Take a trip to the spa before you head off on holiday to prepare your face, feet and back for public view.

Yes, in many parts of the world it may still be too cold to step outside in anything less than three layers of insulation, but here in the UK the spring equinox has at least officially passed. This means that the beach is very much on the visible horizon (along with its attendant neuroses), and we can start the pleasant process of thinking about how to not embarrass ourselves on it, or indeed in any warm-weather, skin-baring situation. Of course, the most important thing you need to do on any kind of holiday is enjoy yourself – whatever you may happen to look like – but sorting out your skin, body and – ahem – toenails will certainly help you to feel a little bit more in that glowing, sun-kissed frame of mind when it comes to kicking back on the deck chair and/or gambolling about in the sea. With that in mind, scroll down for three tried-and-tested treatments that will get you in tip-top shape for your holiday, however soon it may be coming up.

In 2017, the meaning of the word “facial” is so foggy that you’d be forgiven for finding the whole prospect both daunting as well as, to be honest, a little bit silly. But there is one such treatment that we at MR PORTER can recommend without qualification, and that is the facial practised at Face Place, a brand first launched in West Hollywood in 1972 with both men and women in mind. What’s great about Face Place is that it’s less about relaxing muzak and pampering than it is about the results, which are instant and considerable. In fact, it’s refreshingly no-nonsense, according to the brand’s managing director Ms Eilidh Smith, who brought the treatment to the UK for the first time in 2015. “We use very little product,” she says. “Clients often tell us they leave other facials feeling like they want to wipe all the product off.”

The facial treatment consists of three simple steps incorporating a few active ingredients that deeply cleanse the skin and eliminate blemishes, starting with steaming and a gentle rolling extraction and finishing with a potent vitamin C and zinc compress that is applied to the face via a gentle galvanic electric current, to tighten the pores and leave the skin with a healthy glow. Among the problems it addresses are wrinkles, acne, rosacea and sensitivity. But it’s also a great way to generally freshen up your appearance before going away (or to a special event).

The Back Facial and Peel at Rosewood London spa costs £195 for 70 minutes. Face Place has locations in Los Angeles, New York and London. Find your nearest branch here.

For the majority of us outside the worlds of professional cycling and swimming who don’t wax and/or shave our legs and chests, ingrown hairs (and general dryness) in these areas can be a bit of a problem. You can avoid the chicken-skin effect, though, by treating yourself to a full-body exfoliation – that is, a scrub. This is a straightforward and fairly low-tech process that is offered by almost all spas and massage parlours you would care to visit. But our current favourite – for the sheer baroque-ness of it – is the scrub offered at London’s South Kensington Club, a members’ club with a Russian banya (or bathhouse) in the basement. According to the club’s wellness manager Ms Kalista Badenhorst, “the combination of a parenia (banya) treatment and honey and coffee scrub is particularly beneficial as both enhance blood flow and will leave you feeling invigorated”.

It begins with the utterly unique Dance of Leaves sauna treatment. This is a traditional procedure in which hot steam is propelled onto the body with wet oak or birch branches (you can choose), followed by a brief and invigorating plunge in an ice-cold pool. This not only softens and conditions the skin ready for exfoliation, but – as promised – gets the blood flowing furiously round your limbs, resulting in a natural feeling of euphoria and energy that is, in a word, incredible. The scrub itself, which we would advise you book for afterwards, is done with simple natural ingredients – ground coffee and honey “handcrafted by Latvian monks” – and leaves the skin all over your body soft, smooth and mildly moisturised (as well as smelling disarmingly delicious and strangely breakfast-y).

The Kamchatka Sunrise treatment (including the Dance of Leaves parenia experience and scrub) costs £72 for 90 minutes. Peruse the South Kensington Club’s wellness meu here.

This is the real danger zone. If you have an office job (or, actually, if you work at all, rather than just hanging out in bed), chances are you will spend most of the day with your feet covered, under a desk. This leaves little opportunity for you to remark upon their general condition, and makes it highly unlikely that you’ll even spare them a second thought. They’re so far away from your eyes, after all. But if you’re going to be ambling around a beach or pool in a pair of flip flops, it’s only common courtesy to save your fellow holidaymakers from the site of ingrown toenails, hard skin, callouses and all the other frightful things that can occur on a set of ill-attended toes. And if you’re not particularly well-informed as to how to sort out such problems, your best bet is to bite the bullet and go for a pedicure.

One of the more low-key options available is at the Cowshed, the Soho House-run spa found at most of the members’ club’s branches around the world. Here, the pedicure features not only nail filing, cuticle tidying and hard-skin removal, but massages for your legs and feet, then shoulders and scalp as the feet are wrapped and left to steam. Opting for this procedure (or the speedy version, if you don’t feel like sitting around) will not only improve the appearance of your feet, but, through the removal of hard skin on the soles, make you feel surprisingly light on them as you bound towards the ocean. Get it done a few days before you leave and, advises Cowshed’s training manager Ms Jessica Sproson, maintain them while you’re away by rubbing daily with a rich moisturiser or hand cream.

The Ultimate Cowshed Pedicure costs £70 for 75 minutes. Find your nearest Cowshed Spa here.

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