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Alcohol and pampering have always gone hand in hand. Just ask any woman who has ever happily accepted a complimentary glass of wine or a martini from her aesthetician while waiting for her toes to dry or highlights to take. (Vodka shots after a sauna are de rigueur with the hedge-fund set)

Spas, however, were different. Marketing themselves as wellness centres, with strict detox programs, alcohol was banned along with caffeine, salt and gluten (corks still popped, of course, but on the down low).

But this year, for the first time, an increasing number of owners of urban day spas and salons - those not under the licensed umbrella of a hotel - are applying for permanent liquor licences and moving beauty products to make room for sweeping countertop bars, wine-storage units and hanging glassware.

"Social-spa-ing - in the tradition of the Roman baths or the Russian banya, where meeting friends and sharing alcohol is part of the pampering experience - is a big trend this year," says Milana Knowles, vice-president of day spa sales and marketing for Spa Finder, a leading industry resource (http://www.spafinder.com).

And with an eye on the latest health news, spa operators, especially those working at hotels in wine-producing regions, such as the Essence of Life Spa at the five-star Brentwood Bay Lodge & Spa outside Victoria, developed vinotherapy packages designed to benefit you inside and out. Barrel Baths, Cabernet Massages and Vino Stomp Pedicures paired with a glass of the region's best are offered in the name of beauty and good health.

Vika Spa in Toronto's tony Yorkville neighbourhood offers a different take on the spa wine buzz. Its lounge, to be licensed next month (a first for a spa in Canada), is a place where guests can perfect the art of staring into space. No flash, just class.

While savouring a glass of chardonnay, you can study books on Kandinsky's colourful washes or Leonardo's mysterious script.

Other salons take a less loungey approach. "We sell beer and wine by the glass or by the bottle," says Ric Watters, stylist and co-owner of Rik Rak Salon in Miami, which boasts a brand-new 30-foot bar across from its 25 styling chairs and 14 manicure stations.

"People are using our salon as a launching pad before going out," Watters says.

And since he hired a full-time chef and wine connoisseur - Massimo Esposito, whose résumé includes running some of the best kitchens in Manhattan, Singapore, Dubai and the Hamptons - clients are staying until 10 p.m. "I just want this place to be on all the time," Watters explains. But he draws the line at early-morning last calls. Cleaning up in time for the morning hair crowd would be a nightmare.

Michael Achenbaum, owner of the G Spa & Lounge in Manhattan's five-star Hotel Gansevoort, has assumed that nightmare. He says this consolidation of businesses comes down to economics. "It's a very hard margins business if you only have a spa. Spas and salons don't make their money on treatments. Big sales are in product." This means body contour creams and hair masques by day and, at night, 750-millilitre bottles of bubbly served up by girls in short robes and flip-flops.

To transform the G from a spa to a meticulously hip lounge, crews arrive at 8 p.m. to set up (and return at 4 a.m. to disassemble and power-clean). Neck rolls and towels are stored inside banquettes and throw pillows are scattered, turning treatment rooms into VIP bungalows. Massage beds are wheeled into storage and replaced by tables. By 10 p.m., a DJ swaggers in and takes his place in the booth overlooking the Plexiglas-covered whirlpools-turned-dance-floors. The latter have already been graced by the likes of Nicky Hilton and Lindsay Lohan (who popped in with her mother, Dina).

Tracking the progress of alcohol's slow but robust introduction to the North American spa scene, Spa Finder's Knowles says it began about a decade ago with our renewed interest in the "French paradox," which linked moderate red-wine consumption with a lowered risk of coronary heart disease.

This was followed by the more recent craze for antioxidant-rich skin-care products. These flooded the shelves after a series of studies claimed that the flavonoids and tannins in grapes stopped 85 to 95 per cent of skin-aging free radicals. (At last check, members of the fruit world were still wrestling each other for the title of Most Potent Free Radical Fighter, with gogi and açai berries poised to squash grapes.)

And it seems the trend is just getting started. "We want to build a library in the lounge," owner Vika Goodale of Toronto's Vika Spa says, "so guests can relax like they're sitting in their living room - only without the interruptions."

Goodale is hoping that the wine service and new menu will entice them to stay longer.

By the sounds of it, women may never go home.