Redmond salon brings new way of relaxing

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, November 20, 2019

A Redmond hair salon owner saw a massage chair in an airport and decided to take the concept a big step forward.

While the chair was nicer than waiting for his flight in a plastic chair, Tim Westcott wondered how he could make the experience feel if it was in a setting without fluorescent lights beaming down and having to guard your luggage.

“When you go to an airport or a mall and there are 1,000 kids running around eating ice cream, it’s not very relaxing,” he said.

So Westcott, who has owned Salon Renaissance for 12 years, decided to upgrade the experience. He bought seven massage chairs, two for his Redmond location at 725 SW 8th Street, and five more for his larger Sisters salon.

To start, he bought chairs with 47 different settings, which massage from the neck down to the calves.

But Westcott topped it off by placing the chairs in the Relaxation Room, what he calls the “environment of inspirement.” The space-age room is darkened while the chairs work the body for 30 minutes. It is lighted by more than 1,000 tiny lights Westcott hand placed.

Relaxing music from SiriusXM’s spa channel fills the room.

Westcott said the massage compares favorably to one with a human masseuse, which can require booking weeks in advance with prices far higher than the $25 he charges for 30 minutes.

“In this case, you don’t even have to take your clothes off, nobody’s got bad breath,” he said. “In 30 minutes, you’re back to work.”

Customers can choose deep tissue, soft relaxation or other massage types, as long as they fit within their allotted time, Westcott said.

Monty Klausten, a general contractor, loves what the chair does for his bad back.

“I’ve got to say, it’s really a nice atmosphere,” Klausten said. “You go in there, there’s no phones ringing, no kids running in and out of there. It’s very peaceful…That massage chair he’s got just relaxes every muscle in your body. It just feels so good.”

Claire Schiemer, of Bend, who has been a regular hair client of Westcott’s, was happy she took up his invitation to try the relaxation room.

“It was a bit of a transcendental experience,” she said. “It’s almost like you check out of the world for a few minutes and check in with the divine.”

The Sisters Relaxation Room is even more elaborate, featuring projections that turn stars into planets, Westcott said.

Westcott says the Relaxation Room idea is so good, he might want to franchise it.

“Eventually, either I’ll do it or somebody else does it,” he said. “Everybody is trying to relieve their stress and this is an affordable way to do it.”

— Reporter: 541-548-2186, gfolsom@redmondspokesman.com