Michaelene’s Hair Unlimited is in the midst of a metamorphosis to Michaelene’s Day Spa. There the client can take advantage of a myriad of technologically advanced beauty and relaxation treatments.

With the advancement of home permanents and coloring, Ms. Mattson said that today’s spas need to offer the consumer something they can’t get at home or from the neighborhood woman running a beauty shop in her basement.

She said, "American women don’t take time to pamper themselves, unless they go to a spa in a resort area." She also said that American women often wait until it is too late and try to "fix" themselves after the damage is done instead of preventing it in the first place.

At the day spa, Ms. Mattson said there is more emphasis on a day of relaxing and something different than just the necessary cut and curl.

She said one of the popular technologies available will be mud baths and use of a Vichy shower system in what she referred to as a "wet room." This will be used for hydromassage and removal of the "mud" after mud baths. They will also have a therapeutic pool and will offer mud wraps or body wraps to firm and take off inches temporarily.

Other services the spa will offer will be massage therapy, waxing for hair removal, pedicures, micro-abrasion or mini facelifts or skin peels.

With the additional services being offered at the spa, different "hairdressers" will also be trained to specialize in other functions for which they have been or will be schooled.

She said that with the addition of spa services, more people are giving "a day of beauty" to a loved one as a gift.

The day spa will include traditional beauty shop services, many of which are being upgraded with new technologies.

One area that technology has improved is the use of a color machine that cuts processing time on hair coloring from the previous 45 minutes to an hour to something around 5 to 10 minutes. She said that the new products are creamier and softer on the hair.

In addition, they can offer things like a permanent eye liner which she equated as similar to a tattoo, permanent color for eye lashes, and that they now have permanent waves for eye lashes that can last from one to two months.

Ms. Mattson sees advancements in the use of the computer but has not yet developed her own Web site. However, she uses the computer to find products and for people to be able to find her as a source for certain products. Prospective customers may currently locate her through referrals from other sites, such as www.intercoiffure.net.

Ms. Mattson said that she has seen improvements in the beauty business with advancing technology, in the spa equipment, but also in the nature of the products offered. She said, "There are better products that give better results."

Manufacturers have removed ingredients that were harmful to the environment or the consumer. Perms are better for the hair and actually condition the hair. She said, "It used to be that if you bleached the hair, you only went so far or it broke. Now you can color your hair, and if you change your mind you can color it back."

She said that modern hairdressers have to be more knowledgeable and better trained about products (and possible conflicts between products). Ms. Mattson said, "In fact, we do a lot of corrective work because as people get more gutsy and try more things at home, they also make more mistakes."