My old routine took two evenings and a car.
At 57, I had finally made time for myself. Twice a week I drove to the spa for the sauna. On other evenings I sat with an LED mask on my face for half an hour.
I liked both. I did not like the driving, the parking or the monthly bill.
Illustration. Two routines, now one.
Something always gave.
A late dinner, a tired evening, a rainy night. The mask stayed in its box. The spa pass went unused, and I kept paying for it.
I did the math one Sunday. Each spa visit was close to two hours once I counted the drive, the parking and the changing room. The mask was another half hour I rarely found. I was giving most of my free evenings to two habits, and keeping neither.
Fifty-seven is an age when you notice your skin, and when your evenings finally belong to you again. I wanted to spend them on myself, not in a car.
I wanted one routine I would actually keep.
How the Solara works, in plain words.
The Solara is a small infrared sauna for one person. The red light panel is built into the door, right at face height when you sit. So while the warmth settles into the rest of you, the red light is on your face. Both at once.
It uses red light at 660nm and 850nm. I sit for 20 minutes, and that is my whole routine. One purchase instead of a mask plus a monthly membership.
One 20-minute session, at homeWhat the warmth does, and what the light does.
I wanted to know what I was paying for, so I asked. Here it is the way it was explained to me.
- →Infrared warmth. A traditional sauna heats the air, and the air heats you. Infrared warms you more directly, so the cabin feels gentle at a lower air temperature. You still sweat, and the warmth settles into your back, shoulders and hands.
- →Red light, 660nm. Visible red light, the kind many LED masks use. In the Solara it comes from the panel in the door and falls on your face, neck and upper body.
- →Near-infrared, 850nm. You cannot see it. It sits just past red on the spectrum and reaches further below the surface than visible red does.
Studies on red light at 660nm and 850nm have mostly looked at skin. I am not a scientist, and I will not promise you a new face. What I can tell you is that I used to do these two things separately, and now they happen together.
Twenty minutes at home replaced an evening of driving.
Warmth for the body, light for the face, one sitting.
What it is made of.
I read labels, so I read this one too. The wood is 100% Canadian hemlock. It has been independently tested free of toxic heavy metals and phthalates. The heaters are ultra-low EMF.
That mattered to me more than anything else on the list.
Where it lives.
It sits in the corner of our spare room. It is 35 inches wide and 37 inches deep, and it took up less floor than I expected. It plugs into a regular wall outlet. No electrician, no plumbing.
My evenings now.
After dinner I switch it on. It warms up while I tidy the kitchen. Then I sit for 20 minutes with an audiobook on the Bluetooth speakers and the color light turned low.
Nobody needs anything from me. I do not have to drive anywhere.
“I listen to books through the Bluetooth speaker while I sweat.”
What a week looks like now.
I used to plan my week around the spa. Now there is nothing to plan. Four evenings most weeks, sometimes five, because it is down the hall and there is no reason to skip it.
Illustration. My usual week.
What I worried about before I bought it.
I thought about it for weeks. These were the questions I kept coming back to, and what I found.
- →Space. 35 inches wide, 37 deep, 63 tall. About the footprint of a reading chair. Measure the corner, and the doorways on the way in.
- →Power. A regular wall outlet. No electrician, no plumbing, no new circuit.
- →The heat. I am not someone who likes a scorching sauna. It ships at 149°F and you choose the setting, up to 158°F. It warms up while I tidy the kitchen.
- →Safety. The heaters are ultra-low EMF and the hemlock is independently tested free of toxic heavy metals and phthalates. Read the note at the bottom of this page if you are pregnant, have a heart condition or take blood pressure medication.
- →Cost. I compared it to what I was already paying: a mask, plus a spa pass that renewed every month. The Solara is one purchase, with no bill every month.
- →HSA/FSA. The Solara is HSA/FSA eligible. You can qualify at checkout in minutes through TrueMed, no doctor visit required.
- →Changing my mind. Free shipping to the mainland USA, 30-day returns and a 2-year warranty. If it did not suit me, I could send it back.
I was not the first woman to wonder. Owners rate the Solara 4.6 out of 5 across 161 reviews.
Every reason I had to wait turned out to have an answer.
