hotel amenities

Quality Control: I Found My Summer Scent In The Shower /  by Rae Witte

Last fall, I made my way down to the Cayman Islands for work. After some unnecessary organizational obstacles, I got to my destination — Palm Heights Grand Cayman. I wrote a first person travel diary for Dwell’s One Night In series you can check out here, and I’m positive I’ll be doing a Wellness Check and/or edition of The Lay Out about it, but right now we’re talking about my summer scent.

I arrived with straight hair, and I really love the waves the humidity brings it, but after a killer abs and glute class with former Olympic gymnast Ellie Downing at the Palm Heights Athletic Center, I had to wash my hair even thought I’d be heading directly back out into the heat.

Within the PH suites, Costa Brazil is the brand behind the shampoo, conditioner and moisturizer. You know how scent can take you back to a time, place and energy? I set that trip in stone with this shampoo and conditioner combo.

Much to my dismay, as I was soaking up the sun that afternoon full of piña colada on the beach I found out the Costa Brazil had ceased production. DISCONTINUED. Disappointed is an understatement. My hair smelled better with every dip into the ocean or pool. Ultimately, I ended up doubling back to buy shampoo and conditioner after I left property but was still on Grand Cayman. The hotel had a tiny back stock, but what they had seemed to be the end of it. I couldn’t find it anywhere online.

Months later, I went to a press day for an agency I worked with and low and behold Costa Brazil is their client and is back from the dead. And, their Sunlight Body Oil and Aroma In Oil brings me back to that good place every time I put it on. The brand describes the scent as “spicy wood, crushed leaves and tropical flowers” and is “inspired by Breu, a natural resin from the Amazon.”

As I was only operating with the shampoo and conditioner which is best used in the summer for my hair when I let it air dry curly, I found some similar scents. Hume has a body oil in Amber Woods and Boy Smells’ Woodphoria held me down. If you’re into woody scents, these are great options.

Here’s the one (in both the scent and the sun oil), but the two and the three are good are good alternatives and make for a nice little rotation.

Wellness Check: 25hours Zürich Langstrasse Sauna And Shower /  by Rae Witte

For me, the next best thing a hotel can have after a pool or jacuzzi is a sauna. Much like anything else, all saunas are not created equally. Often times, within city hotels they’re tucked away in some windowless section of the building adjacent to the gym leveraged only by one random old guy. (We know the glamping joints are little cabins and barrels out in the wilderness.)

But, not at 25hours Zürich Langstrasse within Zürich’s city center.

Despite being astoundingly similar in website, logo and hotel design, 25Hours properties do not share ownership with TheStandard (as far as my research found), yet it’s kind of giving TheOtherSideOfThePondStandard.

With two locations in Zürich, the 25Hours Langstrasse location is situated in the once-red light district of the city close to the biggest train station.

Unlike those dungeon-y (derogatory) saunas, 25Hours Lanstrasse’s is located on the top floor of the seven-story hotel, and it was hotter than your average. I had to remove my jewelry and I don’t typically need to. The spacious stadium seating sauna is the centerpiece of an aesthetic-over-function gym. The room faces a glass wall overlooking the train that cuts through the city beyond a small terrace and unobstructed city views. Just outside of the sauna full length lounge chairs look out to the same view. And, of course, behind the sauna are two (very) open air showers.

The Swiss are serious about their saunas, and honestly, Americans could afford to take notes. (Although, I’d want to note that it is co-ed and the co-eds participated in the sauna in varying degrees of nudity — bikini to butt ass.) There are plenty of conflicting reports to the health benefits of saunas. I find that simply sweating it all out (literally and figuratively), does a lot for me. My skin always feels better, I think I look better, I sleep better, and most importantly, it relaxes my mind and body.

I didn’t opt to shower at the sauna because the rooms’ showers were very, very sexy. Similar to the sauna upstairs, the shower in my room was large, floor-to-ceiling enclosed glass (reader, there wasn’t any sort of draft and it didn’t steam up my entire room). With both a rain shower head and a handheld, you can go full everything shower or just wash the bod and preserve your hair. (See a video of the room and shower in the below IG post.)

For those that may not like the idea of being fully exposed, a curtain separates the raised “bedroom” portion of the hotel room and shields your shower time from the window’s view.

While the bed was firm as hell (a little too hard for my liking), the spacious room also had both a huge full length, floor to ceiling mirror and well-lit vanity mirror at the sink.

So, what did we learn here? We should always be on the look out for floor-to-ceiling glass (mirrors, showers, windows, VIEWS), and perhaps, a baseline shower and sauna doesn’t cut it when there are very sexy (and functional) ones out there to make for a better time spent at a hotel.

I used the sauna so much during my stay, it made me want to prioritize having easier access to one at home at some point in my life. In the meantime, I’ll continue to make it through winter with a lot of time spent in my HigherDOSE sauna blanket.