Facial treatment, massage benefit body and mind
By Patricia Anstett, Free Press Medical Writer - The Detroit Free Press

Menopause author Dr. Christiane Northrup follows her own advice.

Stressed from a national tour to promote her new book, Northrup faced a 4-hour appearance recently on Detroit public television station WTVS-TV (Channel 56).

Time for a little benign self-interest, as she calls it.

It came with an hour at the Salone Nadwa and Day Spa in Novi (248-348-7316 anytime), Where aesthetician Starrlynn Martindale treated Northrup to a facial and massage customized for aging skin.

The spa calls it "the menopause facial" - a cleansing and moisturizing treatment coupled with a soothing upper body, hand and facial massage ($120).

Martindale, 51, calls it a harmonizing treatment. She devised it because more than half of her clients are women at midlife with skin problems and more than their share of stress.

"If I can get any woman to come in and lay down for an hour and have someone do something to her, I feel like I've accomplished something," she says.

The music of Enya plays in the background. Soft light bathes the celery-green walls. A machine mists Northrup's face with steam. Warm mitts cover her hands.

Northrup lies faceup in a terry cover, layered with soft white towels. For and hour, Martindale applies various creams and treatments, including a multivitamin exfoliating cream, a pineapple and papaya-based enzyme peel, and two different facial masks.

Each is applied delicately to the face, neck, ears, shoulders, chest and hands. Martindale alternates soothing touches with tiny finger flicks and rubs.

It works for Northrup on more than a personal level.

A massage "gets you deeply relaxed but also soothes you win a way sleep sometimes can't," she says.

"The skin is derived from the same layer of (fetal tissue) as the brain," she adds. "So it's like and external nervous system."

"When you take care of your skin, you take care of your whole nervous system."