The posh treatment rooms at Kahala Spa, located in The Kahala Hotel & Resort on Oahu, a few minutes outside Waikiki, feel more like Balinese bungalows than spa treatment rooms. Each private room boasts 550 square feet of space complete with spacious bathtub, lounge area, landscaped courtyard, and soft lighting and relaxing music that add to the luxurious experience.
And now the spa is exclusively offering Rice Force, an extremely popular Japanese skin care line and matching facial treatment. Kahala Spa is currently the only place outside of Japan where these products are available for purchase; and the the new rice facial ($220 for 60 minutes) is only offered there; it’s not even offered in Japan yet!
Rice Force was developed by a 150-year-old sake brewery, the owner of which holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural Science. He noticed that, regardless of age, the craftsmen who worked in the sake brewery all had beautiful hands. This led to researching rice and developing its extract, which resulted in this product line.
The facial starts off with a cleansing and exfoliation. Next, the Rice Force products are applied. It’s a mild treatment, not abrasive or aggressive. The long, smooth strokes are relaxing—particular with the soft music and mingling smells of papaya and mango from the June Jacobs line the spa also uses. During the facial, the technician massages all those muscles that tense up at work—your neck, shoulders, and forearms. “You’re tight,” the technician said to me, as she dug her thumb into my right shoulder blade. “You work too hard.”
The facial ends with a quick foot massage—to revive you—and a hot towel on your back. After a quick shower, you can head outside to a lounge area, equipped with a glass of tropical iced tea and cooling tradewinds that you can feel on your renewed cheeks.
The Kahala Spa is located at The Kahala Hotel & Resort, 5000 Kahala Ave; 808.739.8938.
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