Recently I spoke to my friend about her experience at a big spa where she went for a relaxing massage she received as a gift from her daughter. Her massage took place in the room placed at the beginning of a long hallway and during her massage she could hear many people walking and passing by her room, talking loudly while people slammed doors and left showers running. On top of everything there was a door between her room and next so she heard the conversation between another client and the aesthetician. Later my friend heard all of the noises while the aesthetician cleaned the room. All that and more during the two hours that were dedicated to her ‘relaxing’ massage with a price tag of almost $250.

My friend was disturbed and very unhappy with her experience but started to think; maybe she was being too picky or too sensitive and was unsure of her expectations. She asked me for my opinion .

Her reaction made me realize that many of us put up with not so good service or terrible circumstances because we do not know what to expect and what to demand for the money we are spending. We all work hard for our money and we are often left dissatisfied and unhappy by the beauty establishments we treat ourselves to.

Ladies and gentlemen, be honest – how many of you saw the haircut that was far from the one you wanted yet you still tipped the hairdresser? Do you think that she got the message that you were not satisfied with her service?

How many times does your manicure look bad only three days after it was done, yet you still go back to the same nail tech?

Don’t you think that if we as customers would expect more high quality services and used our right to refuse to pay for bad service we would force the beauty industry to educate themselves and to provide much better service?

If we search longer for better service we could eliminate places where the service is simply bad.

Do you pay the painter if the color on the walls is not even? Or the hardwood installer if the floor has gaps and cracks? You probably don’t, so why to settle for less when it comes to ourselves?

To continue the story; my friend spoke to the manager of the spa and was offered a free massage. A great gesture from the manager and very appreciated by my friend. She then booked two one hour massages, made sure that both of those would be done in the same back room. The first of the two massages was perfect – a room that was very quiet, both my friend and the massage therapist were relaxed and calm. But guess what? –For the second massage my friend was placed in another room (even after the arrangement for the same room was made three weeks before) and it was noisy again! Do you think that my friend will visit that spa again, even if the manager was very understanding? For sure she will not, as she lost the feeling of trust and respect as a paying customer. Will she recommend that spa to anybody- definitely not.

My friend asked her family not to buy gift certificates because the recipient is forced to take the service , as it was already paid for and cannot leave the place if the service is not satisfying.

So, please, if you not happy with the service – simply get up and say, “I am leaving because… and I will not continue this service”. Look for better place with better work ethics and better care for the customers. Do not put up with noisy environments, ask the massage therapist to warm up her hands if they cold, ask to change the music if you don’t like it – this is your time and all your needs related to the service should be fulfilled!

Are you one of those who carry a bottle around and force every sip into you just to fulfill “recommendations”?
Do you drink even if you are not thirsty?
Do you think that thirst means you are already dehydrated?

Let me share with you what I’ve learned from Cathy Gulli’s article “ Enough with drinking water” in Lifestyle.

Susan Barr, the professor of nutrition at the University of British Columbia has very strong opinion that it is a myth that in order to hydrate ourselves we need  to drink plain water . All kind of fluids count – juice, pop, beer, coffee, tea, soup.The water is also  in chicken,other meat, bread, fruits.
We should stop choking down 8 glasses of water as we are told to and start to take much more individualized approach to hydration. We are not the same, how much water we need depends on our diet, level of activities, how hot our environment is, our size and our health issue, not to mentioned personal preferences.
Listen to your body, people! Our body is telling us what it needs, we just stopped to listen. Very first, clear signal that we need to drink is thirst. If we are thirsty sip of water or other liquids feels simply very good. If you forcing water into you and it doesn’t taste good – just stop  drinking and don’t feel guilty about it. Remember – you don’t need to drink that much.

To make sure that your hydration is correct you can also watch your urine colour – it should be “moderate” yellow, almost like lemonade. The best is to look at it in the morning, just make sure that you did not take your evening multivitamins, as they might affect the colour.
If your urine is colourless — you are drinking more water than you need.
In that case, I assume, you also need to go to the bathroom few times at night. Wouldn’t that be nice to sleep through the night without those bathroom trips? Well, stop drinking that much!

Remember that when urinating very often you flashing all necessary minerals  ( which you probably supplemented few hours ago with pills) into the toilet . So, that how part of your money goes to the drain!

There is another myth about how drinking a lot of water is going to hydrate your skin – skin is the largest organ in our body and the last one where the water eventually will get – or rather not, as before it gets to the skin it will be eliminated via your bladder to the loo. So, not so much for the skin left – good moisturizer creme will do the trick and take care of your skin needs for hydration.

I found it also very interesting what Heinz Valtin, professor emeritus of physiology at the Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover N.H said about carrying a water becoming a “security blanket”.
As adults we became obsessed with good hydration, started to believe every written word without  questioning what we read, we forgot how to listen to our body.

Maybe it is time to question what we are told.