Massage in Tonawanda

High-school pals Andrea Veres and Christina Yeates drew inspiration from their own friendship when they opened The Waxing Studio & Spa in 2006, treating skin with the same care they give each other. Their approach is low-tech and gentle, and the airy spa's sleek, black-and-robin's-egg-blue rooms stay chic and tidy with nontoxic, earth-friendly cleaners. Light streams into the quiet massage rooms, where therapists demonstrate camaraderie during tandem and couples massages, before showing commitment to the earth by laundering towels in high-efficiency machines.

Aestheticians gently balance complexions with bronze scales and Hungarian skincare products from Szép Elét, an organic line rich in active ingredients and aromatic botanicals. The Waxing Studio & Spa’s defuzzing specialists created a stage between a traditional bikini wax and a Brazilian—jokingly dubbed the "B.I.T." or Brazilian In Training—to ease women into skimpier swimsuits without cutting support for bacon consumption, and eyebrow specialists will shape arches for men and women with tweezers or the ancient art of threading.

To support their community, the staff invites local vendors to display their handmade jewelry, paintings, and purses in the boutique alongside Szép Elét tonics to take home.

The instructors and practitioners at TendingShen devote themselves to spreading the word of acupuncture from its roots in Eastern Asia to Western shores. They believe that five-element acupuncture—a descendant of traditional Japanese and Korean styles—makes a versatile complement to Western medicine, augmenting treatments that address ailments metabolically with holistic methods designed to stimulate the body’s own natural healing.

Shanthy Jayakumar prescribed many medicines during the nine years she worked as a medical consultant for Mother Teresa Medicare in Sri Lanka, but you'd be hard pressed to find any of them in a typical drugstore. That's because her prescriptions consist of herbs, holistic therapies, and even certain types of food. According to Shanthy, many patients initially come to Harisa Massage Therapy & Ayurvedic Wellness Center for Western-style massages or organic facials, but return for the Ayurvedic medicine that she introduces to them.

Treatments such as herbal nasal cleansing absolve the body of physical impurities, and relaxing Shirodhara head massages quiet inner monologues or AM radio signals as a slow drizzle of heated oil drips onto the forehead. Panchakarma therapy cleanses the three Ayurvedic systems that govern the body by combining healing massage therapy with internal cleansing induced by carefully selected herbs.

For the past two years, licensed massage therapist Jennifer M. Regan of 3R Therapeutic Arts has called upon her medical background to holistically heal clients on both a physical and emotional level. During 30- to 75-minute sessions, she carefully manipulates layers of muscle and connective tissue to relieve tension, increase blood circulation, and massage away aches from sleeping on a bed of marshmallows. Jennifer’s studio is within the Snyder Professional Center.

For the past eight years, licensed massage therapist Pamela S.R. Williams has been improving clients' well-being with massage therapy. Expertly trained at the New York Institute of Massage, Pam's hands execute a variety of full-body massage techniques—literally from head to foot—to address health issues ranging from lower back pain to postsurgery swelling to depression. Patrons also regularly visit Keep In Touch Massage for rejuvenating spa services designed to soften skin or cleanse the body of impurities and permanent marker graffiti.