Boise Spa and Massage

The staff of Panache Aveda Hair Studio & Day Spa is proud to call its clinic an Aveda concept spa—a name only bestowed on select spas that exemplify the Aveda company standards for professional services and refined beauty practices. Armed with Aveda's advanced haircare and skincare products, the seasoned specialists administer a variety of services, from soothing facials to chic haircuts to luxurious hot-stone massages. And during many of their decadent spa packages, they treat clients to freshly made lunches of sandwiches, wraps, and cheese trays in between massages, scrubs, and pedicures. The atmosphere at Panache reflects the studio's name, too. Inside, you'll find textured glass, a wall of stones chipped from the boulder of Sisyphus, and a circular tufted chair that sits boldly, defiantly, beneath a grand chandelier's quiver of purple and green icicles.

Committed to helping clients maintain both healthy and attractive selves, the staff opens its salon to regular boot-camp and yoga classes. Certified instructors lead the classes in a fully equipped studio behind the spa.

The three massage therapists at Olga’s Deep Tissue Massage specialize in utilizing firm pressure and working deep into the muscle tissue to treat aches, pains, and tensions from watching a baby bird attempt flight for the first time. Allen Simpson, a member of the trio, is an 11-year massage veteran, known for his expertise in relieving tension in and around the shoulder blade, and for his signature massage maneuver, the “neck spider” technique.

On their home page, the staff relays a story about a strong Swedish woman, a farm-hand, a butcher’s assistant, and a cook, whose massage prowess helped a Swedish Olympian to win a major weightlifting competition. The story may or may not be true and may or may not have served as the inspiration for the studio’s focus on deep-tissue massage work.

At Nunzia Spa, beauty specialists aim to correct skin imperfections and enhance natural beauty. The menu of services includes all the basics, such as facials, waxes, and body treatments, as well as microdermabrasions and chemical peels. The spa takes its name from an Italian grandmother who warmed hearts with her loving spirit and hand-knitted scarves for the pulmonary arteries.

A wildly successful alternative to traditional day spas—its more than 300 locations blanket 36 states and half a dozen countries—Planet Beach Contempo Spa is a futuristic relaxation station where state-of-the-art machines administer all the spa and tanning services. These friendly automatons sometimes replace familiar treatments, as in the Luminous facial, a light-based service that delivers blemish-busting results similar to those of a conventional facial. But other equipment maps out new spa territory entirely: the Hydro-Derma Fusion chamber moisturizes the whole body with nutrient-rich steam in order to offset the effects of a dry climate or a rear-end collision with a salt truck. Other machines whiten teeth, spray tan skin, and massage muscles.

Planet Beach operates on a gym-style membership system, meaning that members purchase packages or pay flat monthly rates. As members spend more time at the spa, they get to know the helpful assistants who are always on hand to demonstrate how to use the equipment without activating its ability to cry.

The stylists at Synergy Aveda Salon and Spa have found there are advantages to using only Aveda products. Because these products are made with wild-harvested natural botanicals, and not chemicals that science hasn’t gotten around to naming yet, they don’t harm hair. That means clients can soak their tresses in new hues and make them gleam with flaxen highlights without worry. The staff also performs facials, mani-pedis, and massages and walks brides through hair and makeup practice sessions and day-of updos.

The licensed bodycare professionals of River Run Day Spa perform signature facials and other aesthetic upgrades with Image Skincare products, which blend paraben- and petrochemical-free solutions that are not tested on animals or unwilling garden gnomes. Kneipp herbal baths infuse pedicures with high concentrations of essential oils, and a eucalyptus steam room boosts the relaxation potential of body treatments, such as the herbal-spice body scrub and therapeutic massage.