Chambersburg, PA Spa and Massage

When founding Park Avenue Salon and Spa, owner Lynne Zsido assembled an experienced staff of licensed professionals, many with decades of experience. With an eye to environmental responsibility, the beautification crew assesses an armory of products by Bare Escentuals, CND, and Marcia Teixeira. Beyond the spa's emerald-hued door, smooth stones steep in warmth in preparation for romps across tired muscles or bank vaults carved from butter. Sweet nothings drift from massage sessions for couples, and soothing and cleansing elixirs wrought from Hershey's chocolate, jojoba oil, and almonds broadcast a dulcet bouquet.

Licensed massage therapist Thomas Snyder works in two different settings: clients’ homes and his own homey, red-brick studio. In either case, he relaxes muscles and relieves tension with a diverse range of bodywork treatments, including therapeutic massage, craniosacral therapy, and reflexology. He even offers massage parties, during which he treats guests to soothing strokes in celebration of the host’s birthday, bridal shower, or other important events.

Co-owner Rebeccah Bartlett Leister of Structures Salon and Spa will not trade jobs with you. "I love that every single day I am here I laugh out loud," she says on her staff bio page. "I feel so lucky to be able to enjoy my 'work' this much." One draw may be the salon and spa's proprietary organic and natural products that are crafted by a small family business. Another draw might be the encouragement staff members receive to augment the products' powers with rounds of continuing education and creative projects such as fashion shoots, makeup design, and hair-coloring experiments. Leister herself has experience designing makeup for Vanity Fair and InStyle magazines.

Wide windows illuminate Structures Salon and Spa so that stylists can mix colors in optimum light and let new hairdos photosynthesize. Colorful yarn twines around stair railings to create chromatic triangles, and appliqué birch trees stand tall along the lobby's windows.

FX Studios, a luxurious salon, spa, and fitness facility for men and women, makes visits as comfortable as they are memorable with private salon studios and movie screens showing the latest flicks. After a consultation and a five-minute shampoo and scalp massage, one of FX’s expert stylists will perform an arsenal of follicular special effects on your cranial dome—clipping strands until they take on a chic new shape and draping your face with a hot towel to make skin softer than a baby's kneepit. During a massage, diligent digits untie muscle knots with the skill of sailor for a full hour. Therapists blend Swedish-, myofacial-, and deep-muscle-massage techniques to create a customized unloosening. Call ahead to make an appointment.

Inside these sister salons, skilled professionals revamp bodies, heads, hands, and feet with a full menu of glamorizing services. Stylists at both the Little Italy and Mt. Washington salons perform custom haircuts for both women and men and specialize in color services, doling out single-process shades, corrective color, partial highlights, or thought-illuminating skylights. They can also make permanent waves with chemical treatments or scare hair straight with japanese hair smoothing, and those looking for full-body pampering will find massages, rejuvenating facials, and nail treatments.

Unlike many massage therapists, Hands To You Wellness Studio owner Zina Sanders incorporates holistic healing elements into her treatments to provide additional therapeutic and stress-relieving benefits. Traditional Thai massages take place on floor mats so their yoga-like stretches can be more easily achieved, and integrative reflexology treatments focus exclusively on pinpoints throughout the body to improve balance and circulation and locate the body’s “eject” button. Since graduating from the Baltimore School of Massage in 1996, Zina has continued to broaden her skills by pursuing ongoing education at various seminars and workshops.