Farashe Med & Day Spa

This is one of my favorite spa places in the DMV area.
Friendly staff, professional services, clean facilities.
I especially like how they offer skin treatments for from teen to anti-aging.

The services here are on the pricy side compared to the smaller skincare shops, but quality is consistent and worth the value.

Plenty parking spaces out front, convenient location, easy to find.

They do book up fast, so plan ahead
Highly recommended by @winedinenvacay

WOW as a licensed Esthetician since 2009 in the State of Maryland. Also, a long-time resident in Columbia, I am completely devastated by the treatment I received from the receptionist Catherine this morning. My best friend went online because I always wanted to visit this day spa but never got a chance because I'm super busy. He bought me a 200-dollar gift card to relax because I've been grieving my mother is currently on life support in Ashville N, I just recently found out.

My 10-year-old Autistic son has been sick and was in the hospital. It's been crazy, so he thought a spa day would help. Today, while at work I called to book an appointment for today for message and light therapy and had the rudest most unprofessional encounter with Catherine. Afterward, I inquired about speaking with a Manager and she wouldn't even give me their name. She told me to call back tomorrow when a Manager is there and abruptly hung the phone up. I called back hoping to speak with someone else and she wouldn't answer and sent me to voice mail. I wasn't even able to book the 4:30 appointment for today that she said was available. This was a horrific experience to have!!!!!

I wanted to try a local place and scored. The office building is nothing special on the outside but I would try not to judge a book by its cover. The inside was a welcoming spa and I would definitely recommend checking them out.

I went to this spa several times in the past but, it changed ownership and all the great massage therapists are gone. I booked service for my birthday this week and had the worse experience with Cher Harris. I should have read the reviews before going there again because someone posted a review that describes a similar experience i had.
Cher greets me drily and looking like she's angry. she starts the massage and for about five minutes and says she forgot her water and walks out of the room. when she comes back, I made the mistake of asking if they usually use music during service or if they prefer silence. she replies that that's is not her fault , she does not control the music and she had not noticed that there was no music playing. she covers my back and says. I'll complain to the front desk. I then said, don't worry about it. I was just curious, Im fine without music. in reality I just didn't want to waist more time of my massage since. not only she was super late starting the massage and had to step out again for her water. well she did it anyways. when she comes back she she says that the speakers must be broken. Then she starts the massage again and yanks my arm back to stretch my shoulder blade and i felt a twinge on my neck. i started to rub my neck and she asks , what's wrong? so i mention to her that my neck didn't like the stretch she did. she never said sorry, the whole time acting like she's hating every minute of what she's doing. then she grabs hot stones for my back which i DID not sign up for hot stones, she puts it on my back and it startle me. she says do you have a problem? it looks like you have a problem with this service, I will see if someone else can finish your massage. she covered my back and stormed out. nobody came back in. i got up, got dressed and went to the front desk to pay for the other service i had earlier and the receptionist basically made all my fault that I was complaining about the music, that Cher's specialty is stretching, she is a stretch therapist and blah blah blah.... I will never go back to the spa.
terrible customer service.

Book with Cher! I had a hot stone massage and it was glorious. She was respectful and made sure I was super comfortable and relaxed. The ambiance was really calming too- soft music, perfect temperature, mood lighting. Loved it.

My husband booked us massages here for our anniversary. We both had a five star experience. My masseuse was Tiara, she was so skilled and knew exactly where my pain points were and was firm yet gentle. Best massage I've ever had. I hope to go back!

Overall, love this place, I became a member and had services even during the end of the pandemic. See Covid section.

Found them with a Groupon for a 45 min sauna and facial, after the service I signed up that day.

Parking: Shared lot not a ton of parking but I have never not found a spot despite coming at different times.

Products: Expensive products, definitely no short changing on quality here. I do love I have never been pressure to buy anything. As a member you get a discount and free shipping but I am more boujee on a budget for my skincare. Seem like good stuff tho.

