What is it?
Two hours of relaxing body treatments at the Clarins Spa in Causeway Bay. A Vichy shower is a so-called rain bar. The seven heads can provide either a light rain massage or a higher pressure to target areas that are tense. The shower bed is an oval in the centre of a large tiled room that could be confused with a torture chamber if not for the essential oil aromas and calming spa music - and that the treatment is far from unpleasant. It's really a large bathroom, with the shower heads above the bed on a long bar. First, the therapist scrubs you with salts, then the shower begins: 10 minutes each on the front and back. As the water falls, the therapist gives you a full body massage.
What was it like?
I wasn't convinced. After all, a shower is a shower. But the sensation is not unlike standing under a waterfall while someone you can't see (a towel is hung in front of your face to stop the water splashing into your eyes) rubs and kneads your muscles and joints. You're naked except for a pair of quite useless paper knickers, so forget any modesty and just enjoy the soothing sensation. I nearly fell asleep. During the body wrap, the therapist also massages your scalp and feet. After the wrap, there's another shower - this time a normal stand-up kind - so the product can be rubbed into your skin. But there's more. The therapist then applies a body moisturiser suited to your skin type.
What was good about it?
The scrub gives you an energised, tingling feeling, before the massage and shower send you into an extended state of calm. The body wrap was a bonus (my skin was noticeably revived the next day). It's meant to be a fast-track detox and helps drain lymph glands, but I can't vouch for that.
What wasn't so good?