Ageing with Purpose at the Age-well Room
What does ageing well actually mean? Jodie Cameron chats to the expert, tries the technology, and walks away rethinking sneezes, skin and getting older.
As a mother of two young boys, exhaustion is a given and self-care equates to remembering to drink water and do pelvic floor exercises. Somewhere between school drop-offs, soccer training and buying groceries I rarely stop to eat and I’d forgotten what it felt like to have someone pay attention to my needs for a change.
So an invitation to visit The Age-Well Room in Cotton Tree, trying out the much-talked-about pelvic floor chair and Mini Glow Facial came at the right time. Somebody had to sit in the chair and report back, so I took one for the team.
Let’s start with the pelvic floor chair. There’s nothing to fear. If you’re a mum, you already know the drill – the sneeze-and-cross-your-legs move, and those trampoline moments. And if you’re not a mum, don’t get smug; founder Rebecca Westman was quick to remind me this isn’t just a women’s issue. Rebecca spent years in Toowoomba working alongside a charity supporting men with prostate cancer, and what she saw there stuck with her.
“Men who’ve had prostate surgery are often sent home with little to no warning that incontinence, and yes, adult nappies might be part of recovery,” Rebecca says. “It’s a conversation nobody has, on either side of the gender divide. I’ve had men come in wearing a full nappy every day who’ve gone to just needing a liner.”
It’s not just men left in the dark.
“I think childbirth’s the same,” Rebecca says. “You have a baby, and does anyone actually tell you what vaginal childbirth can do to your pelvic floor?
I didn’t get told anything.”
A Pilates lover since my twenties, I still found out the hard way – on a trampoline a few years post-baby – that the pelvic floor hadn’t quite recovered. The treatment, and the chair itself, is surprisingly simple and low-key.
You simply sit down, fully clothed, and let electromagnetic stimulation do thousands of pelvic floor contractions for you – no internal exam, no awkwardness, just a low hum and a strange tingling sensation that’s more curious than uncomfortable (ok there were a few muffled giggles too). A typical plan is around six to eight initial sessions, spaced once or twice a week, before easing into a maintenance phase – tapering from weekly down to fortnightly, then out to once every month or two.
“Once we build the muscle memory up, it’s like a light switched on,” she says. “It’s just about reawakening that muscle memory and keeping the light on.”
No fuss, no shame, just muscle, treated exactly like you’d treat a dodgy knee or a stiff shoulder. From tightening my pelvic floor to the more glamorous part of my visit – a glow up for my skin. The Mini Glow Facial uses the Fusion 8 device, a sister machine to Rebecca’s signature Plasma Pen, and she’s currently the only practitioner on the Coast using it.
The treatment runs in two stages. First, an Ozone Plasma pass sterilises the skin and calms bacteria, handy for anyone whose nose and jawline like to remind them that they’re not actually seventeen anymore. Then comes the Hyper Plasma, a cooled treatment (thanks to a waft of argon gas) that gets to work activating collagen, elastin and fibroblast cells giving your skin cells a nudge to get back to work. Here’s the bit that surprised me most: it doesn’t hurt. I’d braced myself, having winced through micro-needling in the past, but this felt more like gentle static rather than tiny knives.
“It’s not invasive, but it’s also not a relaxing facial,” Rebecca says. “There’s no pain associated, it’s a skin-changing facial.”
Rebecca was clear that the Mini Glow isn’t a lift-and-tighten treatment so it won’t erase deep wrinkles, but it does leave you with a smoother, brighter complexion and tighter-looking pores, no downtime required. For anyone chasing something more targeted, like acne or scarring, there is also a skin-needling attachment that’s
a little spicier, with treatment plans ranging from twice-weekly for stubborn cystic acne down to monthly maintenance once things settle.
What struck me most wasn’t the technology, impressive as it is, but the attitude behind it. Rebecca isn’t selling perfection or promising you’ll look twenty-five again or that your pelvic floor will forget it ever met childbirth. What she’s offering is the idea that both of these very ordinary, very human parts of ageing, leaky bladders and tired skin, deserve care and curiosity rather than silence and embarrassment.
I left with a radiant glow I’d not seen on my skin before and the satisfaction of having done my pelvic floor exercises while checking emails. As a mum who spends most days keeping everyone else’s body running, feeding it, driving it to sport, kissing its scraped knees – it was strange, and honestly a little emotional, to have an hour where someone was looking after me.
So yes, I took one for the team and it turns out ageing well doesn’t have to be glamorous, painful or hushed up. Sometimes it’s just an hour in a very comfortable chair, doing absolutely nothing, while your body gets on with the business of catching up.
KNOW THE SIGNS
If you suffer from any of these signs, you might benefit from using the Pelvic Floor Chair at The Age-Well Room:
• Leaking when you sneeze, cough or laugh
• Sudden urgency – needing to go right now
• Waking more than once a night to pee
• Avoiding trampolines, running or jumping “just in case”
• Not just mums – common in men post-prostate surgery
For more information or to make a booking, visit www.theagewellroom.com.au
