— Head spa guides · Issaquah, WA
Head spa guides Read before you book.
What the scalp camera shows, what the 45 minutes feel like, and the questions our therapists get asked at the door before anyone lies down.
Quick answer
A head spa is 30 to 90 minutes of scalp work: a small camera puts a patch of your scalp on a monitor where you can see it, then comes a long massage through the scalp, neck and shoulders. Every format from 45 minutes up adds a double shampoo, warm water running through your hair while you lie back at the basin, and a blow-dry at the end, so you leave dry. The 30-minute version at $50 skips the wash — oil and pressure on a dry scalp, nothing wet.
The guides below are for the people who call before booking — someone whose roots are oily by the second day, someone whose scalp tightens through a wet Issaquah winter, someone holding a gift card with no idea what happens for 45 minutes. If your hair is coming out in patches, or your scalp is sore, bleeding or crusting, see a dermatologist first and then book: the two sit together well.
- Guides
- 10 to read
- Head spa length
- 30 to 90 minutes
- Price
- $50 to $150
- Open
- 7 days, 9 AM – 8 PM
— 01
What do you want to know first?
What is a head spa? The complete guide.
Scalp analysis, a deep cleanse, warm water running through your hair for longer than you would ever bother at home, and a massage that goes on well past the point where a salon would have stopped.
Read the guide →What happens during a head spa? Minute by minute.
Six stages in 60 minutes: a camera on your scalp before anything touches it, 2 shampoos, about 20 minutes of massage, warm water running through your hair while you lie back, a scalp treatment, and a blow-dry.
Read the guide →Your first head spa: what to expect From the curb to the blow-dry.
Come with unwashed hair, allow 45 or 60 minutes, and look for the two-name sign at the curb. The rest of it happens lying down with your eyes shut.
Read the guide →How much does a head spa cost? Every price, in full.
Eight formats between 30 and 90 minutes, $50 at the short end and $150 at the long one, with the scalp camera at the start of every one and the blow-dry at the end from 45 minutes up.
Read the guide →Head spa vs scalp treatment. What is the difference?
One is a product step, often 15 to 20 minutes, often bolted onto a salon visit you booked for a cut. The other gives that step an appointment of its own and puts a camera, a basin and up to 90 minutes around it.
Read the guide →What a scalp analysis shows And what it cannot tell you.
A handheld camera puts a patch of your scalp on a monitor, blown up far past anything a bathroom mirror shows, and the 30 to 90 minutes that follow are planned around what is on the screen.
Read the guide →Hair washing service What a professional wash includes.
Two shampoos, a scalp you can see on a monitor before anyone touches it, warm water running through your hair while you lie flat, and a blow-dry so you walk out dry.
Read the guide →Scalp massage benefits What the pressure is doing.
30 minutes of steady pressure across the scalp, the base of the skull and the tops of the shoulders — against the 90 seconds a salon shampoo bowl can spare, and slow enough that a good number of guests fall asleep in it.
Read the guide →Deep cleansing scalp treatment for an oily, buildup-prone scalp.
Sebum, styling product, dry shampoo starch and a trace of mineral from the tap. Four things settle on a scalp between washes, and a 60-minute cleanse at the basin is built to take all four off in one go.
Read the guide →Dry scalp, or dandruff? How to tell them apart.
Tight skin, fine pale flakes and an itch that arrives with the heating season. Telling that apart from dandruff decides whether your next booking is a treatment or a dermatologist.
Read the guide →— 02
What is worth deciding before you book?
Two things: how long you want to lie there, and whether you want your hair washed at all. Everything else is settled in the room, because what goes on your scalp is chosen after a small camera has put a patch of it on the monitor beside you — not picked off a list at the time of booking.
How long should you leave for it?
Between 30 and 90 minutes. The 30-minute TCM Head Aromatherapy at $50 is the one format that never wets your hair — oil, pressure and aroma on a dry scalp — so it fits around a working day. Every other length, 45 through 90, includes the double shampoo, the warm-water rinse at the basin and the blow-dry at the end.
Should you wash your hair first?
No — come as you are. Your scalp in its ordinary state is what the camera should see, and the cleanse is part of what the 45 minutes buys. Leaving Tuesday's dry shampoo in is fine too: the starch shows up on the monitor, and the first of the two shampoos takes it out.
How often do people come back?
Every 4 to 6 weeks is the common rhythm, and a single visit on its own is a perfectly ordinary thing to book. Scalps carrying months of buildup sometimes start closer together and then stretch out; someone booking mainly to switch off for an hour might come once a season and get what they came for.
All eight formats sit on the head spa menu, and the facials, massage and seven packages are on the full price list.
— Head spa prices
Eight formats, 30 to 90 minutes. All but the aromatherapy include a shampoo wash and a blow-dry finish.
| Head Spa | Time | Price |
|---|---|---|
| TCM Head Aromatherapy Scalp oil and massage, no shampoo wash — the shortest way in. | 30 min | $50 |
| Classic Head Spa Deep cleanse, double shampoo, scalp care, shoulder massage, blow-dry. | 45 min | $78 |
| Signature Head Spa & Upper Shoulder Massage Adds scalp exfoliation and a longer scalp and neck massage. | 60 min | $90 |
| Chinese Herb Scalp Ritual Herbal scalp care for oily, buildup-prone scalps. | 60 min | $100 |
| Signature Ginger Scalp Ritual Warming ginger treatment for tight, easily fatigued scalps. | 60 min | $100 |
| Aura Scalp Treatment + Mini Facial The most-booked service: scalp detox, singing bowl, mini facial. | 75 min | $120 |
| Luxury Milbon Restorative Head Spa Milbon treatment with hot steam for over-processed hair. | 90 min | $150 |
| Purifying Scalp Revitalize Treatment Deep cleanse plus a revitalizing essence infusion. | 90 min | $150 |
Finding us
Look for the sign, not a shopfront
Open every day, 9 AM to 8 PM — a lunch hour, an evening after work, or a weekend morning all fit.
- Come off I-90 at Exit 18 and follow E Sunset Way east. We are about a third of a mile past Front Street, on a block of converted houses.
- Watch the curb for a dark monument sign reading House of Layo and Aura Beauty. We share the site with the salon, so that sign is the landmark.
- Come a few minutes early on a first visit — there is tea by the fireplace, and your head spa starts with a look at your scalp on the monitor.
— Before you read on
Asked & answered.
Which head spa should I book first?
How much does a head spa cost at Aura?
Can I come on a weekday evening?
My scalp is flaking and sore. Should I book a head spa?
Where is the studio and how do I find it?
— Research & references
NCCIH — Massage Therapy: What You Need To Know
Reviews massage among the approaches studied for stress and muscle tension, and reports that serious side effects are rare.
Mayo Clinic — Relaxation techniques: Try these steps to lower stress
Groups hands-on approaches with breathing and meditation among the practices that bring everyday stress down.
NCCIH — Things To Know About Massage Therapy for Health Purposes
Says to tell your health care provider about any complementary approach you use, and never to let one postpone seeing a provider about a medical problem.
Citations are summarized — please read the original sources. Aura is a beauty and relaxation studio: nothing here diagnoses, treats or cures anything, and hair loss, a sore scalp or flaking that will not settle is a question for a dermatologist. See one first, then book — the two go together well.
— Issaquah · E Sunset Way
Aura Beauty & Head Spa is open every day, 9 AM to 8 PM, at 575 E Sunset Way, a 7 to 9 minute walk from Front Street and about 16 minutes from Sammamish. Book online or text (206) 552-4799. If you cannot choose between two formats, say so; the camera at the start settles it, and the packages pair a head spa with a facial or a massage.