Flowers
Some people think flowers are over-rated especially for the increased prices around Valentine’s Day, but their beauty always speaks to the heart.  But, let's put a little twist on the typical gift this year and try:
 
Eco Stems – http://ecostems.ca/
Why we love it:  What’s not to love?!  Everything is local, fair-trade or organic and they have attempted to green their business from top to bottom!
 
Dinner
Spending time with your loved ones over a nice meal is a great Valentine’s Day gift!  For something healthy and unique try one of these:
 
Camros Organic Eatery - http://www.camroseatery.com/
Why we love it:  all-organic Persion-esque vegetarian meals near Yonge & Bloor.
 
Live Organic Food Bar - http://www.livefoodbar.com
Why we love it:  Vegan restaurant with cooked and raw options.  95% of the menu is local or organic – plus they have fun, nutritious drinks as well as organic beer and wine!
 
Fresh - http://www.freshrestaurants.ca/
Why we love it:  There are several locations throughout the city which makes it easy to enjoy this approachable vegetarian restaurant with amazing juices!
 
Chocolate
Need we say more? 
Sweets from the Earth - http://www.sweetsfromtheearth.com
Why we love them:  they are an egg & dairy free bakery who uses all natural, 100% plant-based, GMO-free ingredients.
 
Chocosol - http://chocosol.posterous.com/
Why we love it:  This isn’t your traditional truffle but the chocolate is producted from organic cacao using power generated from people peddling bikes.
 
Coco Chocolates – http://cocochocolates.wordpress.com/
Why we love it:  certified organic and fair trade and super fun! They even make chocolate shoes (size 6!).
 
Health/Relaxation
Try something really unique but exquisitely rejuvenating - how about rock bathing?  Check out: 
 
Iyashi Bedrock Spa - http://www.iyashibedrockspa.com/web/
Why we love it:  This place is seriously rejuvenating.  The infra-red heat is amazing for clearing toxins, relaxing, & loosening tight muscles and would make a really unique gift! 
 
Something fun to do together
How about a cooking class?  For a unique spin check out:
Delicious Knowledge by Marni Wasserman - http://www.marniwasserman.com/
Why we love it:  Marni’s classes focus on using whole foods to create nutritious meals and are a ton of fun together!
 
For other great ideas check out our website for Valentine’s Day specials and gift cards – healthy pampering is a gift that is always in style!
 
We hope all of you have wonderful, love-filled Valentine’s Days!
 
Love from,
Alma Natural Spa

The practice of using essential oils is known as aromatherapy, and there are so many different oils that can be helpful for various situations. Essential oil fragrances work on the brain’s limbic system which controls the major body functions, and their chemicals help trigger the body’s ability to heal. You can use the oils individually or in blends. You can smell them directly from the bottle, diffuse them into the air, add to the bath or to an oil or lotion.

Relieve Congestion
As the colder weather comes, so do colds and congestion. To relieve congestion try blending eucalyptus, lemongrass, and peppermint with boiling water and steam your face over the bowl. Here’s how:

• Boil two cups of filtered water into a glass or metal bowl.
• Add two drops each of eucalyptus, lemongrass, and peppermint pure essential oils.
• Place face over bowl and inhale deeply through nose. The oil mixture will smell intense at first, so start at least 12 inches from bowl. Then lower your head closer to the water as needed.
• Keep breathing in the scented steam until bowl is no longer steaming.
• Repeat as necessary

Uplift Your Spirit
As the days get shorter and the weather colder, most of us could use some uplifting! Here are a few of our favorite oils for this. Sweet Basil, Bergamot, Cinammon, Geranium, Grapefruit, Lavender, Lemon, Neroli, Orange, Peppermint, Pine, Rosemary, and Spearmint Great on their own or blended together. Add a few drops to an unscented lotion or carrier oil and apply to your skin to have with you all day!

Create a Warm & Comforting Atmosphere
Everyone is looking to stay cozy this time of year. Try blending Patchouli, Orange & Ylang Ylang and diffuse into the air. A great alternative to perfumes, air fresheners, and traditional petroleum-based candles which can be toxic!

