MIMI BARRE’S

INTERNATIONAL Skin & Body Care
A World Class Day Spa And Healing Center

A one hundred-year-old Victorian cottage in Historic Downtown Redlands, International Skin & Body Care is a quiet retreat where you can escape from the stress of everyday pressures and renew your body, mind, and spirit.

Founded by Mimi Barre, who has been "Making the world beautiful, one person at a time, since 1958" Customer satisfaction is easy. We strive for Customer DELIGHT!

What inspired Mimi to build International Skin & Body Care?

International Skin & Body Care grew out of my love for Spas, World Travel, Education, The Beauty Business, and a Quest for "The Secret" of Beautiful Skin.

As a 3-year-old, I loved going to the Beauty Parlor with Mommy. At 6 my mother took me to a spa in Cuba to soak in a private mineral bath. In Baden Baden Germany when I was 12, I discovered what "Taking the Waters" was all about and became fascinated with the Spa Life. When I was 19, Japanese baths and massages introduced me to a different life style than we had in the west. And trips to Hot Water Cures all over the United States sparked in me a quest for health.

During the 1940s and 50s Glamour Days of Hollywood, I longed to learn "The Secret" of the Movie Stars’ beautiful skin. People "in the business" knew that ladies from Hungary mixed up strange concoctions in their kitchens and used them on the Movie Stars. I asked one of the Hungarian ladies for her "Secret," but of course then she forgot how to speak English.

After my graduation from Hollywood High School, my quest for "The Secret" intensified. I graduated from Beauty School. I still didn’t know "The Secret." In Tokyo, Paris and London I learned about beauty but still didn’t find "The Secret." So off to Cal Poly University in San Luis Obispo I went to study Dietetics. Still "The Secret" eluded me.

Marriage, children, study, more study came along, but no answer. Degrees in Art and English hung on the wall, but the answer wasn’t in my head. Owning a beauty shop, directing a beauty school, teaching High School English were all wonderful, but still I wanted to know "The Secret."

Then I met the eminent Dermatologist and Pharmacist, Dr. Howard Murad. He gave me a jar of cream and asked me to try it. The first day that I used the cream I realized that I had discovered "The Secret to Beautiful Skin."

Since 1990 I have studied hydrotherapy, bodywork, and skin care in Turkey, the Czech Republic, China, Italy, England, Wales, and Russia. This explains the name, International Skin & Body Care. I long to give each person the wonderful Spa experiences that I have enjoyed. Welcome to our World Class Day Spa. To your health and beauty, Mimi Barre

Hydrotherapy History

When the Roman Empire ruled the world, Roman soldiers were garrisoned all over Europe. They came upon a source of natural hot mineral water in what is now Belgium. The weary (and probably filthy) soldiers found that when they soaked and bathed in the hot water their muscle aches disappeared. Their skin felt smoother, and their overall health improved. The soldiers named the spa Health Through Water, or Salus Per Aquam . The name was shortened to SPA.

Every culture has used natural hot springs for their curative powers. In Vichy, France, the water is medicinal. For centuries people have been plunged into the waters for healing. At the Vichy clinic, doctors contemplated how non-ambulatory patients could benefit from the waters. They devised a shower of 5 showerheads extended from the ceiling under which a patient on a gurney could be wheeled. Thus the Vichy Shower was created. All the water for the treatments at International Skin & Body Care is softened and filtered by Morley Water Systems, but it has no magical properties. For your treatment, active products like Sea Algae or Mud will be applied to your body. The product will be removed with the Vichy Shower.