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We started our search with one of the ladies who we’ve covered in the ‘People’ section in the past, Christine Halliwell, known mostly just as ‘Haddie’.   If you follow the link to her page you’ll see her described as a Beauty Therapist and one of the things she talked about when we interviewed her was the use of Hopi candles.  Having heard of someone who had been to her for this, we decided to do a hands on (well ‘ears on’ actually) investigation for the sake of this article. Before we embarked on this she took full health notes and before and after treatment she inspected both ears and recorded her findings. It appeared a very professional approach (as the certificates on her wall would confirm).  If you Google ‘Hopi Candles’, you’ll find Amazon comes up early in the search list and on the Amazon page you’ll  find a picture of a girl having this treatment. So yes, we went along to Haddie to try this. She has a very professional and light and airy room for her work and when you lie on your side she takes and lights one of these ‘candles’ and gently presses it into your ear where it takes a little over ten minutes to burn down to a given marker while she holds it in position. Readers of Wikipedia will find very negative comments about ear candling but therapists such as Haddie will give you testimony after testimony of its effects. The idea, we believe, is that the hot air of the candle and the oil or herb fumes of the candle, which is in fact a tube, dissolves and draws up the ear wax into the lower part of the tube, which is clearly visible when the remainder of the tube is later unravelled. Without a doubt I seemed to be able to hear more clearly after it. In Haddie’s case the procedure, which lasts about twenty five minutes is followed by a further twenty minutes of gentle face and neck massage around the sinus passages, a thoroughly relaxing and pleasant experience. For twenty pounds it may be more than many would like to pay (but not when you compare it to many other beauty treatments.)

In the centre of Rochford, in the Square, is Sunshack Tanning Salon, one of the two tanning or sun-bed salons in the town. Never having done this before we decided for the sake of this article, we’d better give this a try. We had met Amber before when we interviewed her at the beginning of 2011 but on the occasion of our visit, her mother, Marlene, was holding the fort while Amber followed her other occupation of dog trimming. Marlene was careful to take me through all the health and safety warnings about sun-tanning and ex plained all about it. Five minutes on a ‘regular’ bed would be advisable and then see how I get on.  Left in a tanning room on my own, together with two eye covers, one simply undresses and, presses the activate button which turns the lights of the ‘bed’ on, lies on the ‘bed’ and then with eyes covered pull the lid down to close the bed. Possibly not very good for the claustrophobic but as your eyes are covered, it’s fine. Lying there with eyes closed, sensing a feeling of warmth, I counted seconds until I heard the light go off and pushed the cover up and redressed. Easy! Having been in both Salons talking to the proprietors a couple of times, my impression is that there are a number of people who regularly come in for a course of sessions. The testimony is of a sense of health and well-being created by this sort of treatment. Four pounds for a five minute session is a reasonably affordable treatment which becomes slightly cheaper if you buy a series of sessions.

If you go to the Golden Cross shops you will find The Sun Lounge where, for a similar treatment, £3.90 will buy you six minutes, slightly cheaper. However the Sun Lounge also focuses on a wide range of beauty treatments including enhancement of lips, eyelashes, and cosmetic teeth whitening, wrinkle reduction, skin rejuvenation etc. For some of these things you are talking serious money - permanent eyelash changes £300 to £595, treatment of frown lines and crows feet £195 to £340, and so on - but ladies, if you can get the man in your life to give you a nice birthday or Christmas present, it won’t be a problem! Get him to go and have a tanning session to overcome his inhibitions!

While we’re still up at Golden Cross, tucked away at the rear of Hedingham Place is Visage  who convey a very stylish and professional approach to pure beauty treatments (see a sample of their brochure on their page) with prices ranging from £4 or £5 up to say £50 depending on which single treatment you were looking for. Very reasonable prices, it seemed to us - if you can afford this sort of thing. Visage offer gift vouchers and will also arrange Pamper Evenings. Visage seems to emphasise ongoing courses of treatment and the outcomes of peace, tranquility and relaxation.

At the top end of Ashingdon, Bliss are a combination of hairdressing and beauty treatments, with a very straight forward price list for single treatments on a comparable price list to Visage.

Located in the new centre of Rochford in a very new and clean looking building, Diamond Beauty covers Massage & Body Treatment, Fish Spar Pedicures (with two Garra Rufa fish tanks), Fake Bake Tanning  Treatments, Makeup and Facials, Waxing, Manicures and Pedicures, Nail Enhancements, Eyelash treatments and line reduction, and ear piercing.

Well these are the people you’ll find here on Rochford Life. (If you know of others that we haven’t covered it’s simply because they’ve declined our contacts. We’re always willing to add others although we believe we’ve covered most.)  In terms of physical well-being, if you want to make use of sun tan beds, it will probably depend on which one is nearest to where you live. The same will probably be true of the various places offering beauty treatments, with slightly different emphases creating slightly different ranges of treatment and price. Our advice? Go and try one and see if you like the feel of what you receive. If not, move on and try another; we’re spoilt for choice.

Now we have focused on physical well-being  but it may be that the well-being you seek could be spiritual or mental. If you suffer ongoing depression we assume you will have consulted your own doctor. However if you are anxious about something that has a specific focus, may we remind you we have a page of Useful Telephone Numbers with a specific range of Helplines you may find useful.  In a more general way, any of the churches in Rochford and Ashingdon will provide a listening ear and you can find contact numbers on the church pages of Rochford Life. We are told that the new shop Number One hopes to shortly be providing local debt counselling and a listening ear for those who want it - watch their windows.  Of course, THE source of support knowledge must come from the Citizens Advice Bureau who have a whole host of people just waiting to help you.  

Here on Rochford Life we are always want to provide whatever help we can here online, and for those who struggle with low self esteem, a visit to our Life Coaching Pages might be helpful, while those who are new parents might find a visit to our Parenting Pages of use. If you are someone who struggles with their feelings of inadequacy in respect of their education, then a visit to our ‘Becoming a Learner’ Pages might be of help.   If you would like to simply exercise your mind regularly, then our Quiz Pages are here to help you do that. (We do have plenty of other ‘recreational pages’ for light reading and relaxation.)

Well this is Rochford, and this is Rochford Life. We hope you enjoy your town and we hope you enjoy and make use of the pages that you’ll find here on Rochford Life. See you next month.

Health & Well-being in Rochford

One of the things we have said again and again in Rochford Life over the months, is that so often we just haven’t a clue about so much of what goes on in Rochford and Ashingdon. This has been especially true after deciding on the subject of this month’s review article. What was difficult was knowing where to set the boundaries for this article. ‘Health’ suggest we talk about the doctors of the area or maybe fitness centres - perhaps some time in the future - so we’re really focusing on well-being, the various providers of things in Rochford that go towards helping us feel good (no, it’s not about restaurants or pubs - again we’ll cover them at some future date!) The word ‘beauty’ is going to appear more than once but we are not focusing just on beauty because that would exclude all our male readers, but we will mention the beauty things along the way.