Relieve Stress
There are many oils that help relieve stress. Here are a few key oils that we like to use after a stressful day. Choose one or blend a few together to create a scent you really like. Then add to the bath or diffuse into the air and relax and enjoy. Bergamot, Chamomile, Geranium, Lavender, Sandalwood, Ylang Ylang.

Tell us what your favorite ways are to use essential oils.

Essential oils are very strong and concentrated and can be dangerous if applied directly to the skin. Make sure to dilute before applying to your skin with carrier oil (almond or any oil you like) or in a lotion or in the bath.Check out the contraindications for oils because some cause reactions especially when used with certain conditions or when applied before the sun. Also, choose pure essential oils to be sure you get therapeutic benefits.

In our last blog we talked about our values and what they are but now we’d like to let you know why our values are so important to us, specifically our natural ingredients. Any chemist can slap a cosmetic product together and sell it in the health and beauty aisle, but is it really healthy for you? When a consumer chooses to purchase a conventional beauty product, do they really know what is going into their body and what effects these products have on them? Probably not. And to make matters worse, the health risks of some chemicals used in non- natural products cannot be determined except after years of use in a man or woman’s daily regime.

Alma Natural Quick Spa strives to make a difference in a massive industry that is filled to the brim with unsanitary salons and questionable unnatural products. Our ingredients are taken straight from the earth without man made substances or filler so that our customers can feel confident that their spa experience is a truly healthy one. The large majority of our ingredients are also organic, fair trade, sustainably grown and harvested and all around eco and people friendly. This ensures that we feel just as good about buying them as you will when you try them!

On average, a woman uses 12 products on her skin, lips and hair per day which contain a grand total of about 150 different chemicals.

These chemicals leach into our bodies through our skin and cause harm to our system. So many of the products we use without a second thought contain chemicals that are either carcinogens, reproductive toxins, irritants or all three. We want to change the idea that beauty must be manufactured in a plant and our bodies altered by man-made chemicals in order to achieve perfection. We believe that a daily routine full of the products that mother nature intended can make even the dullest skin glow and anyone a natural beauty!

Oils are a wonderful ingredient that can be harvested from just about any plant and used in all types of treatments and remedies. The list of benefits that can be gained from different oils is about a mile long; this week we’ll be talking about non-essential oils.

Avocado oil is an edible oil pressed from the fruit of the Persea Americana (avocado) that is rich in vitamins A, D and E, lecithin, as well as potassium. It can be used as a food ingredient, cooking oil, as lubrication, and in cosmetics, where it is valued for its regenerative and moisturizing properties.  It is excellent for skin care since it is an extremely good moisturizing and nourishing compound.  It is high in sterolins, which are reputed to reduce age spots, help heal sun damage and scars. It is the sterolins (also called plant steroids) in the oil that helps to soften the skin and imparts a superior moisturizing effect.

Coconut oil an edible oil extracted from the kernel or meat of matured coconuts.  It is rich in Vitamins E and K and polyphenols. It is excellent massage oil for the skin. It acts as an effective moisturizer on all types of skins including dry skin. It is great for preventing dryness and flaking of skin, as well as delaying wrinkles and sagging of skin, which normally comes with aging.

Actually a form of liquid wax, jojoba oil is a fantastic, long-lasting moisturizer because unlike other water-based moisturizers, it will not evaporate. Jojoba oil is very similar to our skin’s natural oils and because of this, it is possible that jojoba oil may be able to trick our skin into balancing its oil production. It does not become rancid or lose antioxidants if kept for long periods of time. Jojoba oil also has many uses; while it is often used as a moisturizer, it can also be used as a lip balm, makeup remover or conditioner.

We will be taking a short break from blogging while we concentrate on some other special projects for you. But please stay tuned on Facebook and Twitter; we’ll be back before you know it with part three of our ingredient blog series: Essential Oils!

At Alma we don’t just aim to get customers in and out the door, we make it our personal mission to give our customers the best possible spa experience. To us that means holding ourselves to a certain standard and always sticking to a few core values which have carved out a unique niche for us in the market of thousands of spas and salons in Toronto.

Sanitation – At Alma we use every precaution to ensure that all our equipment is completely sanitary. Your safety is our top priority; that means no cutting corners!

