After 10 years of working part-time at Healing Waters Day Spa in Patrick Springs, owner Sarah Foley, LMT, recently committed to the location full time, expanding staff and services to meet the community’s wellness needs.
Foley previously worked at Primland Resort for four years and at Indigo Wellness Spa, LLC, in Martinsville for about seven years.
“Then I came here and decided to start doing this full-time. My dream was to be here full-time, so I finally decided to make that jump and do it. I never really thought that it was something I could do full-time just because it’s a smaller population. So, I used Martinsville and Primland kind of as my main focus and this was to kind of do it on the side, but my dream was to always grow this,” she said.
After parting ways with Indigo in the fall, Foley informed her clients of the decision.
“They were all like, ‘we’ll definitely come to Patrick County. We’ll follow you like it’s not that far,’” she said.
Kerri Rakes joined the spa in October as its nail technician, and Tina Layman joined soon after as its esthetician.
Healing Waters offers a variety of services, including traditional Swedish massage, prenatal massage, manual lymphatic drainage, reflexology, spray tans, manicures and pedicures, waxing, eyelash treatments, and facial treatments.
While massages and spray tans are the spa’s most booked services, Foley noted esthetician services are growing in popularity.
“There are no other estheticians around, so we knew that was kind of a newer service that we were going to have to introduce people to. But the response has been better than I would” have guessed. “I kind of thought it’s going to be difficult just because a lot of people don’t even really know what it is. A lot of times when we would say we have an esthetician they’d say, ‘what’s that,’” she said.
Layman added that many people have never had a facial and are unfamiliar with what it includes.
Because there are no other estheticians in the county, Layman said many of her clients aren’t sure what she does.
“I do a lot of talking and a lot of explaining because they don’t know what it is, so people are learning. It’s been very well received, and people have been pleased” with my services, she said.
While facials are her most popular treatment, Layman said she also performs a lot of dermaplaning, a type of exfoliation for the face.
“It’s where a surgical blade removes all the vellus hair, or peach fuzz, from the face. That’s what people think it is, but it’s actually an exfoliation. They love that because it makes the skin so smooth, and all the hairs gone from your face. So, a lot of questions for that, and a lot of requests for that service. I really like doing it too, it’s very rewarding,” she said.
Layman said her lash lift services are also gaining popularity.
“That’s kind of like a perm for the lashes. You use a little silicone rod and glue the lashes with pretty much a perm solution, and it makes the lashes stand up. Then you tint them, so they look really dark. Even with short lashes it makes them appear like they stand up and they’re very dark,” Layman said.
“Like you have mascara on,” Foley added.
Foley estimates the spa has at least 100 clients.
“It’s growing every day and our base is getting bigger with new people. We get a new face almost every single day. Everything has done above expectations,” she said.
While most of the spa’s clientele are women, Foley said its services are open to everyone.
“With me doing massage, I tend to get about equal male and female. But with them, of course it’s more of a female base,” she said.
Foley has also partnered with Cate Frable, LMT, of Much Kneaded Massage, to offer couples massages.
Foley said she hopes the spa can be a place where people focus on wellness and self-care.
“With everything that we do here our goal is to do something that’s good for you, not only your body but your mind,” she said.
To support that goal, the spa recently repainted its deck, where visitors can relax before or after their appointments.
Two new rooms were also added for waxing and esthetician services. Foley said she has no immediate plans for further expansion.
“I kind of like it a smaller, more intimate space. I like people to feel when they come they get more of a one-on-one versus an in-and-out place,” she said.
For more information, go to Facebook.com/HealingWatersDaySpa
