Dublin, OH Spa and Massage

Judith Allen, owner of Integrated Touch and Bodywork, started her own salon to break free from the rigid atmosphere of her previous employers. "I guess I couldn't follow rules anymore," she guffaws. "I'm getting old!" Now, she's free to perform specialized beauty services—including Brazilian waxes, gel manicures, and spa facials—in whatever way she sees fit. Judith's boisterous wit and upbeat nature keep clients laughing through services, assuaging the pain of losing a hangnail that had a nickname. A tree-ringed brick pathway leads to the door of her salon, where classical-style pillars support glass-topped tables and leafy plants point the way to private treatment rooms.

Under the trained guidance of a board-certified surgeon and a registered nurse, the specialists at Discover Allure Skin Centre take a well-rounded approach to skincare that emphasizes both in-office and at-home attention. Every facial they perform incorporates sun protection to ward off UV damage, retinoids to keep skin firm, antioxidants to slow the signs of aging, and dermal growth factors to kindle cell renewal. As clients begin their appointments, medical aestheticians size up their skin types in order to devise comprehensive plans for keeping skin looking youthful, including daily care products from Obagi and SkinMedica and Saturday-morning cartoons. Periwinkle walls and chocolate wood floors lead visitors into private treatment rooms, where anxieties dissolve with the help of soothing music and suffused lighting.

For more than 28 years, stylist Luann Albert has helped clients—including three former Ohio State Buckeyes quarterbacks—get ready for getting seen. Her crack-team of 12 stylists and cosmetologists operate out of a homey studio, full of throw rugs, curio cabinets, and hardwood floors with absolutely no telltale hearts beneath them. Luann cuts and styles hair, but also levels up manes with keratin smoothing sessions and permanent-wave treatments.

Within private and semiprivate rooms, staffers rejuvenate the non-scalp parts of clients with four facials that use Bioelements products, five nail services, and a range of massages, such as the deep-tissue, hot-stone, or less-practiced heavy-boulder massage developed at the Wile E. Coyote School of Beauty.:m]]

Spa owners Lisa Jordan and Jami Morone have transported their own slice of the tropics to Ohio. The Cove Wellness Spa was inspired by their vacation to Hawaii, which they took after graduating from aesthetics school together. While there, they sought a secluded beach spot that would shield them from the islands' bustling tourists and heat-seeking coconuts. The cove that they found fulfilled their desire for total serenity and also sparked the idea for the spa they would manage on their return to the mainland.

Today, Lisa and Jami try to recapture the feeling of ultimate leisure that overtook them in their Hawaiian haven. They typically greet guests at the spa's doors, ushering them into a familial fold of clients. Their treatments range from body wraps to tanning, with waxing for men and women and facials that draw from nature with ingredients such as pumpkin, berries, and chocolate.

As a child, Michael Cremar would watch, rapt, as his mother––a hairstylist of 28 years––enhanced a person’s natural beauty using nothing more than a pair of scissors and a little creativity. Inspired by his mom's magical touch, Cremar decided to follow in her footsteps, leading him to undergo rigorous training at the Aveda Institute, where he earned his cosmetology license. Today, he performs his own small miracles inside Shear Beauty, making dead ends disappear with a simple flick of his wrist and transforming frizzy, rebellious locks into smooth, straight strands with keratin treatments. Not content to limit his styling expertise to hair, he also offers waxing services to leave skin looking smooth and soft, as well as manicures and pedicures to soothe digits left stressed after a long week of typing, texting, or scratching the backs of itchy statues.