Remember the days when beauty wasn't easily accessible? And by easily accessible, I mean you had to do a little bit of hard labor...I mean research: thumb through the Yellow Pages, ask for word-of-mouth referrals (which are still priceless), be a walk-in at your own peril.
The internet, of course, has taken most of the guesswork out of finding a spa or salon (thank you Citysearch and Yelp!)—which makes your business better. Two tech-savvy beauty sleuths have been released, and those days of yore where calling up your Aunt Sally to find out where she gets her mani-pedi done will be a thing of the past (though I still highly recommend word-of-mouth referrals!).
There's an "app" for finding spas—and their best deals—thanks to SpaFinder, which just released an application for Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch. The application uses GPS to locate spas closest to the user's location; doles out last-minute specials and deals; allows for real-time booking over the SpaBooker Network; gives access to reviews, treatment menus and a slew of other invaluable factors that make choosing a spa much easier. The super bonus? It's free. More than 5,000 spas can be accessed through this app, which means you no longer have an excuse for not getting that massage.
For the city that never sleeps (NYC, baby!), and, therefore, demands strange hours, StyloNY.com grants users beauty direct to their doorstep at any hour, on-demand. Users can peruse booking pages that detail beauty professional's services, rates, portfolios, testimonials, and appointment calendars, and then make their selection depending on what matches up to their unique needs. "StyloNY.com is the first website to offer clients a quick and easy reservation system to book New York 's best beauty professionals to the client's preferred location," says co-founder Giulia Heiman (herself a hairstylist). "Much like what OpenTable.com has done for the restaurant business, we are looking to reinvent the way New Yorkers book their beauty needs." The site includes massage therapists, hairstylists, makeup artists—everything a busy Manhattan beautynista could ever want!
