Top Treatments

Some of London's finest beauty spots, reviewed by the Absolutely team.

AGUA LONDON

HERBAL HAMMAM

Words ZOË DELMER-BEST

Arriving at Agua on a Friday evening after a busy week of work, I'm not sure what to expect. I’ve never had a Hammam treatment before but I have a vague idea of what it entails: getting very, very clean. My presumptions aren't far off and over the course of the next 60 minutes, I become the cleanest I have ever been in my entire life. As I lie almost entirely naked on a marble treatment table (feeling a little like a sacrificial lamb) my whole body is scrubbed and soaked, exfoliated and rubbed until my skin is squeaky clean and glowing. Like almost all Hamman treatments, my experience follows the traditional process of opening pores with a steam bath, lathering and exfoliating the body in a black and sticky olive oil-based soap and then being scrubbed with a kessa glove to remove dead skin, before finally being gently rubbed all over with moisture locking oils. What makes this Hamman different from all the others on offer in London is the use of raw and organic ingredients sourced directly from the UAE. Herbs such as sumac, nigella seeds, dates and za’atar, to name a few, are slathed in luxurious concoctions all over the body, leaving you feeling butter soft for weeks.

£135; seacontainerslondon.com

The Herbal Hammam

SKIN MATTERS

ADVANCED VITAMIN FACIAL

Words ABBIE SCHOFIELD

Skin Matters, by leading skin expert Joanne Evans, is warm and homely, unlike your average stark spa, and the bespoke vitamin facial promises to deeply nourish the dermis. A mask is applied and sound waves are massaged via a probe across my face, allowing the active ingredients to reach 4,000 times deeper into the skin. I feel a light ringing in my ears - totally normal, I am assured, but slightly startling nonetheless. A cooling, sticky mask is then applied over my face, and my eyes too. It feels a bit odd to be cocooned in, unable to open my lids - not for the claustrophobic - but I settle in and find it very relaxing. Once the mask solidifies, wires are clipped on and a gentle electrical current pulses through in order to sculpt the face and seal in the vitamins. By the time the session’s over, my face has gone through some high tech stuff - sound waves and electrical currents don’t happen in your average facial - and I enjoy the appearance of my soft, bright and glowy skin over the next few days.

£165; skin-matters.co.uk

Skin Matters