When I opened the Rosewater Spa of Oakville nearly twenty years ago, North American skin care practices were all about treatment from the neck up. The spas of this continent were very different from their European counterparts, where a much more holistic approach to skin care has been practiced not just for centuries, but millennia. I knew from the very beginning that these were principles I wanted to apply to my own spa.

What made the spas of Europe so advanced? Well, they had, of course, thousands of years to explore and refine their cultural and wellness practices. Long ago, Europeans realized that there was, as they say, something in the water. Hydrotherapy was practiced in ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman civilizations; its therapeutic qualities were also recognized in Japan, with citizens finding refuge in the waters of the country’s onsen (hot springs).

In France, the city of Vichy was first established during the Roman era when soldiers stumbled across the region’s hot mineral springs. Over the next several hundred years, the medicinal value of Vichy waters was reported far and wide, with people seeking out the city’s thermal baths to treat ailments and skin conditions.

Today the practice of using water when treating the epidermis––and the epidermis of the whole body, not just the face––has finally made its way across the Atlantic in the form of the Vichy room. The better parts of European culture tend to find their way across the pond eventually (like cappuccinos and rosé!), and now the finest spas in North America are looking to this ancient practice to create a new era of health and wellness.

Vichy rooms are admittedly still rare; Rosewater Spa of Oakville is the only spa in this city to offer one. It’s also part of what makes us a member of the Leading Spas of Canada, as members must offer a form of water treatment.

Our Vichy room (or “wet room,” as these are also sometimes called) is a serene, tiled space. Here the client reposes on a massage table beneath the Vichy shower, which is a horizontal, moving bar with thick shower heads. The therapist tuns on the shower, simulating a gentle mist or pounding waterfall –– whatever the client and treatment require. The beauty is that the client is able to remain horizontal and continue to relax while the therapist works. This is where we do mud treatments, detox treatments, and full-body exfoliation.

Our Vichy Shower Sea Salt Glow, for instance, is a 30- minute service that complements the gentle rain of the shower with mineral-rich sea salts and pure essential oils. These are massaged over the body, providing a deep and exfoliating cleanse while stimulating circulation and leaving skin soft and glowing.

We highly recommend our Vichy room for this time of year. The transition from summer to fall can be tough on the epidermis, and this 21st-century version of “taking the waters,” as they used to say, is an excellent way to remove dead skin cells, improve blood circulation, and encourage the skin to breathe. The skin is the largest organ of the body, and the myth that caring for it constitutes a topical face cream alone is not the way to keep it healthy or to combat signs of aging.

Over two thousand years ago, the people of Europe realized that one of the best medicines could be found in our most precious natural resource. Today, we here at Rosewater are applying those principles to a holistic, mindful form of treatment. We invite our clients to lay back, close their eyes, and let the water do its work, just as it did for those who made long pilgrimages to the thermal springs of Vichy, all those years ago.