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Lava shells massage

Hi all

I am thinking of doing a lava shells massage course and am wondering if anyone out there does this and what there thoughts are on it. Is it similar to hotstones? Any info from other therapists who practice in this would be gladly received. Thanks :)

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Permalink Reply by Lina Petridis on March 5, 2011 at 8:51pm

I tried it in a spa I used to work in. We never had a course on it.The shells have a hole where you put a tea bag looking product that chemically reacts to produce heat for an hour or more. Once its been used you remove it and you can repeatedly reapply new "bags" which would be repurchased hopefully to increase sales.. You can use it like Hot Stones but at most two at a time...It remains hot although if I remember correctly it lost heat as you moved it so it was good to have another. The second could reheat itself as it sat idle.. I noticed when turning it in a certain position it leaked liquid..Also trying to remove the bag often cracked the edge of the hole entrance. For this and other reasons our spa didn't decide to keep it.

As a gimmick to sell to clients..it has to be your decision . but as I see it gimmicks might appeal to a person who wants to wow..someone else. as in Valentine's etc.with something new and different..but may lose its intrigue after the first or second time. For the most part I believe it may be inventory that would cost you more than it made for you.Although this was my experience with it. Perhaps others had better results. Good Luck

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Permalink Reply by Debbie Martin on March 6, 2011 at 6:43pm

Thanks for your comments and thoughts :)

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Permalink Reply by Kris Moris on March 7, 2011 at 12:52pm

I used these in a spa a couple of years ago. I used ones made from two actual shells sealed together. I believe now you can only get porcelain shells which function the same way. There was a hole in each one with a rubber stopper to contain the chemicals. I actually preferred the shells to stones because cleanup is much faster and easier. However, there are a few drawbacks. The temperature is unreliable and they can become extremely hot requiring you to dip them in cold water to avoid burning the client. The refill chemicals are expensive. The rubber stoppers are sometimes illfitting resulting in leakage of hot chemicals. If you decide to try them, I recommend that you have four shells on hand to rotate during a session. They cool when contacting the skin and you will need to alternate while they heat back up.

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Permalink Reply by Debbie Martin on March 7, 2011 at 4:56pm

Thanks Kris :)

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Permalink Reply by Danielle Almendinger on March 7, 2011 at 9:02pm

We use them at the spa I work at. I recommend using the comfort blend over the deep heat blend. The deep heat gets extremely hot.

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Permalink Reply by Sharon Seller on March 10, 2011 at 4:01pm

I use them also and have pretty good luck with them. You do have to keep a bowl of water nearby to dunk them in because they do get hot. I have 3 shells; I use two at a time and have the 3rd available to rotate if needed. I use tweezers to remove the "tea bag" because the opening in the shell is too small to get my fingers into. I enjoy using them and my clients seem to love it.

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Permalink Reply by JP on March 22, 2011 at 4:40am

I think they could be better for mobile therapist but me personally I couldn't get on with them. The deep tissue ones were impossible to hold at times and I echo what Kris says above about the down sides.