North Lauderdale, FL Spa and Massage

Inside the terra-cotta-tiled entrance to Glamour Center, stylists cut and color men's and women's hair with carefully selected European products. Skilled in color, color correction, highlights, and lowlights, the staff can tint all hair types—long, short, curly, or stolen off a mannequin. Nail services pamper hands and feet, and facial waxes outfit customers with perfectly arched brows and smooth skin.

Mark Lohmann's interest in health began when he witnessed its absence. As a child, he saw family members struggle with debilitating disease, and he began to wonder about ways he could restore their health. When he grew older and hopped on a track to become a yacht chef, Lohmann explored nutrition and often massaged his own shoulders to cope with "the long grueling hours spent on [his] feet for some two decades." When his parents' ailing health called him home in 2003, Lohmann began formally training in bodywork—starting with Active Isolated Stretching—before opening Planet Massage in 2005.

Lohmann's team of more than 20 licensed massage therapists tends to patients with medically based bodywork, often combining multiple modalities and products. The muscle masons further coddle clients with foot massages, heat packs, and Biofreeze, a paraben-free gel designed to relieve pain and make portrait subjects sit still for up to 20 hours. Planet Massage's crew can be dispatched for mobile massage appointments, and members also lead classes and workshops that guide clients through basic kneading techniques.

Dark hardwood floors and creamy white walls form the basis for Luxe Day Spa's tranquil environs, where guests bask in skin and body treatments that polish them from head to toe. An array of facials harnesses nutrients, organic enzymes, or high-tech LED devices to treat blemishes and reduce the signs of aging, whereas seven styles of massage melt away chronic tension. While reclining in a zero-gravity chair with a heated pillow under their neck and a toenail-themed romance novel over their eyes, guests enjoy relaxing pedicures enhanced by hydrating paraffin treatments. Meanwhile, specialists imbue or remove ink in the skin with permanent makeup, which brightens eyes, brows, or lips with smudge-free color that lasts for years, or tattoo-removal treatments that eschew skin-bleaching lasers in favor of invisible injections.

Doctor of Chiropractic Robert Kustin gets to the bottom of each patient's ailments with a customized multistep regimen. He begins by employing thorough exams, postural screenings, and x-rays to track down the source of aches and pains. Next, he develops a treatment plan of chiropractic adjustments and rehabilitative exercises. Active forms of physical therapy—such as strength training may bolster these plans to bring patients long-term relief.

Dr. Kustin extends his expertise outside the office as a public speaker on wellness concerns. He also serves as the official team chiropractor for the Everglades High School athletic department, as well as the sponsor for the annual Community Health and Wellness Day.

In addition to helping clients to unwind with massages facials, and synergy sauna sessions, the de-stress specialists at Shiraz Spa offer comfort to patients in the post-op stages of cosmetic surgery with a catalog of healing treatments. They also burnish bodies with permanent hair-removal sessions performed with state-of-the-art electrolysis and intense pulsed light (IPL) equipment.

After studying Thai massage for four years in the United States, Sandy Rabolli moved to Thailand to truly master the techniques. That dedication has led to more than 25 years of international clinical experience and a repertoire of modalities such as Swedish, craniosacral, and neuromuscular massage, with which Rabolli’s skilled hands can ease everything from neck, shoulder, and wallet pain to headaches, digestive problems, and sciatica. To this day, Rabolli continues to further her education, studying such subjects as myoskeletal techniques.