3000BC WellMed Spa in Chestnut Hill a Place for Zen Relaxation and Pampering
Story, photos by Cassie Hepler
Chestnut Hill in Philadelphia has a gem that is not so hidden away.
3000BC was founded in 1992 by Korin Korman as a result of her MBA thesis at the Wharton Business School. During her research, she discovered that Egyptians had fully developed the use of essential botanical oils in and around the year 3000 B.C.
In 1993, 3000BC began to provide services as a testing ground for its name sake product line. The flagship spa established a cult following that enabled the relocation of the flagship. In 2008, 3000BC became 3000BC WellMed Spa merging the world of wellness and the world of medicine, with the addition of FDA approved products to our botanical line.
3000BC offers the ultimate well-being of body, mind and spirit through its advanced skincare and body treatments based on the tradition of the timeless art of aromatherapy and a therapeutic collection of medical grade FDA approved skincare. 3000BC skincare products are a unique and comprehensive botanical and clinical line which specialize in high-performance skincare products to suit at home and professional facial and body treatments. This botanical and clinical line of products provides the essential elements required for fulfilling experience – therapeutic value, luxuriating qualities and purity.
New to 2017 is chakra cleansing services, clearing your energy centers of any debris that no longer serves you which incorporates the relaxing, healing power of reiki, which uses gentle touch to transmit life-force energy. This boosts your systems’ ability to clear, release and renew. This treatment is excellent for stress relief, emotional detoxification and overall restoration. Clients remain fully clothed and no oil is applied.
We came to check it out on a Tuesday afternoon, when the sun was just beginning to peek out again after some wicked rain storms.
The 7th Generation VISIA Complexion Analysis System delivers a significantly improved experience for aesthetic and skin care consultations. A newly designed capture module rotates smoothly around the subject, greatly simplifying the imaging process while providing greater comfort for the client. Updated software allows faster image capture with automatic skin type classification, refined facial feature detection and more.
First time skincare clients are offered a complementary Visia Skin Analysis prior to the skincare treatment with the licensed medical esthetician. Based off your Visia results, the esthetician is able to provide you a customized skincare plan with both service and product recommendations that are best suited for you. Returning clients are encouraged to view a side-by-side comparison and quantitative analysis of their Visia scan.
“The plans for the Inhalation Room are actually to convert it into an injectible and filler room. We’ve hired one of the TOP injecible nurses in the area to provide Botox, Juvederm, Belotero and MORE to new and existing clients,” said Jennifer Miller, 3000BC Marketing & Sales Director. “Also, we are really excited about adding the Syneron-Candela elos Plus machine. It provides IPL Advanced, Sublime Skin Contouring, Sublative and PAIN FREE Laser Hair Removal!”
Since the Visia Skin Analysis machine just broke that morning (of course, my luck!) we started off with a facial with esthetician Melissa, above. I was told to unrobe to my waist (or beyond, if I felt so inclined) and get under the blankets which I did after some social media posts. She then came in and began steaming my face to open up my pores. We did the signature facial and I asked for extractions specifically which is just a fancy talk for pop my pimples, please. As I had eaten a lot of dairy for a previous story, I had some doozies. (And apparently dairy is a culprit as is smoking cigarettes, which I don’t do). We took care of that which is not the most fun part and it does hurt sometimes but well worth it. Melissa also told me to make sure if you DIY at home to get rid of the “plug” that happens just after popping a pimple, meaning there is more to pop. It’s gross, I know but will come back with a vengeance otherwise she warned!
Then we scrubbed, exfoliated with the magic potion further above in the story, lots of hot towels, some warm glass balls to massage the face and shoulders, then a wasabi mask (I knew that smell and suggested wasabi guacamole to eat… I wonder if you can put that on your face?) Then it began to burn a bit so she brought out cooling glass balls and rolled them around my face until my skin calmed down. We let that sit a while and finished up the facial from there.
I heard her mixing up something and it was the tint for my eyebrows and lashes, I was super excited because being blonde I do have lots of eyelashes and eyebrows – you just can’t see them. So she did the brows first, then put some Vasoline under my eyes and did the lashes. They were fine and couldn’t feel a thing until we started wiping them off then the burning that soon subsided was well worth it when I looked in the mirror and saw for once I had eyelashes and eyebrows, with no make up on. We used dark brown for the brows and blue black for the lashes since they are hardest to tint! My face was glowing and I was happy as a clam.
Then onto the massage after some hot tea. I love a good massage and am now a connoisseur of sorts due to my back issues. Nicole (who was camera shy and well as shy) led me back upstairs with my teacup and asked about my preferences. I explained my scoliosis fusion was an off-limits zone and we went in for the 50 minute Swedish massage (but I told her she can go hard). She was strong but gentle and her flowing movements helped me relax instantly. It was lovely but felt too rushed. I always recommend getting an hour and a half to two hour massage to get full benefits and if you can hack it, deep tissue is the best. Usually you get to pick your scent as well but we were on a tight schedule and I liked all the options anyway!
When we were finished, I did not want to get up. And that’s the whole point of a spa day, isn’t it? It felt like the longest ride ever back home to Manayunk but when I got in bed, there was no better feeling in the world. And my skin the next morning? Glowing! I have a feeling we’ll be back…
