After the After Party

It’s wedding season. And apparently, it’s always party season. We Egyptians know the drill by now. You pre-party, you party-party, you after-party and then you hate yourself. You emerge from the admittedly enjoyable black hole into the harsh Cairo sunshine and try and navigate your way to your bedroom from the other side of town at 7AM, while people around you are just starting their days. Your eyes are red and puffy, your muscles ache from all that dancing, you might vomit at any moment and your skin is drier than the desert you seem to be lost in. You now have two options: you either go home in an attempt to hide your shame, end up crashing for 13 hours and having everyone figure out exactly what you were up to last night, or, you bravely go out in the world, trying to slot yourself into normal life, forgoing bed for a hearty breakfast and trying to stay alive until an appropriate time to go to sleep. Well, guess what? We’ve discovered a third way, that’ll solve all your post-party problems.

Imagine the destination of your walk of shame wasn’t your bedroom and having to face the mammoth task of navigating your floor-drobe and all the outfit choices you decided against last night before you can lay your thumping head on the pillow. Imagine your bawab didn’t have to see you at your absolute worst nor do you have to think of an encyclopedia of excuses when your mum asks you why you look like that. Imagine the end of your rampage resulted in you looking better than you did when you went out, in fact… Well, imagine no more. Willow Spa at the Fairmont Nile City is a veritable haven for partiers looking to save face with a facial and get the message with a massage.

The CairoScene girls headed over to the secluded spa, atop the hotel notorious for hosting a few wild nights itself, and felt immediately relieved. Dimly lit – in a good way; the same way sunglasses provide some much needed shade at a rave – and smelling like heaven itself, we felt the weight of last night’s embarrassments quickly lifted off our shoulders. Even the staff spoke so softly, their words caressed our ears which were still ringing from all that House. We were shown the relaxation area and promptly escorted to the changing rooms and slipped into fluffy robes and soft slippers and lounged around with some lemon tea, wondering if now was the chance, if any, to upload some selfies with #RichKids. We decided against that, and opted for a dip in the Jacuzzi instead. With loads of different settings (including multi-coloured LED lights for those who still the stomach for a party), we bubbled away for half an hour wondering if we could rent one for the office. The picture perfect treatment rooms were exactly what we needed: neutral, stylish, silent and plush and every surface we rested our weary bodies on was the perfect antidote for all our muscle pains.

Browsing the spa menu in itself was an experience as our eyes wondered from massages to body wraps and pedicures to scrubs. We took one look in the mirror and decided that facials were the way to go today. The therapists asked each of us about our skin types, rituals and any sensitivities before getting started and showed us the products they’d be working with. We opted for the 60 minute Radiance Facial as 30 minutes just wouldn’t cut it and we were looking far from radiant. Getting comfy required no effort and once we shut our eyes, we pretty much left our bodies and let the gentle hands whisk us away. We know this sounds like an exaggeration, but we literally dozed off into another dimension and our brains turned into clouds as the ritual went on, with product after product, scrub after scrub and steam upon steam. We emerged from our respective treatment rooms so dreamy and relaxed we basically forgot how to walk. When we met up again in the relaxation lounge, it was like last night never happened – we were fresh faced and bushy tailed…until the next night.

Find out more about Fairmont Nile City’s Willow Stream Spa on their Facebook page here.