The difference a year can make ⋆⁺₊ ⋆ ☾ ₊˚. 𓆟｡⋆༄

Memories, motivation, news, & muse

YO SPADETTES!

I’m on the plane to Hawai’i praying that I can get into the Kona Rosewood for a Lomi Lomi couples massage and catch the tail end of the volcano event. I’m writing this exclusively from the phone since that’s where the free WiFi is (let’s see how this turns out).

It’s been a week... I’ll tell you about the chaos later (I cried an actual river) because night now I’m sitting in gratitude (the river took me to the sea). In addition to being a week, it’s also been a month and a year!

SPA became very real a year ago when I felt a convergence point illuminated by certain truths in a quick week of life events:

• I was charged up on a crazy love high having just gotten married on top of a hot spring vortex (SATURDAY)

• My first big writing piece published as a COVER STORY for LA Times IMAGE magazine (TUESDAY)

• I knew I had the balls to quit my full time job to pursue this wild and crazy water life (WEDNESDAY)

There’s a lot of discourse and dialogue online about “when should you become a full time substack writer”, “how to use growth strategies for world domination”, “sign up for my notes class to go viral” etc etc BORING LAME and BORING again. Chase your passions and instead try these on for size:

• TRUST YOUR GUT AND STRENGTHEN THE CONNECTION YOU HAVE WITH THAT VOICE. How? Clear out the noise, try meditation and writing, listen in the tub, engage with your first thought or intuition and don’t try to reason with it or apologize for it

• Are you living scrappy enough to bridge the gap? My last job was a 150k salary, right now I’m lucky to bring in 3k-5k/month with odd jobs and other “work”. Lean lifestyle and a bank of Amex reward points are doing wonders for me along with the privilege of being in a DINK-ish phase of my 30’s. If your rent of half of your takehome salary it simply might not be time for you yet. Redraw the map and cut the fat.

• I had coffee last week with a new friend who so clearly articulated a facet of the game: are you climbing cringe mountain? Yes, putting yourself out there is a little scary but no one is going to do it for you. Get the gals together and have accountability workshops disguised as dinner and movie apartment nights

• JUST DO IT!!! write, podcast, play, post idc what it is that you want to do. So many people compliment me on “being consistent” however it’s now just a working part of my mind and body. Too many people fall off because they “don’t have their branding done”, or a logo, or idk something else that no one actually cares about!!! Do it later, perfect it on the next one, but take the baby steps now and train yourself to just do it. If you’re reading this - I sincerely would love to know if my messiness or lack of editing/ spelling checking has bothered you?

• Have some fun because we are all going to die and nothing is ever going to go exactly to plan. Shoot your shot.

From strangers to besties! Just like everyone else who reads SPA 🩵 Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the support and love along the way. I can’t wait for another excellent year :)

I’m very excited to announce that I’ll be SPEAKING about North American sauna trends at the World Sauna Forum in Jyväskylä this June alongside the bathing sommelier!!!!

Drop your big island of Hawaii, Finland, and Estonia must see, must do, must spa in the comments! Tell me what you think the trends are in North American saunas are for bonus points and a chance to be featured in the presentation.

Xoxo,

Coco

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• S.P.A. in spa news! Bathhouse raised $35M from Imaginary Ventures and others while I got a nice quote in The sauna wars or sauna expansions of joy? Thanks Claire!

• Lore is having their grand opening weekend in New York. Simon Rasmussen of Office magazine will be flapping towels as a newly ordained Aufgussmeister

• Speaking of towels flapping… the aufguss nationals are coming to NYC May 19-21 - are you going? Best way to check out the new bathhouse location. Friend of spa Liz Baker Plosser wrote about the craze for Culture of Bathe-ing

• War trickle down effect. How the Iran conflict is rippling through sento culture and energy costs in Japan.

• On the reading list: AQUA, a water-forward read just spotted at the bookstore, is now on my list.

• DHS watch alert: Miracle Hill × Life & Times with a gorgeous write-up in the LA Times. Watch this space

• DESERT WAVE POOLS: DSRT Surf in Palm Desert opens mid-July. This pool joins PSSC in Palm Sorings while already other attempted builds have failed. Whispers of Coral mountain coming to La Quinta but let’s see how their Cabo property does first

• 39BC, founded by beauty and brains Sharmadean Reid, launched a minis collection. We took to Olympic spa yesterday and it was perfect, my favorites are fig milk and silk veil

• Wi Spa in Koreatown added a head spa (~$150–200/hr) and an AI robot masseuse post-renovation. The future of jimjilbang is … human or robot?

• A new club in Estonia is combining workout, spa, sauna, and coworking at T1 Center this summer. The third place wellness model keeps spreading but I really wish EHA was going to be open when I’m there in June

• The Bay Club is investing millions in California expansion, adding dedicated recovery centers across its clubs. Spa baddie Marilyn works as a personal trainer at the El Segundo location & loves it

• A healthy club in Vegas Everhaus in Las Vegas is integrating diagnostics, recovery, and AI coaching under one membership. Longevity-as-a-club has arrived in the desert.

• Circle Wellness makes its US debut with a thermal spa near Gas Works Park in Seattle.

• The Four Seasons St. Louis Spa reopens May 18 after a multi-million dollar renovation built around the four elements. What do you think about it ?

• Wacky and wild. More updates from Meow Wolf co-founder is opening an immersive bathhouse at Barton Springs in Texas. Summer 2027.

• Zannier Bendor opens this month — a 1,200m² wellness centre on a private island off the French Riviera. Ayurveda, TCM, indoor and outdoor pools. A great list here

• LaCroix just became the official sparkling water of two WNBA teams. The wellness-sports crossover keeps growing — and the WNBA keeps winning brand partnerships.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Petra-core (get it?)

Everyone say thanks to Emily Sundberg for asking Petra Collins this very important series of questions:

What’s in her spa bag/ bathing rituals bc she’s Hungarian! Also where does she shop and what dictates the starting or ending point of an outfit.” - S.P.A.

Courtney, I LOVE this question. I have to keep things pretty simple with skincare because my skin is sensitive, so I mostly use CeraVe products. I recently got really into the COSRX moisturizer after I shower, and occasionally I’ll do the Sulwhasoo ginseng mask, which is divine if you put it in the fridge. I love showering more than baths, honestly. At home, I shower twice a day and I fully sit down in the shower. It is my safe space. If I was really wealthy, I would buy a steam shower with seats.

I unfortunately LOVE to shop. I do a lot of online shopping on Etsy. In LA I love Replika Vintage, Ending Soon, and Aralda Vintage. In New York I love James Veloria and Ending Soon.

I don’t really know what dictates the starting or ending point of an outfit because every outfit feels different.

See you on the other side of the volcano 🌋