I Tried A $230 Spa Treatment — & Here’s What Happened

Let's be honest: After the holidays, there's very little to look forward to in the remaining months of winter. This is especially true when it comes to your beauty routine. Everything seems to flake and dry out, from your hair down to your toes. It's enough to make you want to sit in a vat of oil and never get out, am I right? Well, Moroccanoil's new treatment at the Trump SoHo in NYC will basically let you do that. The experience, called The Moroccan Ritual, takes place in Manhattan's first and (at press time) only luxury hammam. It goes a little something like this: You lie there naked — save for a bit of mesh covering your breasts and private parts — on heated marble, and are doused in warm water from head to toe. Your aesthetician then applies a scalp treatment, a body scrub, and more until you're so hydrated, you basically slip and slide out of the stone room. (Which, I have to add, is beautiful — it's filled with candles and mosaic. It's like something out of a dream.) I was offered the treatment on a very rainy day, so I didn't think I could feel moister than I did when I sloshed into the super-chic spa at the Trump SoHo. I was mostly excited about the scalp treatment. As great as I am at masking, exfoliating, and hydrating my body, my mane is lucky if it gets a mask slapped on it once a week. After I got comfortable being in the buff in front of a complete stranger, my aesthetician filled a basin with warm water and proceeded to pour it over me. This, surprisingly, felt incredible — like taking a bath without being submerged in water. I squirreled it away in my brain as a possible at-home treatment to compensate for the lack of acceptable bathtub in my apartment (#RenterProblems). She then heated up some of Moroccanoil's Scalp Treatment, an oil, and massaged it into my scalp. (Which, by the way, also felt incredible.) While the treatment was doing its thing, she scrubbed me down with the brand's Body Buff from head to toe. She followed this with another douse of warm water, and then massaged Moroccanoil's Body Butter into my limbs. Once my body was well-hydrated, she cleansed my hair, applied a mask, and rinsed. All of this was fantastic. And then, she asked me to sit up. "I'm going to splash some cold water on you," she said. Before I could register this information, she chucked a bowl of frigid water on me! I was so startled, my heart started racing. The chilly water is supposed to help tone your skin, but it was also a great way for me to snap back to reality and feel re-energized. A final spritz of Moroccanoil Dry Oil, and I was ushered out the door (with towel back on) and tucked into a Zen room with some tea. My hair and skin stayed ridiculously hydrated for days — even after a shower and shampoo two days later. I needed to slather on less body lotion and conditioner in order to feel silky-smooth, and the products I did use absorbed much faster than usual. At $230 a pop, the price for one of these treatments is pretty steep. But when you consider the fact that you're actually getting a three-in-one, it's a touch easier to justify (sort of). Honestly, though, I'm really looking forward to going back and giving the treatment a go during the unbearably cold days of winter. Anything that leaves me that hydrated is worth the splurge.