I’m in Edmonton, dreaming about the Miraj Hammam Spa in Toronto, and I think my house is haunted.

There’s a smell that comes up from the floorboards in the south that only I can smell. There’s a bush my cat won’t go in, and the air around it feels thick like cobwebs. There is, somehow, a dream; a gauzy mist. A mood, let’s say, carved from the haze of the California fires.

I am always cold. It’s poor circulation, or maybe a ghost that follows me around. I know one thing: nothing can sear it from my bones like a rest in a hammam. There’s a magic in the way that the hot steam burns your lungs; in the sweat that rolls down the walls. It feels like realigning the feng shui of your body. Like hitting a reset. It feels like taking everything that’s wrong and exorcising it from your body.

Go to a place that’s definitely not haunted

It took me months to write this review. The Miraj Hammam Spa in Toronto’s Shangri-La turned over last year, reopening as a Biologique Rescherche — which has been as rejuvenating as it sounds. The new treatments are just as relaxing as ever, but with more active ingredients and products that work a little harder for your skin. In the intervening months since my visit, however, the whole country shut down, and what I planned to write just sounded like a taunt.

Hey, I know an amazing place, but you can’t go there. In fact, you can’t go anywhere!

Well — now we can go places again, and this is absolutely a place that you should go. It’s a place (perhaps the only place) that I can absolutely guarantee you is not haunted. The spa’s hammam is currently closed, but you can still enjoy other treatments with added distancing measures and a mandatory COVID screening for your safety. There isn’t a ghost in sight between these beautiful walls, just gentle spirits that will grant you the best skin of your life.

The Miraj Hammam Spa 60-minute Biologique Recherche Signature Facial

I tried something new at the Miraj Hammam Spa by Biologique Recherche this past February: their 60-minute Biologique Recherche Signature Facial. And let me tell you, dear reader, that it felt nothing short of revolutionary.

The new Biologique Recherche Signature Facial brings a little bit more of a clinical edge to the Miraj Hammam Spa, but I didn’t mind it. My facial was still as relaxing and professional as ever; it just also uses more active ingredients than before, so you continue to feel the benefits of your facial for the week following.

My facialist began my treatment with a brisk makeup removal, then immediately slid into deep, even movements that massaged every pore on my face. We did a light exfoliation to start, using the iconic Biologique Recherche Lotion P50 that’s so well-loved by bloggers. (The Cut and others call it “Jesus in a bottle.”) My facialist chose the Lotion P50 PIGM 400, which is recommended over the Lotion P50T for those with dull skin or uneven pigmentation.

My skin is so chronically dry that I get exfoliated at pretty much every facial appointment, but this one was my favourite so far. I felt it working away as it prickled, but the application itself was so gentle — I wasn’t left red or splotchy at all. It smelled milky, like lactic acid, and my skin felt like it was blossoming as soon as I got up. It stayed beautifully clear all week, despite my busy travelling schedule and champagne diet.

You can also experience these water-filled Cryo Sticks ($161 CAD, in silver) at home.

Except this one thing…

The one hang-up that I had during the facial was that my facialist kept using decongesting and brightening treatments to “lift the acne scars on my cheeks.” I’m not sure what she thought she was seeing, or if she just expected me to have cheek acne because a lot of Chinese people do, but… I’ve never had cheek acne, much less enough of it to scar. (She didn’t seem to believe me when I told her that those were just freckles, and I’d like to keep them, thank you very much.)

Regardless, my skin is perpetually congested, and the facial worked wonders. It was just odd to have to tell someone again and again that no, really, I’ve never had cheek acne, and I’m pretty sure I’d have noticed if I had! I feel like I usually have pretty nice skin, but I was getting compliments on my complexion all week long — which was a nice change from, “it’s so great to see you! Do you need some moisturizer?”

Let me tell you: these ghosts in my skin? Thoroughly de-haunted by my facial.

The halls I want to haunt

Like everyone else, I long for the nostalgic future; a place where I can hold my loved ones, and enjoy my next hammam. I’m excited for restrictions to be safely lifted so that I can crawl back into that burning hot steam room. The process is so meditative, like I’m testing myself and my own enjoyment: I always want more, and the button to trigger another hot steam cycle is ever so tempting, even when I’m already struggling to swallow down the air.

(Do you ever drink water in the shower and find yourself startled by how cold it feels in your mouth? This is the opposite of that, and feels cleansing beyond belief.)

What I miss the most are all the little touches at the Miraj Hammam Spa by Biologique Recherche. I miss the hammam, and the baklava in their post-treatment room, which are both suspended until it’s safe again. I miss the water-filled, gold-finished spoons that my facialist used to close my pores — the way the water in them ripples around, balancing itself against your skin. They felt like traditional advancement; like someone was waterbending me toward dermatological greatness.

In the meantime: Torontonians can treat themselves to some great deals at the Miraj Hammam during COVID (a small blessing). Enjoy them for me: I’ll be dreaming about returning.

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Disclaimer: This treatment was generously comped by the spa, though I do also visit as often as I can on my own!