Two. Two. Two therapists at once.
With four hands working on you at once, synchronized, sliding on essential oil-slicked pathways from your toes to your neck, its almost impossible to think. You have no choice but to vacate your crowded mind and submit. The pressure of hands moving constantly from all directions overwhelms your ability to focus on any one spot. Where one therapist may do battle with isolated knots and spasms, two therapists can steamroll the entire rocky terrain.
Lori Pastore designed the Ame Spa and Salon with an Asian theme. In part because the spa business has become so competitive - there are now more than 12,000 spas in this country - that you have to come up with something new and different if you want to survive. But also because, for as long as she can remember, shes been smitten with Japanese culture.
"My father is probably turning in his grave," says Pastore, who was raised Roman Catholic. But he also told her to follow her dreams, so she figures he must also be proud of her.
The 48-year-old hairstylist opened the Ame Spa and Salon in Wayne five years ago, hoping to create a holistic sanctuary. "I like to do things that are different," Pastore said. "But I wont do anything thats just a gimmick."
The spas signature service is "the AMEzing Jo-Jo."
Named sweetly, if un-Asian-ly, for Pastores nephew, who "worked incredibly hard on the room," the AMEzing Jo-Jo is a combination of tub soak and the four-handed massage.
Before building the spa, Pastore had run a small salon in King of Prussia for 10 years. On vacations, she would visit spas out west. The renowned - Canyon Ranch, Golden Door - and the niche - Kenwood and Sonoma Mission Inn.
"There is a difference in the spas out there," she said. "Eastern philosophy is more prevalent."
While her hair salon did well and expanded from two to eight stylists, she said she felt "boxed in."
