A Salon Where Beauty Is More Than Skin Deep : Neo, located in Irvine, blends Japanese tradition with scientific technology to help clients not only look better, but also <i> feel </i> better.

Sit back, relax. The reclining chair that supports you is not only soft and comfortable, but also massages your back with rhythmically rolling waves. On the video screen in front of you, water tumbles gently over well-worn rocks in a mountain stream. And from the headphones on your ears, you hear these calming words:

“There is no place you need to go. Nothing you need to do. No problem you have to solve. You can rest . . . here . . . completely. . . .”

And you can, at least for 15 or 20 minutes, until it’s time for your shampoo, haircut and highlighting retouch, just a few feet away from this quiet refuge.

The chair, video monitor, headphones, biofeedback machines and other equipment are all part of the relaxation center at Neo Salon in Irvine, where long-standing Japanese tradition combines with the latest scientific thinking to help clients not only look better on the outside, but also feel better on the inside.

Setsuko Colby, a widely known stylist in Japan, is the owner of the salon. Her husband, Benjamin, is an anthropologist on the faculty at UC Irvine. Neo Salon, which opened in October, is a chance for both to “put some of our ideas into effect,” he says.

Her ideas come from her native land with its tradition of hospitality and attention to detail. A Japanese beauty salon, she says, is much more than a place for hairstyling, manicures and facials. It’s a retreat from the stresses of life, as well as what she calls “a people’s connection place.” Japanese salons typically include a quiet place for clients to relax, although they don’t usually have equipment to aid that process, she says.

His ideas come from more than a decade of anthropological research into the ways people in various cultures adapt to stress and keep themselves healthy or recover from illness. In one of his ongoing studies, for example, Colby is assessing the adaptive potential of a group of elderly Japanese-American women compared with that of a group of non-Asian women for the National Institute on Aging in Bethesda, Md.

Colby made the switch from traditional anthropology to his current medical anthropology work after one group he was studying, a community of Mayan Indians in Guatemala, was wiped out by Guatemalan troops in the late 1970s.

Since then, he says, “I’ve worked on theories of well-being, and questions of biocultural success.” Much of that work, he explains, involves the study of traditional cultural and religious practices that relate to stress and health. In the process, he became interested in many methods of coping with stress, from high-tech biofeedback to the ancient practice of meditation.

The Colbys expected most of the salon’s clientele to be Japanese and Japanese-American women, looking for a familiar atmosphere. But now more than half the clients are non-Japanese.

Jinus Bavarian of Irvine, for example, a native of Iran, visits the salon not only for hair appointments, but to use the relaxation center.

“I do it every time I have an excuse to come here,” she says, looking up from underneath layers of foil-wrapped hair. “Yesterday I brought my husband and boys in to have their hair cut. Today it is my turn.”

But the Colbys say clients don’t need an excuse to use the room--they can drop in any time to use it, without an appointment and without charge.

“We want them to feel comfortable spending time here,” Setsuko Colby says.

Sometimes several clients at once take advantage of the tiny room, one in the massaging chair, the others listening to tapes or using the biofeedback devices.

Bavarian’s favorite relaxation aid is a pair of glasses with tiny strobe lights on the inside. They are worn with eyes closed and a pair of headphones with sounds timed precisely with the light flashes. The combination helps increase the number of alpha brain waves, Benjamin Colby says, which induces relaxation and a sense of well-being.

Clients can also attach biofeedback devices to their hands. Held in the palm and secured with a strap over the fingers, the devices emit sounds of various frequencies to let users monitor their levels of relaxation. As they relax, the tone gets lower, and finally it stops completely.

“We don’t want people to rely completely on these electronic devices but, rather, to use them to learn how to relax on their own,” says Benjamin Colby.

For those who want to learn more, there are books by such wellness experts as Norman Cousins and Berie Siegel available by the front door, as well as audio and videotapes they can use at home.

Each client is also given a “stress map,” a self-test to measure the sources of stress and how he or she responds to it. Clients whose stress levels are high, or who lack relaxation skills, as well as those who just want to learn more, are referred to nearby Irvine Medical Center for further assistance.

To improve the atmosphere in the room, the Colbys have installed high-powered air cleaners--and low-powered ones: plants.

“Research by NASA has shown that plants do an awful lot to clean the air of pollutants,” Benjamin Colby says.

But Bavarian isn’t concerned about such details.

“I feel so much better when I go in there,” she says. “I’m going to keep using it.”