Head spa near Redmond, WA Open until 8 PM.

14.3 miles, and about 26 minutes when the roads are clear. The modeled route leaves Redmond on SR-520, drops south on 148th Ave NE and joins I-90 eastbound to Exit 18 — three busy roads stacked end to end.

Distance is only half of it. Kirkland lies 2.2 miles further out and still gets here a minute sooner, in about 25; Sammamish covers 6.8 miles in 16 minutes on surface streets. Of the four origins in the table below, Redmond has the longest drive on the clock at 26 minutes, and the three legs are why.

The three legs

1. SR-520 westbound out of Redmond to the 148th Ave NE exit — short, and the part of the trip that behaves itself.
2. South on 148th Ave NE to the I-90 interchange. Surface street, lights and all, so this leg is slow by design and predictable because of it.
3. I-90 east to Exit 18, signed E Sunset Way and Highlands Drive. The last leg, and the one that stretches after three in the afternoon.

What the afternoon peak does to it

WSDOT measured the I-90 stretch between Bellevue and Issaquah at 17 minutes eastbound on an average PM peak, against 9 minutes at the posted speed, and 21 minutes at the 95th percentile. Your third leg is that stretch, so an arrival between 3 and 7 PM wants 8 to 12 minutes added to the 26.

SR-520 and 148th do their own version of the same thing at the same hour. The Bellevue page covers that shared piece of freeway in more detail.

The 60-minute Signature Head Spa, $90. It opens with a digital scalp analysis, moves through a double cleanse and scalp exfoliation, then a long massage that works the scalp and carries on into the neck and across the shoulders, a warm-water rinse at the basin, and a blow-dry to finish.

The scalp camera

It opens every head spa on the menu, at no extra charge. A handheld camera puts a magnified patch of scalp up on a monitor next to the bed, and you watch it live. What the screen shows decides the next 50 minutes, because an oily scalp and a tight, flaking one want opposite products. The scalp analysis guide goes through what is on screen.

The reclined rinse

You stay lying down for it, head in the basin and shoulders still on the bed. Warm water runs from the ring above, over the crown and down the length, and nothing is asked of you while it does. All eight formats, $50 to $150, are on the head spa page.

Why the blow-dry matters on a weeknight

Because you have 26 minutes of driving ahead of you. From 45 minutes upward the session ends dry and brushed out, which is what makes a 6 PM booking on a Thursday in February workable at all. The 30-minute TCM Head Aromatherapy at $50 sidesteps the question — it is oil and pressure on a dry scalp.

Exit 18, signed E Sunset Way and Highlands Drive. Issaquah runs two commercial districts on opposite sides of I-90, and a pin dropped on the wrong one costs you a U-turn at the end of a 26-minute drive. Olde Town and E Sunset Way sit south of the freeway at Exit 18; the shops along NW Gilman Blvd sit north of it and come off a different exit, so check which side your map is pointing at before you signal.

What the block looks like

Somewhere around the 400 block the shopfronts give out, and E Sunset Way turns into houses on their own lots — Craftsman and mid-century, City Hall among them at number 130. The studio is one of those converted houses, set back from a tree-lined street. There is no shopfront to spot, so the landmark is the dark monument sign at the curb, which carries House of Layo above Aura Beauty; we share the site with the salon. Coming down from Exit 18 you reach 575 before you reach Front Street.

If you want to make an evening of it

Front Street is about a third of a mile west, a 7 to 9 minute walk on the flat, so dinner before or after a booking is a walk from the door. Opening hours, the map and the text line are all on the contact page.