well. It was a really nice ending to such an incredible massage experience.
The reception area has an impressive array of retail items, that range from massage crystals to cosmetics to clothing and fragrances. There’s plenty of eye candy shopping to view before or after your spa appointment. I especially loved the baby Dior retail line (pictured above) which allows mommy and baby to share her favorite brand with products that are formulated without alcohol and other harmful ingredients. The crystals used in the Dior body treatment and massage services were also in the retail area for sale too (pictured below).
