There’s nothing quite like a day at the spa for a fun and revitalizing reset, and why should grown-up have all the fun? There are spots in the metro area that offer services for kids, and some are even totally focused on the little ones. Here are a few ideas to make their first pampering session one to remember.
At Sweet & Sassy of St. Louis, the spa menu rivals any resort, but it’s just for kids. They offer manicures and pedicures without any of the “ouchier” stuff like cuticle cutting. There are styling services like braids and updos, makeovers, and even a First Haircut package complete with a lock of hair and certificate to take home. Book a theme party (like Perfect Princess, Fashion Runway, Pop Star, and more), take a class or a Glam Camp, and even get little ears pierced.
Formerly PAINT Nail Bar, Polish Room Nail Bar in Richmond Heights focuses on a luxe experience and boasts hygienic water basins without those tricky jets, as well as vegan and formaldehyde-free polishes—so, safe and gentle with no nail-salon smell! While the extensive services (and the mimosas) are more focused on adults, Polish Room offers extra-gentle manicures and pedicures for the under-12 set.
St. Louis Children’s Party Mobile Spa
If you want the spa to come to you, St. Louis Children’s Party is a great option. The traveling spa packages make for a memorable occasion, with fizzy hand and foot soaks, sparkling sips, and age-appropriate treatments. Packages start off for six kids, with options for chocolate facials, nail art, personalized spa robes, and flip-flops. Maybe best of all, they handle clean-up, too, after the treatments wrap up.
The Hairy Elephant in Ballwin and O’Fallon, Missouri, is all about hair, and they’ve figured out how to turn the whole experience into a fun outing instead of a grueling chore. Harry the Shampooing Elephant helps scrub locks through his trunk with “flavored” and kid-concocted shampoo, and kids can choose from a Jeep, sports car, train, or regular chair for their cut. Whichever chair they choose, the built-in video games and movies at each seat make it fun. For kids with a little more personal style to express, the salon offers hair tinsel, hair chalk, braiding, bows, barrettes, and edgier ‘dos like a fauxhawk. The Hairy Elephant also has a trained staff fully equipped with sensory-friendly tools.
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AmberSky Salon is family-focused, as opposed to just kid-focused. That means that kids can get a cut at the same place where their parents and older siblings go for cuts, color, processes, and other typical hair-salon offerings. Toys and fun chairs are a given, but the salon is also known for highlights, waxing, and beard trims for the grownups. It’s a relaxing space with stylists who are trained to keep kids chill, as well as make them (and their adults) look their very best.
Even the fussiest little ones will be soothed by the screens at Cookie Cutters’ Creve Coeur or Lake St. Louis locations. Yes, that’s right, they can pick out their vehicle-shaped chair, choose a kid show to stream, and relax as a stylist cuts their hair lickety-split. There’s a small piece of play equipment—a tunnel and slide—for junior to play on while he or she waits for their turn in the chair, and after they’re done, they’ll receive a balloon and a sucker.
This children’s salon in Fairview Heights, Illinois, is also a boutique and tumbling gym. During cuts, kids can ride in car-shaped chairs while playing video games. It also offers a “My First Haircut” photo with a lock of hair.
Timothy Sauer–known as Mr. Tim–is a full-time kids’ haircutting genius and part-time nursery rhyme singer at Sweet and Sour Salon. With a locally renowned talent for helping kids with special needs and sensory issues make it through their haircuts with minimal tears or trauma, this Ballwin salon even offers a sensory-friendly “sweet and soothing” haircut option.
This Des Peres salon specializes in services for kids with diverse hair types. During their cut or service, kids can be distracted by a TV set to children’s programming, and they can also have fun posing on a selfie wall for before and after pictures. If that wasn’t incentive enough, kids also have the option to pick out a small prize and a treat after their service.
