Beauty & Spas in Charlotte

At more than 140 locations across the country, tanners stand and Hollywood Tans delivers. Each salon has an average of 15 Hollywood Tans–manufactured standup booths that gilt pelts with high-performance bulbs, resulting in speedy tans. Since each location offers so many booths, no appointments are needed and clients are rarely asked to wait around or scrounge for scraps of sunlight. For a UV-free experience, the salons furnish their glow spas with Mystic Tan, a standup spray-tan booth that operates at four levels in less than a minute. To keep hides healthy, the shops stock their own brand of lotions, skincare products, and shower gels.

Owner and licensed massage therapist Josee Knecht promotes well-being through holistic and medical massage therapies, body-contouring treatments, and lifestyle advice gleamed during her days as a certified paramedic and nurse's assistant. With advanced training in lypossage and Medilift body contouring, Knecht assists clients as they pursue reductions in waistlines, cellulite visibility, and visits from door-to-door encyclopedia salesmen. Knecht also beautifies bodies with spray-tan applications and laser hair-removal treatments backed by her certification from the Laser Institute of America.

Founded by lifetime Charlotte resident and certified laser specialist Franklin Thigpen, Tattoo Bill’s Tattoo Removal frees customers from the yoke of youthful decision making with an FDA-approved MedLite C6 laser, which zaps away unwanted black and color designs. After pumping $10,000 into comparative research trials, the shop settled on the MedLite system, pairing the powerful machine with a dye hand-piece to remove the staunchest of dragons and most slippery of carp. Customers can share relevant medical concerns during a free pretreatment consultation, during which Frank describes the minimal pain of the procedure and discusses realistic outcomes. Much like the tattoo parlors whose work they must erase, the staff heartily welcomes spontaneous walk-ins.

The Barber Crew's rich leather couches and dark stained wood welcome men looking for a smartly decorated salon and a dapper cut. The warm and masculine environment fosters comfort and camaraderie, as customers sip on a complimentary beer or nonalcoholic beverage and shoot the breeze with their stylists or fellow males whose hair doesn't cut itself. Guests recline back, keeping one eye over the TV at each station as hot towels open pores and stylists shape scalps to one's preference. The hair experts trim or remove all the sundry hairs that creep up on a man, from waxing brows to trimming beards and mustaches. Their sessions can include a dash of testosterone-friendly products from American Crew or Paul Mitchell, and stylists offer paraffin hand treatments to restore digits to equilibrium before thumb wrestling a grizzly bear tilts the scales back toward unadulterated masculinity.