Burlington, NC Spa and Massage

Alter Ego's talented technicians primp and polish customers' fingers. The 40-minute Shellac manicure provides the durability and zero dry time of gel nails with the ease of application and smooth, slick finish of traditional polish. Once applied, the wet Shellac polish takes a trip underneath the special UV lamp, hardening into a chip-defying, ultra-shiny finish and eliminating smudges from purse rummaging and plugging differential equations into a graphing calculator. The finish can last up to two weeks without degrading, and is removed easily with no harm to the natural nails, unlike acrylic removal, which uses tiny, club-wielding trolls to bash away unsightly remnants.

Treating tense muscles is like bargain hunting—it can conserve a lot of money in the long run but shouldn’t be done with the aid of a shady character in a dark alley. Amid soothing décor featuring earthy tones and violet hues, clients of Massage Envy begin their session with an initial consultation that determines which one of five available massages will provide the best results. A sports massage provides treatment specific to the athlete’s sport, reflexology targets points on the extremities to balance the nervous system, and deep-tissue massage unties knots while relieving chronic muscle tension. Trigger-point therapy alleviates tight areas within muscle tissue through cycles of isolated pressure and release, while a Swedish massage relaxes the whole body with long, gliding strokes. The professional massage therapists at Massage Envy will apply the necessary muscle treatment with pinpoint precision and buttery smoothness during convenient hours, including evenings and weekends.

A former anatomy, physiology, and biology professor, Tracey Obeda attended the Carolina School of Massage and currently teaches massage at the Medical Arts School and Miller-Motte Technical College. Using deep muscle massage, myofascial release, Swedish massage, trigger-point therapy, arthrokinetics, and more, she tailors all treatments to a client's special needs. Focus your session on stress relief, relaxation, decreased muscle tightness, postural and structural change, increased flexibility, or a combination.

The stylists and nail technicians at Salon Bliss lavish their clientele with both hair and spa services. Redken chemistry treatments relieve hair stressed by overstyling with heat or chemicals, and perms install an abundance of ringlets that are sure to trap the hands of noogy assailants. The salon's stylists have also mastered bridal hairstyling and beauty services, which can be coupled with the wide palette of nail services to ensure brides look more polished than Salon Bliss's gleaming hardwood floors.

In the olden days, nomads and royalty alike made pilgrimages to the lowest point on earth: the Dead Sea. The vitamin-rich waters, which are roughly six times saltier than the ocean, had a therapeutic effect on bathers, dissolving stress, boosting metabolism, and brightening skin tones. Nowadays, the same benefits can be had without a trip to Jerusalem, thanks to L’Ultime Day Spa’s mud wraps, which tighten skin and detoxify systems with the sea’s salt and mud. A team of massage therapists can also relax muscles with kneads customized to each client, in styles that range from Swedish and deep tissue to reflexology, which focuses exclusively on the hands and feet. They can even ply the physique with reiki, energy work that stimulates the body’s self-healing powers without also activating its self-cloning powers.

The specialists at Suddenly Slimmer of Raleigh live up to the promise of their spa’s name with a menu of services designed to melt fat and eliminate cellulite. The spa’s featured VelaShape treatment exemplifies this mission, using a blend of radio frequencies and light energy to noninvasively shrink fat cells. Similarly, body wraps work to slenderize figures while nourishing skin with solutions made of natural minerals and electrolytes. When not cocooned in anti-aging minerals, clients may partake in sessions on the Proellixe vibration machine, which sends high-frequency vibrations throughout the body to tone muscles, burn fat, and dislodge loose change stuck behind the ears.