Garland Spa and Massage

How does one start a skincare business with no equipment, products, or money? Kim Evans found herself in that predicament when she started her business immediately after passing the state boards. With nothing but faith and a strong work ethic, she began tending to her clients' skin needs inside a rented room of a small spa. She worked 80 hours per week and became a licensed massage therapist to expand her business into what it is today: a wellness spa that enhances the beauty and health of skin and body through spa services and massage. Inside 2Gorjis Integrated Health & Wellness, three private treatment rooms house clients as two skin therapists cleanse surfaces during custom facials, or wrap bodies in aromatherapy herbal linens. The staff members bolster natural features with eyelash extensions, meticulous body waxing, and makeup artistry that includes exclamation points drawn next to eyebrows.

Holistic Touch's five massage therapists are all well-versed in Swedish and deep-tissue modalities, but they also each have their own specialties. Veronica, for example, mixes into her sessions such methods as meditation and the eastern healing practice known as reiki, and Cherricka even practices techniques designed specifically for treating carpal-tunnel syndrome. The therapists can also further customize massage sessions with add-ons including hot towels, essential oils, and hand or foot wraps. Because massage works best as part of a broader wellness regimen, Holistic Touch also rejuvenates clients with everything from salt-scrub treatments to holistic boot camps led by a talking tree.

Ku'uleilani Day Spa takes its musical name from its owner, an Oahu native who learned the art of Hawaiian lomi-lomi massage from her grandmother at a young age. At her spa, Ku'uleilani takes advantage of the nourishing powers of fruit and plants that grow naturally in Hawaii, as in the Kava body wrap or the green-papaya-enzyme facial. Waxing appointments also emphasize natural ingredients, uprooting hair with organic honey and beeswax. Since Ku’uleilani is also a licensed massage therapist, she can practice lomi-lomi and other massage styles without renting a speedboat and traveling to international waters.

Beauty experts polish their clients' fingers and toes before touching up their faces with vibrant makeup. Stylists clip, buzz, and sculpt the gentlemanly coifs of guests seated in their styling chairs. With their dashing new looks, these customers would stop traffic—if they were old enough to drive. At Sweet & Sassy, a salon and spa exclusively for children, glamour comes in all sizes. Mini manicures, pedicures, hairstyles, and makeup services give girls their first taste of the pampered life, and boys' haircuts give lads roughhouse-ready looks in styling chairs their own size. Even infants get in on the grooming with the Baby's First Cut package, which includes a hair locket, certificate, and photo keepsake to commemorate the first time their parents saw their ears. The salon also goes beyond simple image enhancements with themed parties, in which hot-pink limos scoop up young partygoers and bring them to the salon to don gowns and tiaras, strut down the runway, or rehearse for a live pop-music performance.

At The Skin Room, the products are as natural as they are effective. The center's earth-friendly skincare serums are blended from organic ingredients, often taking their power from the vitamins and nutrients found in fruits such as blueberries and cranberries. The Skin Room is draped in warm tones and soft light, making it a tranquil escape from the outside world for overworked 9–5ers and underappreciated professional sleepers.

Licensed massage therapist and instructor Clarissa Gonzalez-Wiggs has spent more than six years refining her professional skills in muscle manipulation. Over the course of her career, Clarissa has helped clients work through many ailments through a diverse array of modalities, from fostering stress relief with gentle Swedish massages to helping ease chronic pain from naps on the guest room's bed of nails with more intense deep-tissue techniques. During her trigger-point therapy sessions, the patient plays an active role in the treatment by taking deep, mindful breaths as she applies strategically placed pressure to alleviate tension and discomfort. For a multi-sensory experience, any of Clarissa's services can be enhanced with stimulating aromatherapy oils.