Hockessin, DE Spa and Massage

A wildly successful alternative to traditional day spas—its more than 300 locations blanket 36 states and half a dozen countries—Planet Beach Contempo Spa is a futuristic relaxation station where state-of-the-art machines administer all the spa and tanning services. These friendly automatons sometimes replace familiar treatments, as in the red-light facial, a light-based service that delivers anti-aging and blemish busting results similar to those of a conventional facial. But other equipment maps out new spa territory entirely: the Hydro-Derma Fusion chamber moisturizes the whole body with nutrient-rich steam in order to offset the effects of a dry climate or a rear-end collision with a salt truck. Other machines whiten teeth, spray tan skin, tan with UV-light, and massage muscles. Clients can also make use of the personal oxygen bar.

Planet Beach offers membership packages or flat monthly rates. As members spend more time at the spa, they get to know the helpful assistants who are always on hand to demonstrate how to use the equipment without activating its ability to cry.

While searching for a location for her salon and spa, founder Janet Conigliaro fell in love with a historic Victorian house on the edge of Wilmington. Deciding the domestic setting would help her clients feel at home, Conigliaro started her business, and more than a decade later, she and her staff are still snipping tresses and pampering skin amid the dwelling’s wood floors, ornate silver mirrors, and flowing lavender and green curtains.

The stylists employ products from Redken, Goldwell, and Framesi as they shift hair shades and craft updos for weddings, proms, and nights of partying at the city’s trendiest gas stations. The rest of the staff stays busy, too: nail technicians layer fingertips with long-lasting Shellac polish, skin specialists concoct custom masks for troubled skin, and massage therapists soothe knotted backs with Swedish, hot-stone, and sports massages. In the boutique, visitors can find jewelry and handbags to add to the wax statues of vacationing Supreme Court justices they sculpt in their free time.

With more than 30 licensed massage therapists and four area locations, Healing Hands Massage is on call seven days a week to bring relief to gridlocked muscles. Swedish-style therapeutic massages calm tense muscles and overworked minds with light-to-firm pressure and various kneading techniques. Deep pressure massages assuage tight muscles that require extra convincing, and pregnancy massages provide relief to expecting mothers whose joints ache from the added weight of carrying around future grown-ups. Massage therapists also make house calls for customers who’d rather receive bodywork in the comfort of their homes, and haul their massage chairs to offices or conventions to appease the overworked masses.

After being brought up in a salon family, LaSpina owner Joe LaSpina left the nest to run his own salon, HairWorks, which eventually branched into three locations. LaSpina's aesthetic skills grew leaps and bounds after a decade at HairWorks, leading him to work on the set of Newhart and eventually open his namesake salon and spa. Now LaSpina leads a staff of experienced salon and spa professionals who pamper and transform patrons with hair design, color enhancement, facials, and massages.

Inside the salon, haircuts and updos build new styles as color-enhancement and texturing services disguise strands in new shades and shapes. Stylists smother tresses in products from Redken, Paul Mitchell, American Crew, and Joe LaSpina's signature line. LaSpina also comes to the aid of clients dealing with hair loss due to illness, genetics, or blindfolded weed whacking, meticulously working with hairpieces and wigs to create a stylish look.

Weary bodies revitalize under the care of spa professionals, whose nimble fingers knead out tension during massages or slather countenances in SkinCeuticals products during facials. An array of body-waxing and custom spray-tan services keeps skin smooth and toned, and nail techs tend to the smaller details with pampering manicures and pedicures.

Voted 2012's best men's barber and salon by the readers of Delaware Today, Studio One Eleven surrounds fellas in relaxing, masculine ambiance while polishing handsome exteriors. Haircuts, coloring services, and dandruff-fighting scalp treatments keep dapper Dans looking even dapperer, and waxing streamlines chests for pool season or removes chest-clinging koalas for sweltering summer months. Spa services such as massages and facials melt away stress while keeping skin supple with essential oils and moisturizing emollients. The studio's focus on luxury extends beyond specific services, with complimentary chair massages during every visit, free hairdo touchups between scheduled visits, and an onsite putting green to practice shots while waiting for appointments.

When Pamela Troyan opened Salon Secrets Spa in 1993, she set out with a clear goal: to provide clients with a refuge from their daily pressures via the best possible salon and spa experience. She staffed her salon with highly trained stylists and technicians, many of whom studied at elite academies such as Vidal Sassoon, Toni & Guy, and Aveda. She also enrolled Salon Secrets Spa as a certified Aveda Signature Salon, meaning that all of their services (except nail coloring) would employ all-natural, organic Aveda products. With the salon fully staffed and stocked with elite stylists and luxe products, it was time to open. Since then, not much has changed: Pamela still oversees a team of well-educated stylists and technicians who’ve developed a loyal following of repeat customers and amateur paparazzi. Stylists customize looks with organic Aveda color services, as well as mani-peds, paraffin treatments, waxing, and Xtreme Lashes eyelash extensions. The spa staff soothes bodies with facials, peels, and microdermabrasion, as well as massages and body wraps. The med spa also beautifies patients with cosmetic services such as skin rejuvanation, VelaShape cellulite reduction, and spider-vein treatments performed or supervised by a certified plastic surgeon.