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Travel and Wellness: Get Ready to Glow

Hawaii's tropical terrain is brimming with holistic ingredients to purify, soften, tighten, and illuminate.
Paradise found: Four Seasons Hualalai Spa on the Big Island

By Leilani Marie Labong

1. Ride the Tide

At Turtle Bay’s Nalu Kinetic Spa, a traditional shiatsu massage is performed atop a wave motion table that gently rocks in all directions. Inspired by the ocean, this dry-land Watsu amplifies the rhythmic motion of the massage, deepening relaxation. That is, if you’ve remembered to take your Dramamine. $150, Kahuku

2. Mix Master

For the 80-minute Hulali Sparkle Scrub at the Four Seasons Hualalai Spa, guests can personalize their own polish at the in-house apothecary. With gleaming baby-soft skin in mind, concoct any combo of purifying salts (the black lava salt is uniquely of-the-island), fragrant infused oils (citrus-lemongrass or pikake), and a host of other native provisions (dried hibiscus, taro, coffee, and cocoa butter) to be applied via therapeutic massage before a warm-hot rinse under the Vichy shower. $250, Kailua-Kona

3. Grass Roots

With the strength of steel, bamboo—a woody grass that grows naturally in tropical climes—makes a great muscle kneader. At Mauna Kea Beach Hotel’s Mandara Spa, heated bamboo rods subdue tense tendons like rolling pins flattening pie dough. Because the standard 50-minute session flies by in a flash, request a Prolong the Bliss, which does just that for another half hour. $160 (massage), $70 (Prolong the Bliss); Waimea

4. Imperial Role

The Ali’i (Royalty) Experience at the Fairmont Orchid’s Spa Without Walls combines a lomilomi massage with a scrub of pulverized indigenous botanicals: coconut for hydration, ginger for softening, and ‘awa—a leafy member of the pepper family—for easing muscle tension. Part two includes a decadent scalp treatment using a hair-strengthening tonic of Ayurvedic ingredients like shikakai, ritha, and neem. You’ll emerge with the structural integrity of a puddle. $349–$369, Waimea

5. Face the Music

In an oceanfront treatment room at the Moana Lani Spa in Waikiki’s historic Moana Surfrider, the signature Na Mele treatment—a traditional lomilomi massage that’s inspired by the gentle ebb and flow of the waves—features a soundtrack of Hawaiian music and a symbolic offering to the deep blue yonder: Guests are asked to whisper worries into a small bowl of cleansing sea salt, which is then washed away by the ocean at the end of the day. $240, Honolulu

Travel and Wellness: Get Ready to Glow

Paradise found: Four Seasons Hualalai Spa on the Big Island

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