LYNNWOOD – The city of Lynnwood wants people who pay to get their bodies scrubbed to feel confident in the person who’s doing it.
Dan Bates / The Herald
Toward that end, the city is proposing a special license for people who do “body scrubs,” a skin exfoliation treatment practiced in spas. The City Council could approve the ordinance requiring the license at its meeting today at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 19100 44th Ave. W.
The issue arose when Olympus Spa, a business run by a Korean family and based in Lakewood south of Tacoma, applied to open a spa in Lynnwood.
Owner Sun Lee plans to open the spa in the strip mall next to the Lynnwood Convention Center by the end of August.
While masseuses in this state are required by the state Department of Health to have a license for their practice, skin scrubbers are not, said Vicki Heilman, assistant finance director for the city of Lynnwood.
Olympus Spa is a legitimate operation, Heilman said. But such may not be the case for all others in the future, she said.
“It’s for the protection of the client,” Heilman said. “It allows us to do a background check on the attendants and managers.” The Lynnwood ordinance is modeled after one in the city of Lakewood, where Olympus is located, Heilman said.
The scrubbing practice is a 2,000-year-old Korean tradition, Lee said. The body is soaked, and then scrubbed from head to toe with a towel.
Some clients also opt for having their bodies moisturized with milk, honey and olive oil, with sliced cucumbers placed over the face for 25 to 35 minutes. The body scrub itself costs $45, the moisturizing $50.
The practice is routine in Korea, common among Korean women around the world, and is becoming increasingly popular, according to Lee.
Jami Roberts, owner of the Moda Hair Cafe and Day Spa in downtown Edmonds, says her staff also offers a full-body exfoliation treatment. She said those who administer the treatment are licensed as “aestheticians” by a separate state agency, the Department of Licensing. They can also do massage above the shoulders and waxing, Roberts said.
To get their license, they’re required to do 1,600 to 2,000 hours at a beauty school, Roberts said. Nine salons in the state are licensed as schools, including hers, Roberts said.
“I get inspected because I’m a school,” she said.
Olympus, in business since 1997, draws customers from around the Northwest and even the nation, Lee said. Many of its customers come from King and Snohomish counties, and the family wanted to find a location north of Seattle.
Lynnwood is ideal because it’s near the junction of I-5 and I-405 and can draw from the Eastside as well as from the north, he said.
Ellison James of Lake Stevens, who makes special trips to the Lakewood spa, is looking forward to Olympus’ opening in Lynnwood.
“It’s just a fabulous place,” she said. “It’s the first place I take out-of-town friends. It’s such a nurturing, nourishing experience.”
Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.
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