Membership: $89 a month plus 45 min sauna that includes either a facial, massage, or Vichy shower treatment. I've tried all, loved the facials and massage but won't do Vichy again. Interesting to try tho. If I did do it again I would pair it with exfoliation then I think I would like it more.

Atmosphere: Its small but not bare bones. It doesn't feel like ultra luxury but it does feel clean, and quaint, and comfortable. The atmosphere feels friendly and helpful.

Pro tip: Be lazy and busy like me and then let your credits add up so you can do a 3 hr getaway. Start with 45 min sauna, then massage, then facial. You are welcome.

Staff: Shelly is a sweetheart. Gil is phenomenal at massages and Kiah is my favorite and the reason I signed up as a member in the first place plus the sauna plus service makes it a good value compared to other places. I drove a solid 30 minutes to get to them and it's still worth it every time.

Covid precautions: for facial the esthetics staff member and a few of the staff only accept vaccinated appts. Loves her focus on safety and an extra plus of why I felt comfortable doing the services. Also during the more..intense covid months everyone was masked up and extra precautions were done.

Note: I can't stand every time I am on mobile trying to book an apt that this chat bot comes up even if I'm signed in to my account. Also it would be great to see how many credits I have when I sign into my member account.

My go-to spa!
Great massage and a relaxing atmosphere with very nice people and a professional environment

So I discovered this place due to a Groupon infrared sauna package I gave as a gift.

We finally made time to use the groupon and... It was different.

First the good.

Relatively convenient Columbia location and ample parking. And sauna got hot.

Now the bad, and I'm going to be brief as possible. I am doing this because if someone had left this for me it would have saved some money and time. Yelp has been very helpful to me determining good fit and not so good fit for me to try.

So this has less to do with the business and more to do with me paying it forward to other yelpers.

1/ rushed and not properly communicated service. By that I mean when new people show up the business should take time to properly break down the service they are getting. I have been to spas before on cruises and all inclusive retreats, this one turned out to be different, so that intro would have helped.

2/ So person was gone by the time I got in the room and we had to figure it out. This is what we figured out:.

-No slippers provided. So walking on suspect floor with bare feet.
-No robe provided, just towel type item
-The Sauna was turned on, however the touch display sound system wasnt working. So left to their customer service (that did not check on us once) we would have sat in there with no music. Thankfully I did figure out how to just turn on the player hidden behind the display.
-As someone else has mentioned the room they placed us in was right next to the entrance, so you could hear the employees quite well, not the best for a serene, meditative setting


And all of that while not enjoyable ,is stuff you can shrug off and get past. What for me were dealbreakers and I would not have even bought the service if I had known:

-No access to shower after sweating in a hot sauna. Just sweating, put on your clothes and go. Again no stranger to spas here. No one has a sauna session without being able to shower after. Not only is it not hygenic, it undoes any calming effect of the sauna. I dont understand how you even offer a sauna service without the ability to shower immediately after.
-The 2nd deakbreaker in an age of covid (or any age if I am honest) not providing bottled water but having people use an open in room water pitcher in the sauna room. The top was half off, anything could have contaminated that water.

So that is it. The experience.

I ended up having to buy the Mrs. a different gift to make up for that spa gift. We live and hopefully learn.

All these issues the business could absolutely address and resolve in the future. Will they? I don't know. If none of this sounds like a problem to you, then this is the Spa for you. If it does sound problematic, you may want to confirm what to expect before trying it out.

I try and make all my reviews as fair as possible. Hopefully this can be of use.

Two Words: Terrell Toney.
I was a Licensed Massage Therapist for 8 years and have had many massages in my day. This evening Terrell gave me the best massage I've had in the past 5 years, maybe ever. He listened to everything I told him/asked for. He is very intuitive, which i think helped him provide perfect pressure for the entire massage (cause, you know, some body parts need more or less depending on what's going on!) He helped me feel instantly at ease and guiding me through therapeutic breathing at the beginning and end of my massage.
I was told by front staff that Terrell is also a personal trainer. This is evident by his knowledge of the body and different modalities he uses.
Couldn't recommend him more!
I know I'll be back...regularly!