This month, Urban Retreat day spa at Harrods department store in London opens the doors to its Moroccan Hammam marocMaroc.
The women-only hammam is a joint partnership between Urban Retreat and marocMaroc, a Moroccan luxury skin care brand, and is hoped to solidify Urban Retreat’s position as 'London’s ultimate beauty destination', according to the spa.
A significant part of Moroccan culture for centuries, the hammam is a ritual for relaxation and deeply purifying the skin and body both from the inside and on the outside, as well as traditionally a place for socialising.
A hammam was planned for Urban Retreat upon its launch in 2002, but plans were put on hold due to structural implications in the basement of the store. In 2012 the fifth floor was to be redeveloped, allowing space for Urban Retreat to expand and build the hammam.
The spa will offer a range of traditional hammam treatments, involving a steam, cleansing with traditional black soap, exfoliation using a body scrub from the marocMaroc range, and a traditional stretching massage. There are also other treatments on offer, and a concept store retailing marocMaroc products as well as the traditional black soap and Kessa gloves used in the treatments, and exclusive bath robes and slippers.
The marocMaroc product range aims to reinterpret ancestral beauty customs through modern formulas, using ingredients such as argan and almond oils, rose, honey and natural waxes. Products include body scrubs, balms, bath oils and shower milk.
