Anna McCormack tries a royal Indonesian treatment at the newly opened Maven Spa in Al Wahda Mall.
The promise
The Javanese Lulur is one of the herbal body scrubs offered by Maven Spa, the day spa located in the Al Wahda Mall extension. A traditional beauty ritual used to spoil the bride during the week leading up to her wedding in the royal courts of Java, it promises to smooth and rejuvenate the skin and elevate the mood.
Step-by-step
We follow our therapist down a long hallway to a small but fully kitted-out treatment room where we are left to undress and put on the ever-present disposable underwear, a shower cap and cover ourselves up with a rather lovely and soft sarong. After a knock on the door to let our therapist know we’re ready, we lie face down on the treatment table. First of all, our therapist gives us a quick all-over back massage that helps to relax us and work out some tension before the scrub. Beginning with our legs, our skin is moistened with fresh milk that is at body temperature before the scrub is applied. The scrub is made with a rice flour base and has tropical magnolia, ginger and turmeric mixed in. It is a gentle scrub, but definitely does the job on our scaly skin. Our therapist rubs the mixture into our limbs, back and torso until it dries and clumps together and we can feel little lumps of it patter down onto our hands. Once we are fully scrubbed, our therapist informs us that the treatment is over, turns on the small shower in the corner of the room and leaves us to wash, dry and get dressed again.
The results
Our skin is incredibly smooth and velvety to the touch. This is probably the best scrub that we’ve had outside of a hammam and a very rough mitt.
Pros
The spa is in a great location and the staff are extremely friendly. The treatment was thorough and enjoyable, and was reasonably priced. The spa is pleasantly functional and is somewhere to go when you need a treatment, rather than wanting to spend a day pampering yourself.
Cons
This is a no-frills kind of place, though it is nicely decorated and very professional, some might be put off by the lack of facilities offered in more high-end spas – there are no lockers or changing rooms, no fluffy robes and no relaxation area with magazines and loungers. Some might also find it uncomfortable to walk around a mall after a spa treatment.
3/5
Javanese Lulur body scrub costs Dhs330 for 60 minutes. Maven Spa, Al Wahda Mall extension, Hazza Bin Zayed Street (02 443 3700).
