Beauty & Spas in Gresham

Voted Best of Citysearch in the hair-color and mani-pedi categories in 2011, Hair Architects prettifies the hair, nails, and skin of its clients with great success. Channeling years of experience, the staff administers a full menu of salon and spa treatments for which they adopt the latest techniques, including Japanese permanent straightening, Shellac gel polish, and Brazilian waxing. For special occasions, stylists use L’Oréal and Redken products to sculpt hair into elegant updos ideal for looking resplendent at weddings, making a splash at proms, or smuggling candy into a movie theater.

Like a fingerprint, a snowflake, or a social security number, every piece of body art created by Aardvark Tattoo Company's tattoo artists is unique. Unlike those at other tattoo shops who work from preset designs, co-owners Risa Stevens and Paul Thomas lead a team of artists who create custom designs based on clients’ input. Each artist specializes in a different style, such as portraits, photorealism, art nouveau, feminine tattoos, and proper spellings of extremely long words. Meanwhile, the shop’s piercing specialist safely and precisely helps clients add jewelry to any part of the body.

Lindsay Le puts training at Seattle's Permanent Cosmetics School, an intuition for color, and a steady hand to use to beautify faces and enhance features. She uses brand-new supplies to maintain sanitation during each permanent-makeup application, and topical anesthetics numb flesh before Le deposits pigments into the skin. The process can even out discolored complexions, enhance eyes and eyebrows, or increase the thickness of lips to leave them beautiful even when reading aloud the ingredients in Funyuns. Le's studio also smoothes skin with waxing services and delights hands and feet with manicures and pedicures.

For a self-described "mini medi spa," Lavish Medical Aesthetics & Day Spa has a pretty comprehensive roster of services. First there are the facials, which employ Dermalogica products, LED lamps, and microcurrent probes to tighten slack skin and tone complexions. For more thorough exfoliation, the center wields derma blades, microdermabrasion wands, and chemical peels. Then there are the nail services, which can include add-ons such as paraffin and long-lasting Shellac gel polish. The body gets its fair share of attention, too; after undergoing laser hair removal, electrolysis, or waxing, clients can indulge in a salt glow or a back facial that uses hot rocks imported from the sun’s cobblestone streets.

Owner Norma Kahl and licensed aestheticians Alana, Angela, and Dima, promote beautiful complexions through medical-grade skincare treatments within a welcoming aesthetic laser center. SilkySkin’s team uses the latest in skincare technology, including prime laser hair-removal and cooling systems Cynosure Elite Aesthetic workstation and SmartCool 6. Along with laser hair removal and laser weaponry seminars, skincare treatments range from laser vein removal and laser facial treatments to microdermabrasion facials and chemical peels.

Free Spirit Skincare owner Rene' Halstead started out as a nail technician before earning a master's certification through Creative Nail Design for acrylic application. The multitalented aesthetician and her award-winning team cleanse and nourish faces using Dermalogica products and fragrant essential oils, and transform 'dos with color, cuts, and weaves. Halstead is licensed in cosmetic and body tattooing, specializing in permanent-makeup application, and—having trained at the renowned Gauntlet body-jewelry mecca in San Francisco—is certified to pierce earlobes or navels while seated atop a skirted horse. She stays ahead of industry trends with ongoing education through the International Dermal Institute and the American Institute of Intradermal Cosmetics.