Tinton Falls, NJ Spa and Massage

When children are sick, their parents will do anything to heal them. That’s why, when her teenage daughter developed fibromyalgia, Sorina Durante decided to go back to school to find ways to improve her daughter's health. She attended 10 different programs across England, Canada, and the United States to learn the latest in laser therapy and relaxation techniques, which not only helped her relieve her daughter's pains but also led her to open Energy Balance Laser Therapy & Massage. There, Durante shares with her clients her expertise in red-light therapy, therapeutic massage, and Dr. Kaufman's pain-neutralization technique, the latter of which relieves chronic and acute pain using a light touch. Durante also offers anti-aging facials that use lasers to firm and clear the skin, as well as stress-relieving alternative therapies such as reiki and CranioSacral.

Licensed aesthetician and The Spa at Centrex owner Yvonne Semente runs a one-woman glamour show, transforming clients with luscious eyelash extensions, facial treatments, and waxing services. Eyelashes are Yvonne's specialty, and she has spent almost every day for the past three years painstakingly applying her clients' lavish new fringe lash by lash, discarding any falsie that doesn't meet her rigorous standards for flirtation fluttering. As the spa’s only employee, Yvonne also funnels her 10 years of aesthetic expertise into acne and anti-aging facial treatments, chemical peels, waxing, and microdermabrasion.

The Enchanted Cottage is aptly named—it’s the kind of place that Goldilocks might stumble upon when trolling through the forest, looking for foodstuffs to steal. If she ever showed up here, she’d be in luck, because complimentary homemade breads, cookies, mozzarella, and herbal tea are offered to all who enter.

Lauretta Iavarone, who operates this cozy gem of a studio, classifies herself as a face-lift-massage specialist. Her signature massage tones the face by releasing facial tension and contractions that build up over time and eventually inspire wrinkles. The treatment’s toning benefits increase with multiple sessions, each of which includes soothing hot towels for the hands and feet. Alongside the face-lift massage, Lauretta offers Swedish, deep-tissue, hot-stone, and reflexology massage services to relieve tension in backs, necks, shoulders, and feet.

On their way out, clients can purchase all-natural, handmade skincare products by Mary Fairy Angels—including the Angel face cream used in Lauretta’s face-lift massage—or they can pick up a jar of raw, locally made honey.

Focused on the implementation of allopathy, Body N Balance's practitioners combine natural medicine with scientific advancements to guide clients down the road to wellness. Both male and female massage therapists practice knead-based therapy that utilizes vegan and hypoallergenic skincare agents, as well as performing thermotherapy and cryotherapy treatments. Customers can also look to Body N Balance to settle energy with Jin Shin Jyutsu and ease the mind with life coaching sessions.

When Kimberly Schadewald won a gift certificate for a massage, she wasn’t just winning free relief from stress. She was winning relief from the chronic pain that had plagued her since a work injury when she was 16. It also led her to discover a calling to heal others in the same way. Before founding 5 Points Wellness LLC, she studied Massage and Neuromuscular Therapy at the Gentle Healing School of Massage before attending Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital to study reiki. Equipped with this knowledge and experience, Schadewald helps clients alternatively manage and prevent pain through massage services with amenities such as a heated cherry stone pillow that eases areas of deep tension. She also works with children over the age of 6 to eradicate the daily stress of growing older, going to school, and cat fighting with imaginary friends.

Salon Soleil Nails & Spa's nail techs wield OPI lacquers, ibd gels, and LCN nail toppers, which are made from a gel-like, light-cured resin that does not discolor natural nails. Nearby, hairstylists update 'dos with Matrix color and perm haircare, and massage therapists dole out Swedish, deep-tissue, and aromatherapy massages while using Spa Organics lotions that are infused with natural ingredients such as raw emotion. The beauty haven also boasts a private treatment room dedicated to waxing, and leather pedicure thrones that are regularly spit-shined with hospital-grade disinfectants.