Beauty & Spas in Baltimore

This one-hour treatment starts with a friendly massage therapist applying copious quantities of organic shea butter in long, therapeutic strokes. During the treatment, you'll be cocooned in a warm wrap, which helps your body absorb the shea butter's vitamins and fatty acids while a massage therapist gently kneads your scalp and mesmerizes your mind with stories about books of short stories. When your body is finished bathing in a buttery baste, it will be cleaner, healthier, and more velvety than a smooth operator's excuses.

Relaxing Moments consists of a registered massage practitioner and a foot-care specialist. The former relaxes bodies with Swedish massage, relieves aches and pains with deep-tissue massage, and assuages expectant mothers with prenatal massage. The foot-care specialist practices Thai foot reflexology, which balances and de-stresses the body through massage techniques and inverted tap-dancing moves performed on the feet.

Inside Hair We Go Studio, stylists stand ready to take manes from mundane to chichi, always keeping an eye towards hair health. Products by René Furterer swathe strands in plant extracts and essential oils, while ammonia-free Artego color creates new hues that are gentler on strands and friendlier to the lungs. To help each scalp unwind, stylists treat heads to a relaxing massage that helps banish stress and soothe tension caused by wearing lead-lined hats, while smoothing keratin treatments help tame wild manes and straighten out locks with long-lasting results.

Many spas claim to focus on total-body wellness, but few go so far as to build their own full-size fitness studio. Few can argue, then, when Spa Seven touts its approach as one that caters to “skin, body, and mind”—not when the spa backs up these words with a comprehensive menu of skin and beauty services and group and private fitness classes held in an expansive, well-equipped studio.

A simple philosophy guides Spa Seven’s multifaceted approach to wellness: no two bodies are the same. The spa’s staff—a highly qualified mélange of aestheticians, massage therapists, and fitness trainers—takes these words to heart when devising custom treatments and routines. Each of the spa’s five facial peels caters to a specific skin type, and a variety of massage techniques work to relieve stress from waiting for hours in traffic or hurling stalled station wagons out of one’s path.

Similarly, the fitness studio’s group classes help guests achieve mind-body symmetry in the way that feels most right for them. On one hand, P90X boot camps sculpt muscles with a program of intense weight-training and nutritional advice; on the other, yoga classes relax the senses with energy-balancing poses and contemplative games of Twister.

Sassy and inspirational quotes—such as "If you are confident, you are beautiful"—adorn the pink hallways and individual rooms of Fetish Beaute Boutique. These messages lend to the fun and welcoming atmosphere the staff works to create. The collection of tanning beds and sunless-tanning options darken skin tones, and a menu of waxing services readies bodies for the beach or competitive slip 'n' slide records. Makeup artists not only beautify faces for special events, they also teach lessons in proper application and color selection. Elsewhere in the shop, shelves teem with lotions and balms to enhance the tanning experience, as well watches, jewelry, and other girly accessories.

The rich aroma of complimentary coffee and nature-evoking green walls greet visitors when they arrive at Hair Trends by Michelle. As they await their turn, clients lounge on leather couches before a high-definition TV before stylists take them into the main salon area to snip tresses into works of art. At hair stations, black, leather chairs impart a modern feel, and towering, open ceilings accommodate attempts to create the world's tallest beehive hairdo. Hair transformations then take place as stylists perform custom cuts, apply conditioning treatments, or give a ‘do a new personality with a touch of color.