Beauty & Spas in Saint Cloud

The professional, certified stylists at The Beauty Bar dazzle customers with the latest in beauty trends and services while creating their own novelties in the process. Defrazzle scalp frizz with a women’s haircut and style ($45), a conditioning treatment ($25), or a Brazilian keratin blowdry ($150). Stray face fuzz can be swiftly decorticated with waxes of the eyebrow ($15), lip ($10), and chin ($10). Full makeup applications ($40) buff facial flooring to a glow stunning enough to knock a horse in shining armor off a knight. Other beautificating services include color ($50+), thermal straightening ($400), hair extensions (price upon request), and installation of a second set of eyes in the back of everyone else’s heads to increase the visibility of your blooming allure.

Co-founders Spooks "Spooky" Joya and Legion Avegno preside over a chorus of humming needles at Fallen Sparrow Tattoos, where a team of talented, professional artists customizes bodies with unique tattoos and piercings. After serving in apprenticeships under some of New York City’s most renowned inkers and pulling his first tattoo needle from an immovable stone, Spooky continues to decorate skin with pristine line work and elegant scripts. Co-artist Legion sits beside Spooky in the hygienic studio as he converts clients’ half-formed ideas into colorful sleeves or black-ink tuxedo jackets. Piercers Billy and Tyler work alongside their tattooing counterparts, busily bedecking bodies with custom surface and deep-tissue piercings.

Dr. Luis Del Rio and the crew at Infinite Health & Spine Center not only relieve structural and muscular issues with traditional chiropractic adjustments, but also attempt to stop pain before it starts. The clinic's own weight-loss program, ChiroThin, can alleviate some of the pressure placed on spines and muscles, sparing clients future back problems. When pain is already present, licensed massage therapists knead bodies with five different types of massage. The entire staff is bilingual, so they can consult with patients in either Spanish or English, though a single syllable of Italian makes them cry in confusion.

Physician and Balanced Health and Wellness founder Dr. Mary Alavi may not be a mapmaker, but she does understand that knowing where you are is the first step toward getting to where you want to be. She created the center after years of watching her patients suffer from premature aging and degenerative diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and obesity, knowing full well that many cases could have been preventable had her patients merely stopped to examine the signs. Her whole-person approach to health care includes a detailed exploration of each patient's history, lifestyle, genetic factors, and favorite episode of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, which allows her to outline a custom treatment plan. This road map to wellness might include medical screening or lab testing, nutrition plans or fitness protocols led by a certified personal trainer, or even visits with a life coach. Dr. Alavi's balanced approach to wellness also inspired her to make changes in her own life—since 2003, she's lost and kept off an inspirational 60 pounds, and she continues to share her own personal successes and failures to encourage her patients to stay on track.

The patient-centered philosophy at Balanced Health and Wellness is evident in the lobby, where guests relax in antique-style chairs and make small talk with a grandfatherly hardwood clock. Staffers present clients with tea or flavored water before directing them to sessions with a massage therapist or an aesthetician, or to a consultation with the office's certified laser technician, who sets his smoothing sights on hair, spider veins, fine lines, and age spots.

If the body is an instrument, then Doctor Albertina Logan is a professional tuner of corporeal pegs. With a background in chiropractic and massage, her office treats areas of chronic pain and tension, marrying a medical understanding of anatomy with alternative medicinal approaches. She believes that prevention is the best medicine when it comes to injuries, so she provides education to help patients understand their bodies both through her website and her Outreach Program.

What started as a five-chair salon in 1993 has become an award-winning business with 20 styling stations, and eight color stations. Helmed by owners Lisa Shriver-Brooks and Steven Brooks, Diva Studio’s stylists have developed a reputation for outstanding hair services, which has earned them the honor of styling strands for major events such as the 2005 Billboard Music Awards and VH1’s Divas 2004. High ceilings and an open floor plan characterize the industrial-chic space, which is illuminated by hanging studio lighting and decorated with stainless-steel fixtures made from former Brave Little Toasters. While standing on the polished cement floors, stylists wash clients’ hair before transforming their look with high-end products and services from blowouts to updos.