Haach Facial & Massage!

Rebecca treated me to this Valentine’s Day promotion package at Haach. Its a couple package of deep cleansing facial & full body Swedish massage, lasting 3 hours at just $198! It’s our first time going to a spa & we had been anticipating it for the past week!

The lady who served us was very nice, cheerful, knowledgeable & professional. Her name is Jenny. I guessed that she must be the manager at this outlet coz all the other ladies were dressed in black & she’s the only one wearing beige. She’s quite pretty, with an excellent hour-glass figure that would seriously make any straight guy drool. I didn’t drool, but if it was possible, I’m very sure that my heart would have drooled… especially since I was quite attracted to her personality, coz she’s sociable & bubbly. Not those typical managers who act ‘class’… e.g. those who portray to be seemingly ‘high & mighty’ kind of body language.

Rebecca & I were ushered into separate rooms, which surprised us coz we had the impression that couple package probably means in the same room. But it’s no big issue… most important is to enjoy the new experience & relax… =)

This is the first time that I have ever patronized a spa, so I’m not sure if it’s just my personal impression of the room, coz it looked rather small to me… with a whole wall length of mirror, a washing basin, a small waste paper basket, two dim lights, one robe & one bed covered with two layers of white clean towels. Yet, it was a cozy & nice room. Maybe it wouldn’t be as cozy, if it was a bigger room.

After a short wait, Jenny knocked on the door (I soon discovered that it was standard practice that every staff had to knock on the door before coming in), brought in with a pair of dark blue shorts & told me to change into it, which I did.

So there I was standing, clothed in only that dark blue pair of shorts (of coz with my underwear inside) & feeling anxious about what would happen next. After all, it’s my first time in a spa.

Moments later, this lady knocked on the door & came in. In that split second, both of us looked a little bit awkward. She looked like an Indonesian & seemed to have this a little cautious expression on her face, which I guessed could maybe be because it’s normal for any female masseur to look to make sure that this man whom they would be massaging alone in this room, doesn’t look threatening or the ‘dirty-minded’ kind. I don’t know… it’s just my speculation of why she looked quite cautious when she first came into the dimly lit room.

As for my awkward expression, it was because for that split second, I felt as if I had ended up in a dimly lit room inside a brothel, waiting for the girl to arrive. I mean, how often do I stand & wait for a girl to come into my room, clothed only in my shorts after removing most of my clothes? It was a strange & awkward feeling… & all the more so, when she asked to me lie down on the bed, covered me with the white towels & started the initial rub down before the massage. But again, I must emphasize – that I didn’t have any feelings or excitement of any kind. It was just an odd feeling, especially at one part when she kneeled at my legs, so that she was in a better position to massage my back.

After a few minutes, I became more relaxed to enjoy the massage. It lasted one hour & it was pretty good, especially the way that she kneaded along my spine with her elbows. Seriously, it was very professionally done… so much so that I actually found her quite indifferent towards me. She didn’t talk to me at all, just did the massage as per routine & ended with the words, “Okay. Finished.”

I changed back to my clothes & waited for the facial to begin. This time, the wait was much longer, so I decided to take out my hand-phone to take a few photos of the room to remember the place.

Another lady came in, this time a Chinese lady, who spoke Mandarin … & most of the time, I couldn’t understand what she was saying. It’s not because of her Mandarin accent, coz she’s local, though she looked Taiwanese or from some state in China… but it was probably because I didn’t know those terms which she was saying about what is doing to my face, what cream she is using, etc.

The facial lasted more than an hour, but I soon learnt that facial actually involved quite a bit of time spent waiting, for example waiting for the cream to absorb into the skin, waiting for the skin pores to open so that she could pinch out the black heads which was so painful that I just sat there, steeled my body into a rigid & stiff state & gripped my fingers into a fist, underneath the towel.

