Meet the Crystal Cleansing Hair Treatment That Will Heal Your Soul and Your Scalp

Crystals are officially a thing. Top models such as Victoria’s Secret Angel Josephine Skriver cite stone facial rollers as part of their daily de-puffing regimens. The Class’s Taryn Toomey—the exercise guru who counts Jennifer Aniston and Naomi Watts among her Hollywood clients—outfitted her glossy Tribeca studio’s windows and tabletops with shiny, thought-provoking rocks—then packed the foundation with a layer of rose quartz for extra feel-good vibes. Even Kim Kardashian West, now a full-blown beauty mogul, dubbed her latest fragrance Crystal Gardenia Citrus and packaged it in a translucent crystal-like vial that hit virtual shelves this week, racking up $10 million in the process. Now, the pretty and powerful props are slowly making their way into hair care, too.

So when this New York City writer, a fair-weather New Age convert who has been known to set an energy-clearing stone on her desk—then promptly forget about it—heard about a new scalp treatment that is “seriously relaxing” from a stylish coworker who swore it was one of the more “special” experiences of her life, I was intrigued. Lava Beauty is an appointment-only hair salon that also offers crystal cleansing rituals ahead of your cut and blowout. Tucked away in a part-commercial, part-residential building on Nassau Street in Manhattan’s Financial District, its white-washed walls, plant-filled windows, and big open room, which is quiet and empty, makes visitors feel transported into another city. But after a few minutes with co-owner Lauren E. Hack, who has been practicing Reiki for more than a decade, it’s clear the intention is to elevate me to a higher plane altogether.

Before any hair conversation (I’m dying for a fix-up, after a recent botched cut, I want to tell her), Hack, alongside co-owner Vanessa Ungaro, says: “We like to start crystal clear.” And with that, a quick saging and a tarot card reading follows. I pull the red-orange “Orpiment” card that states: I am successful in all that I do. Sure, I think, not a bad intention for a Monday. After I choose an essential oil blend with lemon, orange, sandalwood, and jasmine as part of the forthcoming 30-minute deep head massage along my crown chakra (known to many as the shampoo portion of the appointment), it’s time to pick out the three crystals Hack will use during my “cleanse.”

I unload a linen sack’s worth of stones and before I’ve finished fingering through the full assortment of stones, including desert rose, blue lace agate, chevron amethyst, and moonstone, a bright green rock known as malachite jumps out of the palm of my hand and onto the shiny bleached floor. Almost in tandem, the duo’s brows raise. “Are you inviting change into your life?” Hack asks. “This is the stone of transformation, and, because it connects with our heart chakra, can assist in love, risk-taking, and spiritual growth.” I pick it, along with rose quartz (for support, I’m told) because again, not a bad move on a Monday. Then, after allowing my hand to hover over a pretty blue rock—the lapis lazuli, a popular choice amongst writers, says Ungaro, and one of the oldest, most desired stones used by sages, Egyptians, mystics, priests, and royalty—I land on a smooth piece of red calcite instead. “Sometimes we have no idea why we choose and don’t choose certain crystals until after we clear them, but the meaning and message is always revealed,” says Hack.

Feeling a bit unsure, I am led to a black reclining seat where Hack begins to pour the essential oil onto my crown chakra, which connects your physical body to your higher self. “If it is imbalanced,” she says, “it could show up as dizziness, a headache, or in thinning of hair.” As warm water from the shampoo bowl streams onto my scalp, I sway in and out of sleep. Rocks are placed on my face, my chest, in the palms of my hands, and along my legs, and I don’t stir once. A woman arrives in the waiting room for her own enlivening treatment, something I’ll discover later, but I don’t hear her. You know how at typical cleansing stations, the water temperature is either too cold or too hot, and the ridge of the sink hits the exact wrong spot on the nape of your neck? Here, I feel only relaxed and present. In fact, I don’t want to get out of this chair.

But, eventually, I must sit up, throw back on my black suede heels, and walk over to a spinning chair, where I’m seated in front of a large mirror. Ungaro, armed with Oribe products like the Run-Through Detangling Primer, gives a great blowout. The even better news? When Hack collects my crystals to place them back in the sack, she pauses to touch the red calcite. “It’s burning,” she says. “What does it mean?” I ask, eager to find some clarity about the last hour or so away from my desk. “You’ve got a lot of strength. It’s the stone for the everyday warrior.” And as every woman warrior knows, a blowout is best worn with an open heart.

To book an appointment or learn more about Lava Beauty, visit houseoflava.com.