Hotel Saint Louis (705 Olive), a renovation of a Louis Sullivan building, opened its doors back in December of last year, but the hotel has kept busy with the addition of its Form Skybar on March 4 and the debut of its street-level full-service spa.
The spa’s services range from manicures to haircuts to cannabidiol-infused massages and facials. It was the latter that piqued my interest.
Your guide to a healthier, happier you
Sign up for the St. Louis Wellness newsletter and get practical tips for a balanced, healthy life in St. Louis.
One of the spa’s massage therapists assured me, “No, you don’t get high.” With the spa’s CBD Infused Signature Massage, first you get a drop of the oil on your tongue. Then balms and serums sourced from CBD Kratom and Kactus Kush are massaged into your skin. Given the already relaxing properties of a massage, adding the oils makes for complete serenity.
The equally relaxing facial, CBD Infused High Frequency Express Facial, begins with a double cleanse using milk and honey to help with dry skin and glycolic citrus cleanser for age-defying properties. Next GlycoSolution 5% is brushed on the skin. Rich in amino acids and glycolic acid, it helps restore the skin’s pH.
Then a hydrating mask infused with CBD Beauty Serum from Kactus Kush is placed over your face and is gently massaged over with a high-frequency electrotherapy facial tool.
“This helps put oxygen back in your face and hydrate your skin,” says Kelsey Saunders, a licensed esthetician at The Spa at Hotel Saint Louis. “It helps reduce acne and prevent future acne. It also helps with scarring, hyperpigmentation, and it’s antibacterial and anti-inflammatory.”
Saunders says the treatment is good if you tend to have a lot of acne. “Also, if you’re worried about fine lines or wrinkles, it help reduces those as well.”
For someone who may want to try a skin-care service like this, but doesn’t know where to start, Saunders advises, “You should always have a cleanser, a moisturizer, and a sunscreen or sunblock.”
But she says to take baby steps: “At your first appointment you should always start with a good cleanser. Make sure you’re getting your skin cleansed every night, removing makeup before bed. Next time that person comes in we can build up on their regimen and get them the moisturizer, then the sunblock. You should always cleanse, moisturize, and exfoliate—and of course always wear your sunscreen.”
The spa also offers a signature facials customized to each skin type, a detox facial that nourishes the skin with Vitamin C, lemon, and pumpkin, and a mini facial that moisturizes in a shorter amount of time. Massages range from hot stones to mud wraps to milk and honey body scrubs.
As for overdoing your skin care? Saunders says you can never over-cleanse or over-moisturize—but you can over-exfoliate.
