Beauty & Spas in Owings Mills

Unlike many massage therapists, Hands To You Wellness Studio owner Zina Sanders incorporates holistic healing elements into her treatments to provide additional therapeutic and stress-relieving benefits. Traditional Thai massages take place on floor mats so their yoga-like stretches can be more easily achieved, and integrative reflexology treatments focus exclusively on pinpoints throughout the body to improve balance and circulation and locate the body’s “eject” button. Since graduating from the Baltimore School of Massage in 1996, Zina has continued to broaden her skills by pursuing ongoing education at various seminars and workshops.

The aesthetically impassioned massage therapists, nail techs, and stylists at Art Salon and Spa pamper patrons with style overhauls and stress obliterating massages. With Swedish and deep-tissue modalities, massage therapists gingerly knead away any muscular tension, or send chronic pain its walking orders, targeting strain buried beneath surface tissue. Stylists work head-in-hand with guests to tidily trim hairdos or reshape them with braids and curls, and nail technicians keep digits looking as radiant and colorful as a piñata full of glow sticks.:

Historically spas have served as escapes from the stresses of everyday life. Yet at Baltimore Spa and Salon, ensconced within the Ritz-Carlton Residences on the Inner Harbor, an acute attention to detail has enabled patrons to escape all their worries, from their aches to their dissatisfaction with their style to their irrational fear of invading Mongols. The spa side is divided into therapy suites: a couples' treatment room with whirlpool, a Vichy treatment room that draws deep impurities from the body while releasing a warm radiance, and an oasis treatment room for individuals or couples to help detoxify, firm, and hydrate skin. While enjoying treatments that range from a four-handed massage to a detoxifying rinse beneath a seven-headed Vichy shower, guests take in curved glass panels and walls wrapped in damask fabric.

The salon, meanwhile, affords a similarly immersive experience with designer cuts, expert coloring, straightening, and deep-conditioning treatments. Both facets of getaway gain backup support from a boutique, which offers guests products from lines such as Red Flower, Éminence Organic Skin Care, and Bumble and bumble. With a new medical aesthetics menu and new hours, the spa salon always keeps its customers in mind.

After years of struggling with acne as a teen, Joyce Brown was unsure of how to properly care for her skin. One day, when she was in her early 20s, that all changed—the day she received a facial. This ignited a lifelong passion for skincare, and with the help of her mother, Joyce saved enough money to attend the Von Lee International School of Aesthetics and learned to nourish and nurture the delicate skin of the face. Joyce finished her skincare training with big dreams of starting her own business, but motherhood and a professional career—she has a master’s degree in social work—kept her goals at bay. After years of hard work and watching tear-jerking facial documentaries, Joyce finally took a leap of faith, resigning from her job and opening Elaina Joi Skincare, a studio in a quaint second-floor walkup.

Joyce translates the people skills she mastered during her former life in social work to establish a strong rapport with her clients and their specific skin concerns. With the aid of DermaQuest—a dermatologist-recommended skincare line created without animal testing—and Face Reality Skin Care–specially designed for clients with acne– Joyce attends to each client’s visage with a detailed, diligent approach. Sessions conclude when the specialist charts an at-home skincare regimen to ensure continued care and to keep pores out of the Pringles stash.

The attentive staff at LeSalon de Beauté beautifies hair, skin, and nails, striving to anticipate clients' needs in a welcoming and relaxed atmosphere. Stylists transform strands with color and texturizing services, including spiral perms modeled after famous DNA double helixes. The team targets stress with Swedish, deep-tissue, or myofascial massages and mani-pedis that can include a hot stone hand or foot treatment. The community-minded salon has also supported local artists by displaying paintings and other works.

While working at other peoples' salons, Shelly Spann yearned for something of her own. "I wanted to get my name out there," she says. One day, while watching reality TV, Shelly was struck by an idea. All of the shows were "centered around women and hanging out together, so I thought, 'Oh my God, how awesome would it be if we did that?'" Shelly masterminded a business that beautifies brows on location at get-togethers as partygoers sip champagne and wine. "It takes a little bit of the edge off of waxing," she says with a laugh.

Now Shelly divides her hours between mobile services and time at her full-body-waxing headquarters. She uses Nufree Nudesse, a sugar-free wax alternative that removes hair with less pain, irritation, and grumbling from cranky candles. Clients can also request numbing creams to keep procedures even less uncomfortable.

Waxing and brow sculpting aren’t Shelly’s only specialties, though. The fully licensed aesthetician also beautifies her clients’ complexions with a selection of exfoliating and hydrating facials. Her treatments range from mini and teen versions of her signature facial to custom European facials that take their cues from individual skin types.