WARNING: This review is going to be long, so grab a cup of coffee, slip into your sweats, and sit down and enjoy the read.
Ok. I have very mixed feelings of my time spent at Ziyan. First let me get it off my chest - I will NEVER EVER UNDERSTAND a place that does any kind of bodywork or skin care and doesn't make their clients fill out any kind of health history forms.. I just can't believe it. This is the 2nd time I've been somewhere for a massage and wasn't required to come early or fill out any kind of paperwork.. I can't wrap my mind around it. It's unprofessional, it's dangerous, and it's irresponsible. There, I said it.
To give the best recount of my experience, I'm going to go through how it went from start to finish. I booked an express (30 minute) facial, and a 90 minute massage. I got there 5 minutes early (I was told I didn't need to come early) and was told to wait and that someone would be out to get me shortly. I waited for 10 minutes before someone came and got me. A girl (I wont mention her name) stopped about 12 feet away from where I was sitting and asked if I was Jessica, and told me I could come with her. No hand shake and I'm not sure why she didn't approach me more or introduce herself, but whatever. So to get to the spa, you have to walk through the hair salon and through a door into a separate area that is designated as the spa. You walk through a dark hallway with treatment rooms on both sides. I still didn't know who this girl was or whether I was getting a massage or a facial at this time. She led me into a room and asked me twice if I had been here before and if I had ever had a facial before (Ah, I'm getting a facial!), and both times I answered her. So she instructed me on what to do and told me she would step out while I got on the table, that I should let the steamer do it's thing on my face while I waited and that she'd be back in a few minutes. I laid there for almost 10 minutes before she came back in.. I was almost ready to get up off the table to go find someone. Once she did come back, she gave a good facial.. it was nice and relaxing and I enjoyed it for the most part. Towards the end, she told me she was going to let whatever she just put on my face set for about 8 minutes, and she did.. I literally laid there for 8 minutes with NO contact at all..I have no idea what she was doing, if she was even still in the room.. nothing. I just laid there.. waiting.. and waiting.. and waiting.. again, ready to get up and go find someone! Meanwhile, the atmosphere in the spa was really nice.. the music and lighting were both reasonable, except that it was SO NOISY. Here's a list of things I could hear..
-Pop music playing in the hair salon (even though there was spa music playing in the room)
-Water spraying (I assumed the hair washing stations were on the other side of the wall.. they were)
-People talking LOUDLY
-Doors slamming
-Someone cleaning their hot stones (I work in a spa, I know the sound well)
So basically, all of the noise and commotion made for a less than relaxing experience. Still, the facial was pretty good, other than the fact that we started late and I spent 8 of my 30 minutes just laying there.
When we were finished, she left the room and told me I could get dressed and meet her at the front desk. So that's what I did, and when I got to the desk, the girl sitting there asked me who I was, and just as I told her, my massage therapist walked out and told me to follow him, again with no hand shake or formal introduction or anything.. back through the hair salon, back through the spa, down the hall, passed the room I just came from, and into his treatment room.......... seems to me like there's a more efficient, client-friendly way to go about moving from service to service. The fact that I had to get redressed, walk back out to the front desk, just to go BACK to where I just came from and get re-undressed.. it kind of ruins the relaxation I'm going for.
Anyway, on to my massage. It was a good massage. In fact, it was really good. He took the time to ask me what areas I felt needed focused on, explained what I was supposed to do, and made it clear that I could tell him anytime I needed him to adjust something. So far, so good. So we got started, and he did a really good job. His pressure was good, his technique was good, and he did focus on what I mentioned before we started. At one point he was using hot stones which was an AWESOME touch, and he used hot towels as well which I also loved. The only thing I didnt love was that there were certain times when he just kept doing the same thing over.. and over.. and over.. and over.. and over............. and then over again. Don't get me wrong, what he was doing was good, but it was just too much of the same things for too long. Anyway, maybe that's just his style and the way he does things, and thats ok.. he did what I asked him to do and ultimately, I really enjoyed it. read more