The story of Tigard’s newest wellness spa begins with Tonie Lough’s personal quest to restore her health and recalibrate her system after a short stint living with hidden black mold, which cascaded into a crush of escalating symptoms, and Chad Jackson’s longtime journey on the wellness path.
The team merged and honed their vision for years before bringing SolVita to life.
In her recovery, a seedling thought eventually bloomed into the beautifully crafted SolVita Wellness Spa and its menu of services designed to calm the nervous system, helping the body regulate and restore on a cell-deep level.
“The idea is to speak to the nervous system. I want everything to be a hug for the nervous system. The red-light therapy, the sauna, the massage,” she said, ticking off a few of the spa’s core services.
Jackson, she says, “had been getting his toes wet in wellness for a few years, as well, and is a strong proponent of everything we do here.”
And what they do is restoration and regeneration.
SolVita’s full menu includes core services: infrared and traditional Finnish sauna, red light therapy, pulsed electromagnetic field therapy, compression therapy, and an assortment of additional wellness treatments, including micro needling, massage, and buccal massage – a technique that concentrates on facial muscles.
Lough and Tigard-native Jackson married their skill sets as a personal trainer and a remodeling professional to transform the vacant shell of the former Lux Tan and Cryo on Southwest Barrows Rd. into SolVita. The Spa launched with a grand opening earlier this Spring.
The pair began eyeing the space more than a year ago, after Lux relocated to Beaverton. They continued to occasionally track the empty building until the timing was right to launch SolVita. Jackson brought the vision and skills for a build-out, and Lough penned the business plan.
Among other amenities, SolVita Wellness Spa offers both infrared and traditional Finnish sauna options. Michael Antonelli/Tigard Life
Awareness, intention and comfort were paramount as the two set out to create a welcoming feel for all genders, finishing the space in rich neutral tones and accenting the lounge with a jumbo photo of Mt. Hood taken by one of Jackson’s friends on a fishing trip.
Though women have traditionally been more frequent spa regulars, Lough says it was important to her that men do not miss out on the benefits. Everything about the SolVita is tailored for comfort.
“We didn’t want to go in the way of a (medical) spa, because I didn’t want people coming in with that kind of nervous energy,” she said. “I wanted people coming excited for a spa day, saying ‘I’m so excited for my red light therapy.’ I want it to be a comfortable, comforting, calming experience.”
At the heart of the spa lie two handcrafted, traditional cedar Finnish saunas and a changing area designed to extend the experience into a continuous flow. While many saunas are designed for group use, SolVita intentionally focused on creating a space ideal for taking a solo sweat or for sharing the experience with carefully chosen sauna partners.
It’s a model the pair chose to blend privacy with community, like everything else about the spa.
Leaving space to congregate in other areas, she says, was vital.
“There is such a need for (community spaces). We’re all stuck in our phones and stuck in our lives. I wanted to make sure it was a space where people can get to know each other or (recognize) that they know from outside of here,” she said. She wanted it to be a space where neighbors notice ‘You’re my kid’s soccer coach, or we have the same yoga class.’ It was just important to me to make sure that we had space so that that could happen.”
They’ll continue cultivating community through membership while remaining accessible to guests who use the services less frequently by providing à la carte and one-time offerings. The menu is a constellation designed to be packaged, grouped, or combined in multiple configurations that maximize benefits depending on individual needs and resources.
Memberships start at $139/month for a package of 8 core services (sauna, red light therapy, pulsed electromagnetic field therapy, compression therapy) with add-on visits available for $25 and member discounts on massage and microneedling sessions. The spa also welcomes single visits and walk-ins.
Currently, Lough is most excited to be among the handful of places in the metro area that offer buccal massage.
“It’s marketed as a natural facelift because when they release the muscles in the cheeks, everything lifts. The skin lifts. The jowls lift,” she said. But she’s more stoked about health benefits than the aesthetics. “(Our massage therapist) uses it with clients who have chronic neck and shoulder pain and has found (it brings) relief.”
And, relief is what it’s all about.
SolVita Wellness Spa is located at 14250 SW Barrows Rd., Suite 1. For a full menu of services, membership packages, and current specials, visit them at solvitaspa.com or call 503-521-7979
