Beauty & Spas in Lake Saint Louis

If you ask Jodi Hudson the secret to running a successful hair salon, you might find her answer refreshingly simple: hair. Hudson, who spent 15 years teasing 'dos at other froufrou salons full of bells and whistles, decided to focus strictly on haircare when she opened Lakeview Hair Salon in 2004.

The basic goal of taming, nourishing, and shaping hair goes into everything Hudson does at her salon, from assembling a staff of skilled friseurs to stocking the shelves with top-notch products, such as Aquage and Paul Mitchell. And well-rounded haircare means that eyebrow waxing, perms, and bridal updos shaped like hairbrushes are also on the menu.

Founder Todd Beckman opened the first Tan Company location, then called The St. Louis Tan Company, in 1994 with a pair of average-size sun retreats. After perfecting a superstore concept with multiple levels of tanning beds and an intrepid-reporter alter ego, Beckman's bronzing business now spans 53 locations in 8 states, including 39 locations in the St. Louis area. Todd ensures each salon keeps the same high standards that won the 2010 award for Best Tanning in St. Louis from CityVoter.

A knowledgeable staff maintains each bright, highly sanitized environment and stocks shelves with Australian Gold, Swedish Beauty, and Designer Skin tanning products. The Tan Company also fashions UV-free tans with Mystic Tan standup booths that evenly spritz bodies with a paraben-free DHA solution infused with aloe vera.

Those not impressed with The Color Room Hair Salon's sleek hardwood floors and high vaulted ceilings are taken by the salon's centerpiece—modern chandeliers whose gold sequins glow in the sunlight. Amid these warm accents, expert stylists highlight bland strands and reduce frizz with keratin smoothing treatments. Guests may also request a formal updo, or banish unwanted hair from the body or face with a swift wax.

Pacific Beach's Beauty Angel treatment pairs beautification and physique sculpting in a series of 10-minute sessions combining light therapy, vibration, and platform-based exercise. Within the stand-up booth, clients bask in a safe red light that works to reawaken the body's collagen and elastin factories, disentangling wrinkles around the eyes and firming skin across the entire physique. The booth sports a vibrating platform designed to help break down cellulite and further stimulate epidermal collagen production. The vibrating motion also facilitates muscle toning and recovery by relaxing fibers. After seven daily sessions over one week, wrinkles may begin to diminish, cellulite may begin fade, and skin may begin smooth out, negating the need to seek eternal youth in every municipal fountain.

The style stalwarts at Supercuts have trimmed, toned, and honed the domes of hair-bearing hominids for decades. Walk-ins and waltz-ins are always welcome seven days a week at any of Supercuts' locations. The experienced stylists can accommodate cuts ranging from quick, careful mop maintenance to a more buzzworthy beehive for hypnotizing local grizzlies. Each scissor-handed specialist will draw from a vat of experience, leveraging quality hair products from Paul Mitchell and others to infuse your filaments with a winsome glow and creative coiffure.

Tangled Up's battalion of mane tamers revamps locks with a menu of hair services and a selection of Paul Mitchell products. One of their master or staff stylists will shampoo the scalp clean of debris and discard candy-bar wrappers before snipping away at miscreant locks and formulating ideas for a new 'do (a $20–$25 value). Highlight favored strands of hair with a partial highlight or color an entire head of hair to blend in with a newly purchased pillowcase (a $35–$50 value). The one- to two-hour styling session is wrapped up with a brow wax that shapes eyebrows into a constant expression of surprise (a $10–$12 value).