How to Prepare for a Head Spa

Very little preparation is required, which is part of the appeal. Still, a handful of small decisions made earlier in the day change how good the hour is, and none of them are obvious the first time.

Bring a hair tie if your hair is long. There is a point in the sequence where having it gathered is easier than having it everywhere, and a tie in your pocket saves improvising with something at the desk. An elastic without a metal join is the friendliest kind.

Skip the heavy product that morning if you can. Wax, thick paste, dry shampoo layered three days deep and firm-hold spray all sit between hands and scalp, which is exactly where the work happens. Clean and dry is ideal. Second-day hair is completely fine. Nothing gets rinsed here, so whatever is in it when you arrive is what you leave with.

Take out large earrings, and consider leaving a necklace at home. Studs are usually unnoticeable. Hoops and drops end up in the way once the therapist starts working near the ears and along the hairline.

If you wear contacts, decide in advance whether you would rather be in glasses. You are on your back with your eyes closed for an hour and nobody is touching your face, so contacts are not a problem. Some people simply prefer not to have them in when they are likely to doze off. Glasses come off at the start either way.

Eat something, but not a heavy meal in the half hour beforehand. Lying flat and completely still for sixty minutes after a large lunch is less restful than it sounds. Arriving genuinely hungry is worse, because your attention goes to your stomach instead of your shoulders.

Go easy on caffeine right before. A double espresso at the door works directly against the thing you are paying for. If the point is to switch off, do not spend the first twenty minutes fighting your own heart rate.

Give yourself a buffer on both ends. Rushing in undoes some of the first ten minutes, and scheduling something sharp immediately after undoes the last ten. If you can avoid putting a meeting or a hard deadline right behind the appointment, do.

Turn the phone fully off rather than face down. Silent still buzzes, and buzzing in a quiet room is worth more disruption than it seems.

Come with an answer to one question, because you will be asked it. How much pressure do you like? You do not need to know precisely. Firm, medium or light is enough to start, and it gets adjusted in the first few minutes anyway.

Decide about add-ons before you call rather than at checkout. Hot stones and cupping are twenty dollars each, CBD and a half hour of infrared sauna are thirty each, and all of them are attached when the booking is made.

Everything else takes care of itself once you are on the table.