After the school holidays (like most mums!) I was feeling depleted. My hair had lost its shine, my skin was crying out for hydration and my pelvic floor was, well, let’s just say it wasn’t top of my priority list during the summer chaos. So I decided I needed a September reset.
And not the kind involving a brutal 5am wake-up call to drink green juice and meditate before the school run. I wanted something more realistic: three treatments, a bit of pampering and hopefully the return of my pre-school holiday glow.
And because I like to make life unnecessarily challenging, I decided to see if I could dash around Belgravia and fit all three into one beauty-filled afternoon.
Can You Fit Three Beauty Treatments Into One Belgravia afternoon?
Stop one: shiny, bouncy hair at Neville Beauty
First up was a blow-dry at Neville Beauty, where the lovely Justina took my post-summer hair in hand.
Before the blow-dry, she gave my hair an Epres bond repair treatment, which was very welcome after weeks of kent-coast sunshine, sea swimming and generally treating my hair like it was indestructible. It instantly felt like it had been given a bit of TLC, with more shine and a smoother, healthier feel.
Then came the blow-dry. Justina gave me exactly what I was after: bouncy movement that could withstand the afternoon of rushing around ahead.
The salon experience itself was a treat. I could sit down, switch off and let someone else deal with my hair for a change, which, as a mum, is arguably a luxury treatment in itself.
One treatment down. Two to go.
Stop two: The Egyptian Facial at Dr David Jack
Next, I dashed over to Dr David Jack for the Egyptian Facial with Anna.
The Egyptian Facial is a 30-minute, multi-step treatment inspired by Cleopatra’s beauty rituals, and it is designed to brighten, smooth and hydrate the skin. It starts with a deep cleanse before moving on to a bespoke fruit-acid peel, which can include lactic, mandelic and azelaic acids depending on what your skin needs.
The next step was dermaplaning. Using a surgical blade, the treatment gently removes the top layer of dead skin cells and those fine vellus hairs, leaving the skin beautifully smooth and helping subsequent skincare to penetrate more effectively.
Anna then applied a nourishing vitamin treatment, followed by a lymphatic drainage massage. It was a great combination of feeling like I was having a proper facial while also knowing there was some serious skin prep going on.
Anna had already pointed out that my skin was in need of hydration, so the whole treatment felt particularly well timed. By the end, my skin felt plumped, fresh and considerably more hydrated, with that lovely post-facial glow that makes you briefly wonder whether you should cancel your entire make-up collection.
There can be a little redness immediately afterwards, but the clinic says this generally settles within around an hour, and there is minimal downtime.
The facial was incredibly soothing and left my skin feeling much more hydrated and looking fresh and glowy. Anna was lovely throughout, and the whole treatment gave me that rare opportunity to lie down somewhere quiet while someone else concentrated on making me look less tired. I emerged with considerably more glow than when I went in.
Stop three: the Tesla Former at Geneviv Longevity Clinic
My final stop was Geneviv Longevity Clinic, where I tried the Tesla Former. And if the first two appointments had been about getting my hair and skin back on track, this one was about addressing something considerably less glamorous but arguably much more important: my pelvic floor.
If you haven’t heard of the Tesla Former, it is a rather clever bit of kit that uses Functional Magnetic Stimulation (FMS) to make your muscles contract. And when I say contract, I mean really contract. The electromagnetic pulses stimulate the motor neurons deep within the muscles, creating what are known as supramaximal contractions, which are much more intense than the contractions we can voluntarily produce ourselves.
The best bit? You don’t have to do a single squat.
For a mum who has spent years being told to remember her pelvic floor exercises, the idea of lying back while a machine does the hard work was, frankly, quite appealing.
A typical Tesla Former session lasts around 30 minutes and can produce tens of thousands of muscle contractions. Geneviv says the technology can be used not only for muscle toning and definition but also for physiotherapy and rehabilitation, including pelvic floor therapy.
The sensation is a little bit unusual, but not painful. You can feel the muscles being activated and contracting, with the intensity adjusted during the treatment, but there is no needles, heat or recovery period involved. Geneviv describes the treatment as non-invasive and says you can get straight back to your day afterwards.
For me, this was the appointment that made me think about my beauty reset slightly differently. Yes, I wanted shiny hair and glowing skin, but feeling stronger and doing something about an issue that had been quietly bothering me felt like an equally important part of looking after myself.
Did I complete my Belgravia beauty reset challenge?
I did. Three treatments, three locations and one mum attempting to speed-walk around Belgravia without ruining her freshly blow-dried hair.
And actually, having everything so close together made the whole thing really easy to fit into one afternoon.
The biggest win was that each treatment tackled a different part of my post-school-holiday slump. Neville Beauty brought the shine and bounce back to my hair, Dr David Jack gave my skin the hydration and glow it desperately needed, and Geneviv Longevity Clinic gave me the chance to focus on my pelvic floor and longer-term wellbeing.
Did I leave feeling completely transformed? No. I still had approximately 47 things on my mum to-do list. But I did feel fresher, more polished and, importantly, like I’d spent a few hours doing something for myself. And after the school holidays, I’ll take that as a win.
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