The worst part was waiting for the mask to be removed! I was feeling so urgent to go to the toilet, even though I had gone before I went to Haach. Before this lady applied the mask, I asked if I could go to the toilet, but she said it’s not possible coz she’s already in the midst of the facial & going outside would mean exposing my skin to germs & impurities. So there I was, lying there, with a mask covering my entire face, except my nostrils & mouth, so I could breathe.

I knew it was supposed to be good for my skin, but I didn’t like the feeling of something hardening on my face, until I almost couldn’t even move my mouth! And my eyes felt a little uncomfortable after being closed from the hardened mask for 25 minutes. Maybe I’m just not used to it, but I don’t really like having a hardened mask on my face. I don’t mind those thinner ones, but this one was quite solid & thick!

As the minutes ticked by, I realized that I wasn’t enjoying this last part of the facial at all, coz I had begun to put my knees together to control my urgency to urinate & a few times, even clutched my groin area, coz it was so unbearable! I felt like I was back in BMT, when those sadistic officers refused to let us recruits go to the toilet, after drinking bottles after bottles of water!

I prayed… & prayed, saying in my mind, “God, please help me control… please help me control…” And my prayer soon became, “God, please quickly make her come into the room & remove the mask…” It was tiring to endure not urinating, as I tuned my ears to passing footsteps outside the room, holding onto whatever little bit of decreasing hope that it might be this lady coming into the room to FREE me from this torture… thinking back, I must have looked very frantic, once she removed the mask & told me that the facial is over!

She handed me a cup of water, which I drank a bit out of courteousness… & quickly poured away the remaining water, once she left the room! Hahahaha… Then I quickly took my bag, hurried to the reception area & asked them where the nearest restroom is. When the reception lady pointed to the toilet near the Suntec cinema, I felt silly to have asked, coz I should have known, since I’m not a foreigner who have never patronized Suntec City before. Yet, how was I to know whether Haach had their restroom inside? Never mind… I was urgent & couldn’t care less about that at that point of time…

After being relieved of the agonizing urge to urinate, I walked back to the Haach reception area & waited for Rebecca. It was then that I really took notice of all the ladies (i.e. staff) that walked past me. All of them were slim, especially at the legs! Wow! It was unbelievable! It was like I had just walked into a model show room!

When Rebecca came out to meet me, Jenny sat down with us to tell us about our skin problems. I didn’t have any skin problems, except that my face tends to get oily at the T-zone area, but I didn’t need to go for facial, if I didn’t want to. But Rebecca’s skin problem was much worse. She had underlying oil congested underneath the third inner layer of her skin, which had to be cleansed & removed.

Jenny exclaimed loudly in shock, when Rebecca told her that she has been regularly going for facial at the saloon near her house. Apparently, that aunty near her house wasn’t doing the facial correctly, based on the right steps. She has been trying to improve Rebecca’s outer skin layer, without treating the inner layers, which is dangerous coz even more clogging would take place & would definitely involve more intensive treatment in future! I was so shocked…

Thus, Jenny recommended Rebecca their Valentine’s Day promotional package of 10 sessions plus 3 sessions free, for $450. That’s $34 per facial session, once every 3 weeks, which is almost a month & is already a very, very reasonable price, what’s more for a professional spa centre like Haach. In any case, the aunty doing facial near her house is already charging $40, so no harm giving herself a try at Haach, after all it is a reputable organization & there are periodic check-ups after every 3 sessions, as each of the 3 sessions undergo different treatments. Furthermore, each normal facial at Haach cost $110 & now the package offers her at $34 per session! That’s very worth it! So I encouraged Rebecca to take it up & she did. I’m glad Rebecca’s Mum supported this idea too.

After leaving Haach, we walked around Suntec & Rebecca saw this nice blouse at G2000. I thought it was nice & when she tried it on… she looked very nice in it, so she bought it, after seeing my eyes sparkle at how nice she looked in that blouse. Hee!

Many places were crowded, so we decided to eat at Sizzler, coz Pizza Hut ran out of their famous cheese crust, which I liked very much. Furthermore, that day was also our 56th month of our relationship together. Time really flies… Wow… =)