Monday 25th July 2011, 11:12pm
CROUCH End is not the most convenient of London locations. But when your motivation for going there is a facial with Su-Man, the vagaries of north London transport fade into irrelevance.
Originally from Taiwan, Su-Man Hsu (pictured) was a professional dancer before retiring and focusing on massage. Her house is a haven of impeccable feng shui. You pad through it in slippers to her garden where a holistic shed awaits.
Su-Man runs a camera over your face, showing in grisly detail follicles, dryness and sun damage on a laptop screen.
Then, off comes your top, and down you lie on her table. Here’s where the best facial of my life begins, with a violent but sensational chest massage (“I look at the whole body, you can’t just do the face”), and a powerful pummelling of my face’s pressure points (and then some), in conjunction with the application of serums and fianlly, a sea plant mask. While it dries, she has at my feet. This is holistic work in action.
My favourite bit was the robust eye socket massage: you see streaks of light in your shut eyes as your brow bone is pressed and worked. Wonderful.
An hour flies by: but a week later, my skin is glowing and alive in a wholly new way. Crounch End: here I come again soon. 90 mins facial massage is £120. To book, emailsu-man@blueyonder.co.uk