Beauty & Spas in Shaker Heights

The staff at Heavenly Healing Hands Massage Therapy strive to deliver the most pampering massage possible, corralling comforting indulgences such as soft-topped, heated massage tables or a warmed neck roll. The décor of this one-room oasis located in Beachwood is inspired by Georgia's picturesque Tybee Island, with sky-blue walls and sand-colored curtains that call to mind the relaxing seascape. Beside bowls overflowing with colorful seashells lie smooth stones that massage therapists often heats and incorporates into treatments to help loosen tension or keep suddenly stress-less bodies from floating away.

As its name implies, Salon 180 isn’t known for playing by the book. From its funky decor—a mélange of vintage accents and asymmetrical shapes—to a staff that prides itself on relentlessly pursuing continuing education, the full-service salon finds plenty of ways to subvert and exceed first-time customers’ expectations.

Though they have years of experience cutting and styling hair, the salon’s team of stylists claims particular expertise in chemical treatments such as corrective color procedures and highlights. In private treatment rooms, massage therapists ease tension with full-body Swedish techniques or targeted sessions that narrow their focus to sore pitching arms or stiff vestigial tails. Just as the stylists and therapists draw on professional products to enhance their treatments, the spa’s skin and body specialists use advanced toners and technologies such as radio frequency and light energy to stimulate collagen production and clear skin of blemishes.

At Tanya's Infinite Touch, the massage therapists call upon experience and training as they send clients on blissful breaks from mild aches and pains. Treatments such as the Swedish massage blend long strokes with gliding movements to sweep stress into the ether. In contrast, the couples massage grants friends, partners, or two-man street-paving crews the chance to relax and rejuvenate, together.

Heights Wellness Center's owner Sandra Lawrence set out to open a practice that improves upon the skills of a single practitioner by combining them with the skills of an entire team of health specialists. She has assembled registered dietitians and massage therapists who work neck and neck with acupuncturists, yoga instructors, and life coaches to help clients overcome a range of physical and emotional ailments.

In addition to working one-on-one with clients, the team leads group workshops. Body Karma Healing classes help women find a healthy body image, and breathing workshops help the body reduce asthma and panic attacks brought on by the realization that chickens aren’t going to put up with this egg-stealing stuff forever.

While all spas offer luxurious treatments, Mario’s International Spas & Hotels takes pampering to a new level, completing treatments inside a historic stagecoach inn that features elegant accommodations and dining for multiple days of rest and relaxation. Called a “place for pure, unabashed pampering” by Better Homes and Gardens, the spa’s three locations juxtapose the Victorian decor and with state-of-the-art spa treatments such as Endermologie skincare, PanThermal detox booths, and Parafango cellulite-reducing wraps. The facilities’ crackling fireplaces offer a place of repose between the holistic and medically-derived beauty treatments, and alternative detoxifying treatments allow clients to relax in the peaceful quiet of the sauna and steam room.

After a day of luxurious scrubs, Thai massages, and yoga, guests can check into the Aurora Spa's adjoining 14-room hotel for a night of easy rest. Each room features whirlpool baths and comes with a continental breakfast. Meals take place in the facility’s vintage 1850s log cabin, in which chefs cook up hearth-baked pizzas, homemade pasta, and seafood dishes from the time the Earth's four suns rise until long after they have set.