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If you've ever glanced over a menu of treatments offered at a spa, you likely weren't surprised to see such standard ingredients as ylang-ylang, lavender, peppermint and seaweed. But did you expect to have your feet bathed in allspice-infused, overproof rum? Your body polished with a concoction of ground cornmeal and olive oil? Your face slathered in an edible mask of soursop, bananas and organic honey robbed from the hive that very morning? Visit the spa at Jamaica's Half Moon resort, and you can choose from all of the above, evidence of an unfamiliar new wave of pampering that's washing over the Caribbean.

"Ironically, the newest thing in spa treatments is the old," says Stella Gray, "spa elder" at Half Moon's multimillion-dollar Fern Tree Spa, which opened last fall. While the 68,000-square-foot sanctuary boasts plush beachfront suites, private plunge pools and state-of-the-art equipment, it also features something decidedly more low-tech: a menu of services Gray designed that are rooted in age-old Jamaican healing arts.

"Today people are embracing healing through herbs and realizing that store-bought products aren't always the best," she says. Gray harvests organic herbs from the spa's own garden, where she cultivates comfrey, ginger, aloe, basil and a reputed aphrodisiac called "ram goat dash along," and makes them part of Fern Tree's signature treatments. One of them is the Jamaican Bush Bath, which Gray (Half Moon's spa manager for almost 40 years) claims she was the first to offer commercially. "The bush bath has been part of Jamaican culture for generations," she says, "used to cleanse and heal the body and believed to heal the mind." For this treatment, the local herb cerasee is combined with lemon grass, ackee leaves, aloe and citrus in a large muslin pouch and steeped in boiling water, which is then added to a warm bath. "Once the client is in the bath," Gray explains, "we perform a traditional 'sapping,' where we gently pat the skin with the bag to stimulate the circulatory and lymphatic systems and relax the body." Fern Tree also uses locally made products and sells a custom product line called Bohini (after a Taino word meaning "leader of the plant and spirit world").

Such use of indigenous ingredients and practices has risen to the level of a regional trend, according to Julie Sinclair, executive editor at Spa magazine.  "They immerse guests firsthand into the local culture and therapies, adding a stronger sense of place," she says.

At the RockResorts Spa at The Landings, which opened in December in Rodney Bay, manager Helen Lugo has made it her mission to "incorporate St. Lucia into the treatments." "The spa experience isn't just about facials anymore," Lugo says. "Now people are much more interested in the spiritual side of wellness and healing, and we find natural, locally grown ingredients and traditional techniques useful to help them achieve that." Combining imported organic products with seasonal fruit, coconut water, herbs and spices such as vanilla, bay leaf, ginger and cinnamon, the spa offers treatments like La Soufriere & Lime, a massage that concludes with a soothing wrap of warm, mineral-rich mud from the island's volcano.

Treatments at Sandals Resorts' 10 Red Lane Spas use regional ingredients such as honey, almonds, sugar cane, the Jamaican citrus fruit ortanique and the island's Blue Mountain coffee. Ground beans are used in the Wake Up and Smell the Coffee Special, a body wrap followed by an exfoliation and massage, concluding with a freshly brewed cup of Jamaican joe. At Paradise Bay Resort, guests can enjoy treatments incorporating fresh-from-the-garden aloe vera and local seaweed in a bamboo beach gazebo. The signature service at 33-suite Biras Creek on Virgin Gorda is the Island Cooler, which combines an exfoliating scrub made of raw sea salt harvested from nearby Salt Cay with a hydrating skin treatment using fresh aloe grown on site.The trend isn't confined exclusively to high-end spas or large hotels and chains. From a practical point of view, this approach also makes sense for smaller, boutique spas with tighter budgets; products are readily available on island and are cheaper than their imported equivalents. And the treatments – many of their ingredients natural and often organically grown – also come with what many practitioners believe is a proven history of efficacy. "The use of natural therapies is more than just a trend," says Steve Andrews, a director of the Caribbean Spa and Wellness Association. "It worked for our ancestors, and it still works today.

"Five years ago, Andrews was disappointed to find that the spas he visited almost exclusively used imported products. "I saw lots of spas in the Caribbean, but no Caribbean in our spas," he says. Recognizing an opportunity, he set up Soothing Touch Da Spa in Christ Church, Barbados, a holistic center where the most popular treatments incorporate coconut, mango, guava and honey."This is about more than a spa," says Andrews. "It's a way for us to embrace our heritage and to export our way of life. It's cultural therapy."

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