ESSENCE
Plymouth has a one of a kind salon called Essence Spa and Salon. Owned by Julie Sweeney, this fully functioning spa and salon that features a Himilayan salt room, sauna, and a tanning salon among the classic aspects of a salon.
Currently, Sweeney’s favorite place in the salon is the Himilayan salt room. The salt room is wall-to-wall Himilayan salt, with chairs, beds and benches. “First people take their shoes off,” says Sweeney, “We have chairs and niches for people. Some people bring in books; some people bring in their earbuds. The feet have large pores and so do your hands, so you can put your feet on the heated domes and hold salt in your hands to experience the full benefits. As salt warms up it reloads positive and negative ions which gives us the benefit of breathing better among a million other things. People who have arthritis or joint pain like to come in and lay on the bed and just breathe.”
Sweeney wants to ensure that all of the benefits found in Essence are affordable to the community. “All of our prices are Plymouth pricing; I want everyone to be able to come here and enjoy. I don’t want to sit empty. We’re going to have so many activities in the back like customer appreciation barbecues in the summer,” says Sweeney.
“We’re not just a spa and salon we are also focusing in on health and wellness. We have dry brushing, Bemers, and a conference room for different activities,” explains Sweeney.
Sweeney doesn’t plan to stop now. Sweeney has big plans for the coming year. In the spring, Essence Spa and Salon will feature a float tank. Sweeney states, “Float tanks are essentially a gigantic jacuzzi filled with medical grade epsom salt. Have you ever heard a mom or a grandparent say ‘just soak it?’ Salt is heavier than your body so basically you just get in there and float. Float tanks are amazing for athletes of all ages. Float tanks promote healing, pain relief, better sleep, stress relief, and increased focus and concentration. Float tanks obviously aren’t only limited to athletes. The best thing about it is float tanks are for all ages. We can have people from five to eighty five enjoy these benefits. It’s all just very zen and calming.”
Staff members of Essence include massage therapists Jessica Sliter, Angie Holstein, and Pam Mahler-Lee, estheticians Jessica Sliter and Amy Guerra, nail technician Amy Guerra, aromatherapist Elizabeth Borys, and hair stylists Melissa Ferguson, Courtney Dubie, Candice Gomez, Karissa Duff, Chrisa Eastburn, Cailee Brummett, and Katelyn Vervynckt. Guerra as well as Sliter are also licensed for the new trend of “sugaring.”
Sweeney is a huge advocate for supporting local businesses. “All of us girls are very passionate about helping people. I think it is very important to support local business. Everything we have done we’ve done locally. We got all of our paint from town, our tile in town and our printing at Bowen Printing. 100 percent we want to support everyone here, and we hope that they will also support us in turn,” explains Sweeney.
Sweeney concludes, “I want this to be for the community, a business for the good of the community. There’s something here for everybody. We have kids doing their homework in the salt room, high school girls coming to get their date night hair done, and women coming for a me day. I want people to come in and be happy and healthy. We are all very passionate about helping people in every way we can.”
Essence can be found at 1101 E Jefferson in Plymouth or on their Facebook page.