Nusta Spa, one of Washington D.C.’s leading day spas and wellness destinations, is known for its full menu of holistic bodywork and skin care offerings. It’s the first LEED-certified spa (for sustainable design) in the country, and offers a unique environment where nature and beauty converge. We caught up with Brad Drummer, Nusta Spa owner and master body worker, to learn more about the nature-inspired spa.

Why You’ll Love It: I tell every person I hire that even though it’s incredible to hold the historic distinction of being the first spa in the country to earn the gold standard for eco-friendly design, it’s not being cocooned in a beautiful environment of healthy, eco-friendly structures and amenities that makes the client's experience so special. Rather, it ‘s the kind of nurturing care that they receive the moment they enter that affects them most profoundly—this is what I think they love the most. If you give amazing service, you could be in a tent on a hill and the people will still come.

Key Features: We offer locker rooms equipped with showers that have private dressing areas, a constantly changing menu of healthy snacks, a Vitality Tea bar featuring teas that contain ingredients that support the healing goals of one's visit, an Aromatherapy Bar where we can custom blend lotions, body oils, bath scrubs, and therapeutic roll-on applicators; a dry sauna that has the lowest EMF output available, organic body care products and gifts in our retail area, complimentary champagne, and more.

Bonus: Each treatment room has the ability to be customized to the client’s every need. The guest gets to choose the color of the lighting, the temperature of the room, the temperature of the bed, the kind of audio experience they wish to enjoy (ocean waves to relaxing music from around the globe)—and though each type of service has a recommended oil/skin care product—the rooms are stocked with a wide variety of choices to cater to the visitor’s unique wants and needs. 

Spa Snacks: We change the menu each day. I have fun seeking out new health food offerings such as kale chips, mango chips, quinoa crackers, raw nuts, seaweed wafers, etc. There is a Trader Joe’s not far from our location where you can often find me scouting out the organic goodies! 

Splurge Treatment: I strongly recommend a two-hour treatment called the Nusta. It’s perfect for someone who wants to sample the many unique aspects of Nusta Spa. You start by helping your therapist custom blend the body products to be used in the service at our Aromatherapy Bar. The service then begins with a full body scrub, followed by a moisturizing detox wrap.  While in the wrap, a mini facial is performed that includes a jasmine scalp treatment and a white tea anti-oxidizing mask. The treatment concludes with a luxurious full-body massage. You get to take home a bottle of the custom blended oil used in the treatment.

Unique Treatments: There are so many unique treatments at our spa, the aforementioned Nusta being one of them. Our stone massage uniquely features three types of stones: the Himalayan salt stone used for gentle exfoliation and the ionization of the skin, the hot river stones to deeply relax the muscles and increase circulation, and balsamic ice stones that further aid in circulation while relieving any inflammation caused by the salt and heat. 

Our Holistic Facial includes a kombucha bio-cellulose mask and counseling on the type of foods best suited for one's skin type. We have a pedicure that uses the Aromatherapy Bar to create a unique experience tailored to your individual needs. And there are other treatments that you can only find at Nusta Spa. 

Insider’s Favorite: My favorite would have to be The Delta Wave Massage—designed at Nusta to help you achieve the delta state of relaxation where nearly all of our physical, emotional, and nervous system healing takes place (hence its name). The results of this new form of massage therapy have been so profound that it has garnered the attention of the medical community with interest in launching research studies into its healing potentials.

Acupuncture Program: We have brought in the president of the Virginia Acupuncture Society, Aubry Fisher, and the incredibly talented and innovative acupuncturist, Marianna Csaszar—to design a program that draws upon our unique and forward-thinking menu of wellness services to create packages of supporting services and products that will enhance the therapeutic benefits of acupuncture.  Furthermore, we have categorized and presented  these packages in such a way that will reveal to the public aspects of health care that people probably never knew could be treated by acupuncture. I believe this is really going to be a game changer in alternative wellness care. 

Featured Products: Boddy Bliss, EmerginC, Naturopathica, and Sircuit Cosmeceuticals.

For more information, visit nustaspa.com and follow them on Instagram: @nustaspa.

[Images courtesy of Nusta Spa]

Nusta Spa

1129 20th Street, NW

Washington, DC 20036

202.530.5700