Beauty & Spas in Gatineau

• For $35, you get a five-class card (a $75 value). • For $50, you get one month of unlimited yoga or tai-chi classes (a $135 value).

Elite Laser Clinic's licensed laser technicians assuage wrinkles, sunspots, and facial veins with advanced healing treatments. Each non-invasive facial commences with a consultation to determine each client's personal skin concerns, including loss of skin tone, spider veins, or the sudden appearance of temporary bull's-eye tattoos. A skin rejuvenation treatment revives glows by clarifying texture, strengthening elastins, and firming collagen, and spider veins and facial telangiectasias diminish during a laser vein removal free from general anesthesia. For sun damage or liver spots, a pigmentation lesion eradication session restores colour and youthfulness to visages without having to master the stick-shift on manual time machines. Each treatment harnesses the gentle wavelengths emanating from an Apogee Elite laser to remedy skin during sequential, 15- to 30-minute procedures. The pigmentation treatments are not effective for those with dark skin tones.

Spa Médical Medina offers nailcare, waxing, massage, and skincare in a clean and inviting studio space. The staff dotes upon each client with one-on-one attention, regardless of whether they’re administering a french mani-pedi, a customized aromatherapy facial, or a bikini wax. To align inner and outer beauty, therapists also perform relaxation and hot-stone massages.

After years of working together in the salons of others, longtime friends and coworkers Sonia Lefebvre and Eve Parr joined forces to realize their dreams of opening their own business, working tirelessly to build 53 Karat from the ground up. Since opening 53 Karat in January of 2009, Sonia and Eve—backed by the talents and passion of their close-knit team of massage therapists, stylists, and aestheticians—have steadfastly tackled the challenges and revelled in the joys of their work, their infectious excitement evident to all those who step through their doors. Bustling about their elegant styling stations forged from unfinished wood, coiffeurs bedizen hair with flattering highlights, and muscle manipulators in wood-floored private treatment rooms revive bodies weary from catapulting to work with tension-erasing massages. Floor-to-ceiling windows flood the spacious salon and spa with natural light, and the chic warehouse-like space retains a welcoming warmth thanks to rich red walls and cheery plants.

As a massage therapist, waxing technician, and aesthetician, Daniel Francoeur knows a lot about skincare. But it wasn't until his male clientele grew substantially at his previous spa that he took notice of the demographic’s lack of aesthetic products, let alone services geared toward it. It was with this epiphany that Daniel went on to establish the first Bodé Spa for Men in Ottawa, followed by a med spa–focused location in Toronto in 2012. Since then both spaces have gained praise from a host of media outlets, including Toro Magazine, Spa Life Magazine Escapes, and CTV Morning Live Ottawa, where Daniel explain why male-centric services are necessary. "We produce about 30 to 40 per cent more oil than women do, so we have a lot more issues when it comes to things like [acne],” he said. “We have to be careful even with waxing and manscaping, how our bodies react afterwards."

The only thing gritty and rough at Bodé's Ottawa location are the unfinished concrete walls that wrap around the spacious spa. This coarse, earthy element, complemented by a robust fireplace and metal accents, gives the space a refined yet manly feel as highly trained technicians pamper gentlemen inside private treatment rooms. The hydro room—described by clients as a "rainforest grotto"—fosters relaxation as a registered massage therapist or massage practitioner eases tension and knots from bodies with a custom massage. Masculine tranquility is also found in a tailored foot and hand fixes, full-body hair removal using waxing and sugaring, and specialized skincare treatments, which offer exfoliation via chemical peels.