Day 1: A Facial from Rituals....

I went to a women's college.  I was a girl-scout.  I went to a camp for girls for four summers in a row. I have read The Traveling Pants series. I get sisterhood, and motherhood, and the feminine mystique.

Women need each other.  You help each other out, you cry on each others shoulders, you cheer each other on.  Viva la sisterhood!!!

The holidays are coming.  Most of my goody-goody friends have already finished their shopping. Hurray for them.  But in case you haven't started, what is one of the best gifts a woman could give another woman?

I have the answer. It came to me when I was getting one myself:

A facial!

No kidding, seriously, I am not trying to be flip.  A facial is the perfect gift. Let me tell you why.

I had one at Rituals on the town green.  It was a gift from some friends that thought I needed it.  I was a little perplexed because in my head I didn't know how a facial could last an hour. I just thought they put some gunk on your face, let it dry, wash it off, and you go home touching the softness before the kids started screaming again that they wanted macaroni and cheese instead of the well balanced meal you wanted to feed them.

There are two nice things about one spa treatment versus a day of them:

1) you can find an hour if you try hard enough and
2) If no one gives you the gift card, you can afford one treatment every now and then.

An hour?  Really?  OK, someone else was paying...

This was also the first time I had gone to Rituals for anything other than waxing.  I don't see waxing as pampering, I see it as a necessity. I'd rather not look like my Uncle Wade, so I get waxed.

The first thing that they do is take you to a gorgeous bathroom that is not filled with plastic toys and towels that have Disney characters on them.  Then they hand you a fluffy bathrobe, towel, and sandals and tell you to change. Why do I need to wear a robe to get my face done?  A facial is not just a facial at Rituals.


I was taken to the "Relaxation Room" to wait for my aesthetician to come get me. I would have paid just to sit in that room and listen to the calming music while reading a magazine and sipping tea before they even put the goop on my face.  

When the girl comes in, guess who it is? 

My waxer!!!! 

I didn't know aestheticians could do it all.  You build a very close relationship with the girl who does your waxing. She knows what you look like before she rips the hell out of you.  Now we would get to spend a whole hour together doing something much more pleasant.


You lie down in your towel under the warm sheets and just let the world float away while she does more than smear mud on your face.  Just for an hour, your name is not Fiona and you are not an ogre in a swamp with triplets. Your face is exfoliated, toned, steamed, extracted, hydrated. Your neck, your scalp, your hands, and even your feet are massaged.  Your stress and troubles and worries are brought to the service and cleansed away in that hour. When she is done, you can go back to the relaxation room for more tea or lemon water as you embrace the fact that you are about to go back to your life of Legos, trains, and Barbies. 


Now, who to give this to? That is a very good question. I came up with a list!

1) Another mom with kids as rough as yours. Think of the times you are in line and everyone's kids are standing there and yours are going crazy. One other mom has a kid going nuts too. She should have a facial.
2) A teacher. She gets flack from parents, students, other teachers, and her administrator.  Give her the facial.
3) This one is rough, but think of a woman you might not have been so nice to-either directly or indirectly. Maybe she should get a facial?  (Warning-don't make a list of all the women that owe you a facial-that isn't part of the holiday spirit.)
4) Your very best friend in the whole wide world who has gone above and beyond for you over and over again...
5) Your own mother?  Just saying....


Go to Rituals, get a facial, or buy one for someone else this Advent season. You will feel better, she will better, and you can check it off your Christmas shopping list.

If you feel guilty, follow up with a wax.