West End Salon Bustles With Fantasia Fair

Dougie Freeman celebrates 30 years in PTown's West End

I desperately needed a haircut the other day, and couldn't wait to get to my appointment at the West End Salon to get rid of the shaggy mane I'd grown over the summer. Dougie always has a great idea about what to do with my hair, and the relaxed atmosphere and friendly chatter with the staff and other patrons is always fun, even entertaining.
I settled into my chair as the day turned a little chilly, sipping a nice cup of hot cocoa while Dougie checked on clients in various stages of their transformations, knowing that I'd walk out the door that afternoon with a whole new look as well.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the West End Salon. Whenever I'm in the shampoo room or under the drier I take a look around the walls of this room, lined with photos and autographs of famous clients Dougie has cosseted over the years. This time my gaze fell on a gorgeous young Shelley Winters, seen in some 140 films and plays over her career, just one of the famous people Dougie had worked with through the years, and he has stories about all of them.
Dougie Freeman started this unique PTown business in 1983, at 155 Commercial Street, pampering visitors and locals alike. The salon has evolved over the years and now offers a wide variety of spa treatments like massage, pedicure, salt glow treatments, Caribbean body polishing, paraffin wraps and others. Any time there's anything new in the industry,
it will soon be available at the West End salon.
While I was there a variety of clients, many of them in town for Fantasia Fair, had facials, manicures, makeup and other services, and someone stopped in to schedule a full makeover for the following day. A young woman dropped by to talk about scheduling for her entire wedding party. I had a cut, shampoo, conditioning, and Dougie suggested making my hair a shade darker and then adding a few highlights, which took about 10 or 12 years off of my appearance. At the same time, a man had brought in a photo of a style he thought would help hide the thinning of his hair, and Dougie gave him a variation that looked great, shaving a few years off of his countenance as well.
The West End Salon staff are the town's leading practitioners of body art, spray tanning and henna tattoos. I got a glitter tattoo there once, just for fun, and I got all kinds of comments on it from friends and even from strangers wondering where I had gotten it. Suffice it to say, the West End Salon is a fun place to visit, and their amazing staff will always help you to look your very best. Stop by to make an appointment for yourself, and wish them a happy 30th anniversary.

Chair Massage Will Invigorate You

Since I've been writing this blog over the past couple of weeks, I find myself encumbered with a backpack full of stuff I have to lug around town with me all day, and night, because I never know what compelling stories or serendipitous photo ops I might find along the way, and my back often suffers for it. I try to always carry a camera with me wherever I go, and a notebook, and, these days, my trusty laptop, which seldom will leave my side (or my back, more accurately) and a cell phone full of phone numbers for roughly a gazillion businesses and friends so I can check my facts as I'm writing. And, of course, I'm carrying all the wires and cables that connect these various electronic marvels together, and cables to recharge everything, or to run it all if I find myself near an electrical outlet, and batteries for when I end up on the beach with no outlet nearby, so now this backpack is getting pretty heavy. Throw in a small video camera (I'll be putting a bit of video on this blog periodically, once I figure out how to do it) and, of course, spare batteries for everything...
So the other day, as I was walking down Commercial Street, I stopped in at pTown Massage and Bodywork for a chair massage. It doesn't take long, it doesn't cost much, and in a few minutes I was brand new, and ready to take on the world again.

I got myself settled into the chair and Tim went to work on me, using many different techniques to treat various trouble spots he found as he worked. He treated my neck, shoulders, back, arms and hands, right down to my fingertips. If you've never had a chair massage, you owe it to yourself to get one soon. Look after yourself. Melt away the stress of the day.
Treat yourself well. Your body will thank you for it.
For more than twenty years, pTown Massage has been providing therapeutic massage using techniques of Sweedish, Deep-Tissue, Sports Massage and other methods combined to provide the best possible treatment for each individual. In fact, pTown Massage is named on this year's Cape Cod A-List as the best massage on the Cape. (Look for an upcoming post about another half-dozen businesses in Provincetown also making the A-List this year.)
Phone pTown Massage at 508 487-3411, and visit them at 182 Commercial Street, right next to Snip Salon. Tell them TheYearRounder sent you. They'll take good care of you.