In the new year, my bestie and I are on a quest to find the next best place to get facials in…read moreGreensboro. We used to go all the way to Advance to be pampered by the best in the biz, but since her retirement, we've been looking for something a little closer to home. That's where Balance Day Spa hit the scene. They were particularly enticing due to their late hours during the week. After perusing their website, I called to schedule two services for my bestie and me as a belated birthday celebration. A pedicure and a facial for her, and a facial and a massage for me!
My bestie and I arrived about 40 minutes prior to the scheduled start of our services. Upon arrival, we were given a tour of the amenities, and we were eager to begin enjoying them. Balance Day Spa really brings it when it comes to providing everything you could need. They have lockers for your personal belongings, robes, and sandals in case you didn't bring your own. I appreciated that they use regular keys for their lockers rather than combination locks, which stresses me out. After we changed into our robes, we hit the steam room first. There were no formal instructions on how to use either the steam room or the sauna, but we eventually figured it out. We enjoyed about 15 minutes in both the steam room and the sauna. Then we drank some water and ate some mixed nuts as we waited to be called back for our services. They also offered complimentary coffee and tea.
My first service was a facial with Jessica. Before we started, she asked questions about my typical skin-care routine and when I last had a facial. She also asked if I was okay with her performing extractions if needed, and I said yes. Before she started, I had to choose between a harvest apple or an amber scent for my service. I opted for the amber option. The facial was very relaxing with all the typical components of cleansing, exfoliating, applying a face mask, massaging, moisturizing, and applying a lip moisturizer at the end. The extraction process was particularly painful to the point of bringing me to tears. I think a mid-extraction check-in would have been nice, so I could have asked for a brief respite as she wiped away my tears. Alas, beauty is pain, as they say. At the end of the service, she recommended a product she thought could help reduce the redness on my face. She let me take a picture of it, and I appreciated that she wasn't particularly pushy about it.
I began my massage service with Stephanie by completing an intake form to disclose any concerns and talk through any problem areas. Although I thought I had completed this in advance, it was only an intake form for the Esthetic service. Looking back at the ample texts I received before arriving, I only received one text with a link to complete an intake form, which could be why this was missed. I wanted a relaxing massage, and Stephanie utilized low to medium pressure to meet my expectations. A massage never feels long enough, but that's how I know it was a good massage.
At the time of booking, I didn't realize that Balance Day Spa utilizes a call center to handle its scheduling. This became abundantly clear when it came time for us to check out at the end of our visit. For whatever reason, the way the call center booked the services caused the woman checking us out to run our cards twice, once for each service. This felt clunky and is a valid reason to bring scheduling in-house if it causes this awkwardness to be the last impression you leave on a customer.
All in all, I was satisfied with my experience at Balance Day Spa. It felt very corporate, and I hope that the next stop on our facial tour has a more personal touch.