Cleopatra's Beauty Secrets Revealed at New Buffalo's Holistic Salon

Rejuvenate.

Restore your mind, body and soul at this New Buffalo one-stop beauty spa that's definitely, deliberately different.

"Ambiance" is the word that comes closest to setting the New Buffalo Inn's health-and-beauty haven apart from the salons and spas that have come into vogue in this tiny resort town on the sunset side of Lake Michigan.

While the Inn's salon clients - locals and visitors alike - may come for the ambiance, they stay for the growing menu of incredibly relaxing, holistic health and beauty rituals the day spa offers to men and women from ages seven to seventy-nine.

And clients return time and time again, for the type of beauty-refreshing and spirit-restoring body-and-soul salon treatments that catapulted legendary Queen Cleopatra to fame and fortune.

Just steps from the white-sand dunes of New Buffalo Beach and the vast lake's clear, soothing waters, the New Buffalo Inn and its Women's Wellness Spa are clearly the place to be in any of western Michigan's fabulous four seasons.

The spa - not for women only anymore! - is fast becoming a favorite salon for anyone who relishes an hour of head-to-toe deep-tissue massage ... a skin-polishing sea-salt scrub ... a mineral-rich moor-mud bath ... or a candlelit, lunch-hour Chakra meditation that marries aromatherapy to stress-relieving time management techniques.

Step inside this quiet beige-and-sage enclave, remove your shoes and relax to the gentle, musical sounds of falling water from the wall and table fountains. Sip a cup of hot green tea and slip deeply into one of the plush sofas as your beauty specialist prepares your private room for the salon treatment of your choice.

There's no scent or hairspray or ammonia or nail polish to be found in this salon, no emphasis on hairstyles or clip-cuts in this popular New Buffalo spa. In fact, forget your hair-do, say spa advocates - it'll just get mussed, anyway, wrapped in a warm Turkish towel as estheticians press and pamper your stiff joints, aching muscles or stressed-out nerves in customized body massages.

For those who want special shared time with a significant other, the spa also offers couples' massages, guaranteeing you'll both emerge revitalized and relaxed.

Or choose the delightfully enticing "Goddess Weekend" retreat - an entire weekend of glorious health-and-beauty pampering in one of the Inn's private rooms.

There's also the popular "Soulmate Weekend" that draws busy professional couples from Chicago and Indianapolis to this lakeside retreat. Once here, they share one of the Inn's private rooms, and relax in the steamy hot tub after a full weekend of customized, spirit-lifting health and beauty care.

Now entering its fifth year, the Women's Wellness Spa at the New Buffalo in is operated by former registered nurse and medical massage therapist Lisa Werner. The holistic treatments don't just send clients off in a glow of beauty and relaxation, she says.

By relaxing muscles and energizing circulation, holistic health and beauty treatments dramatically ease stress-related pain and aches from repetitive movements, as well as easing discomforts from such complaints as arthritis, neuritis and even carpal tunnel syndrome.

Treatment is by appointment only, and the spa opens by 10 a.m. most days, although special times can be accommodated. The spa is open six days a week, Mondays through Saturdays. For more information, or to review the menu of spa offerings, call 269-469-3100, or visit their website at www.newbuffaloinn.com.