Okay, real talk. We’ve hit that stretch of winter where the novelty is completely gone. The Christmas lights are down, the ski trails feel like a chore, and February is doing what February does — sitting on your chest like a wet blanket and refusing to move. Your skin is dry. Your shoulders are carrying six weeks of tension. Your patience is somewhere underneath two feet of snow in the driveway.
You need self-care. Like, now. And the good news? You don’t have to drive to Albany for it. Otsego County has some genuinely excellent spots to get you feeling like a human being again — from a small-batch beauty shop run by someone with brilliant taste and zero tolerance for bad ingredients, to a lakeside resort spa that will absolutely ruin you for regular life in the best possible way.
Here are five local businesses we love. Go treat yourself. You’ve earned it.
5 local self-care spots in Otsego County
01
Badgerface Beauty Supply
122 Marion Ave · Gilbertsville · Wed–Sat
Woman-Owned
Small Batch
Skincare
Gifts
Plastic-Free
Kristina Strain started Badgerface Beauty Supply in 2014 because she was done with products full of chemicals, fake fragrance, and guilt-trip marketing. The result is a line of handmade, all-natural, plastic-free bath and body goods that work without the nonsense — whipped body butters, sugar scrubs, lotion bars, zero-waste shampoo bars, and more, all made in small batches with real ingredients.
The shop in Gilbertsville is open Wednesday through Saturday. This is also a great online shop for those of us who would rather order from the couch wrapped in a blanket (no judgment — it’s winter). Perfect remedy for dry skin, February blues, or when you just want to smell like something other than your furnace.
Shop online or visit
Chantique Spa
107 Oneida St · Oneonta · Tue–Fri 9–5, Sat 9–2
Day Spa
Massage
Facials
Reflexology
By Appt
Tracy Abrams has been doing this for over 35 years and it shows — Chantique Spa in Oneonta is the kind of place that actually makes you feel better. Full-service day spa for everyone, with massage therapy, foot reflexology (non-negotiable in February), sea-salt body scrubs, facials, essential oil treatments, body buffs, waxing, and eyelash extensions.
No walk-ins — this one requires a little planning. Call ahead, book your slot, and give yourself something to look forward to on an otherwise gray Tuesday. That alone is worth something. (607) 441-9898
Unadilla Beauty Studio
1004 NY-7 · Unadilla · Call for hours
Hair Salon
Color
Balayage
Braiding
Perms
Sometimes what you actually need in the middle of winter is a fresh haircut. Not a spa day, not an oil treatment — just someone who knows what they’re doing, a warm chair, and 45 minutes away from your regular life. Unadilla Beauty Studio is exactly that.
A solid, trusted local salon offering the full range — cuts, color, balayage, braiding, perms. The kind of place where clients keep coming back, not because there’s nowhere else to go, but because they’re good. Give them a call. (607) 353-2975
Call to book
04
Embellished Beauty
7352 NY-23 · Oneonta · Mon–Fri 9–5
Lashes
Brows
Waxing
New in 2025
Samantha Mace opened Embellished Beauty in 2025 with a simple premise: “nature’s beauty, enhanced by design.” And honestly? In the dead of winter when everything feels a little gray and flat, that framing hits different. Sometimes you need a lash lift that makes you look awake even when you’re running on four hours of sleep and spite.
Lash lifts and tints start at $70. Lash extensions from $125. Brow laminations from $75, plus facial waxing. Embellished has grown almost entirely on word of mouth since opening — which, around here, is the highest possible endorsement.
Book online
05 — the splurge
Hawkeye Spa at The Otesaga
60 Lake St · Cooperstown · (607) 544-2565
Luxury Spa
Massage
Facials
Naturopathica
Lakeside Resort
Look, we can’t talk about self-care in Otsego County without talking about this one. The Otesaga Resort Hotel is a legendary AAA Four Diamond lakeside resort in Cooperstown — and Hawkeye Spa is its crown jewel. This is the one you go to when you’re done pretending dry shampoo is a self-care routine.
The therapists work with Naturopathica products (which are excellent, for the record) and offer the Otesaga Signature Massage, the Alpine Arnica Deep Tissue Massage, the Moisture Drench Facial for skin that’s been absolutely destroyed by Central New York winters, and more. It’s luxurious. It’s restorative. And the Lavish & Lunch Special gives you 30% off — which makes “treating yourself to a lake resort spa day in February” a sentence that is now completely justified.
You live here. You earned this.
Reserve your treatment
Support local. Treat yourself. These five businesses are run by real people in your county who are really good at what they do. Book an appointment, buy something, tell a friend. That’s how we take care of each other out here.