Quick Service – The name Alma Natural Quick Spa isn’t for nothing. We want to provide excellent spa services for women (and men!) on the go.

Atmosphere – This one’s easy; we want you to feel comfortable and relaxed if not when you come in, then when you leave. We’re confident that our charming estheticians and laid back atmosphere, music and tea included, will have you feeling fabulous in no time.

Social Ethics and The team – We want a happy team, because a happy team means happy customers. And that extends to the team that makes our natural products possible. We ensure that all our products come from companies that practice ethical treatment of their workers.

And last but certainly not least our business aims to inspire natural beauty inside and out. The key word there being ‘natural’. All the products we use at Alma are made from natural, non-toxic and environmentally friendly substances.

All this to simply say that our ingredients, among other things, are important to us and for you. We believe that something that sits on your skin or nails should come from the Earth wherever possible, that you shouldn’t have to worry about getting rid of chemicals after a “purifying” spa treatment. We believe the ingredients should not only be natural but effective as well so we hand-pick natural ingredients to provide as much benefit as possible.  That’s why the next several blog  posts will be about our ingredients; we want you to know about what we’re slathering on your hands and feet and why!

The Dead Sea contains a much higher concentration of minerals that any other body of water which gives it amazing healing properties. The combination of bromides, iodine, magnesium, sodium, calcium and potassium may help to cleanse and detoxify the body while having a good balance of salts (sodium and potassium) promotes healthy production of naturally occurring chemicals in the body and regular cellular functions.
The course texture of Dead Sea Salt also provides excellent exfoliating benefits that make it great in natural skin scrubs.

Try out this recipe using dead sea salt to leave your skin silky and smooth!

Wax has many uses; it is what makes your (non organic) apples shiny and perfect looking, it’s added to chocolate to make it smooth, it’s used to make candles, lipsticks and crayons and of course it’s used in hair removal procedures at spas.

Paraffin wax treatments in particular have great benefits for the skin, muscles and joints. These paraffin treatments are said to have been used since the times of the Roman Empire because of their benefits when used in massages and as an esthetic treatment on the skin. This ancient technique is still practiced in many spas today as well as in some sports medicine clinics. In the past, paraffin treatments have been used to treat a variety of ailments such as:

• Arthritis
• Bursitis
• Eczema
• Fibromyalgia
• Fibrositis
• Inflammation
• Muscle Spasms
• Overworked/Fatigued Muscles
• Psoriasis
• Scar Tissue
• Stiff Joints
• Tendonitis
• Tennis Elbow

Paraffin wax is unlike other kinds of waxes used in spas for hair removal procedures in that it is a softer wax that will not stick or cause any pain upon removal.  It has a low melting point and is heated in a special paraffin wax heater to ensure it is warm enough to reap all the benefits but not hot enough to cause burns.

Paraffin has excellent esthetic benefits.  It is moisturizing and will leave rough skin (especially on the hands and feet!) extremely smooth and soft. Applying the warm wax brings blood flow to the area which can help alleviate muscle and joint pain.  If you want a little extra pampering for your feet, try our Moisture and Massage treatment which includes an aromatherapy soak, massage and natural paraffin treatment!

Our version of “paraffin” wax is actually a mix of organic soy wax, beeswax and a variety of hydrating oils.  We developed this blend for a few reasons.  First, paraffin is actually a petroleum derived wax.  When we apply the wax to your skin, the heat from the wax opens your pores. Because of this, anything we apply can penetrate the skin so we want to be 100% sure that it is safe & non-toxic.  Also, both soy and beeswax have fabulous emollient properties that help moisturize the skin and create a barrier to help the lotion and oils penetrate your skin. 

While many spas use a technique to apply the wax in which the hands or feet are submerged in a paraffin wax bath, at Alma we apply the wax to your hands or feet with a single-use applicator to ensure a completely sanitary procedure.  We also provide our guests with paraffin booties that retain the moisture and heat as long as possible to provide maximum benefit.

Repeated treatments can yield fantastic long-term effects, so if you’re looking for a skin smoothing or pain soothing treatment, give paraffin a try. You won’t be disappointed!