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Working on more, uh, hairy clients......
Am I the only one or is it much harder to work on gentlemen with a lot of hair on their skin? I have tried using different oils, creams, etc. and if I am doing relaxation massage, I have a really hard time keeping the massage smooth without feeling like I am pulling the hairs. Am I missing something or is there some easier way to work with super hairy arms, legs, and back areas?
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Darcy Neibaur on
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The only thing I know that works on hairy clents is to use too much oil or lotion.
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Permalink Reply by Donna C. Agrinsonis, LMT on
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Yeah that is what I usually end up doing but then I feel like I am dousing them in oil! LOL
Darcy Neibaur said:The only thing I know that works on hairy clents is to use too much oil or lotion. -
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Permalink Reply by Steve - Maryland L.M.T. on
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I use hot stones during most of my massages to relax problem areas, and I already use more oil than most therapists do to help the stones glide smoothly. So a little more oil for hairier clients is not such a big deal.
I used to finish my massage by rubbing through the top sheet to get rid of excess oil. It was a nice way to bring the session to a conclusion. But a few years ago I bought a small towel warming cabinet when I began to experiment with offering spa body services. The clients I used hot towels on liked it so much that now I finish every massage by using warm, damp towels to wipe away the excess oil. -
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Oh wow. Yes! I have been putting off getting one of those but that is a good idea and way to balance using all that oil. I have so very many clients who are going back to work or out to dinner or come in a suit so that would be a way to help them get that oil off. Thanks.
Steve Traylor said:I use hot stones during most of my massages to relax problem areas, and I already use more oil than most therapists do to help the stones glide smoothly. So a little more oil for hairier clients is not such a big deal.
I used to finish my massage by rubbing through the top sheet to get rid of excess oil. It was a nice way to bring the session to a conclusion. But a few years ago I bought a small towel warming cabinet when I began to experiment with offering spa body services. The clients I used hot towels on liked it so much that now I finish every massage by using warm, damp towels to wipe away the excess oil. -
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Steve I love the picture. I am going to start using my hot stones more during my massages as well so I am glad to see that others are doing that. Do you use the stones for deep tissue massage and relaxation massage?
Donna C. Agrinsonis, LMT said:Oh wow. Yes! I have been putting off getting one of those but that is a good idea and way to balance using all that oil. I have so very many clients who are going back to work or out to dinner or come in a suit so that would be a way to help them get that oil off. Thanks.
Steve Traylor said:I use hot stones during most of my massages to relax problem areas, and I already use more oil than most therapists do to help the stones glide smoothly. So a little more oil for hairier clients is not such a big deal.
I used to finish my massage by rubbing through the top sheet to get rid of excess oil. It was a nice way to bring the session to a conclusion. But a few years ago I bought a small towel warming cabinet when I began to experiment with offering spa body services. The clients I used hot towels on liked it so much that now I finish every massage by using warm, damp towels to wipe away the excess oil. -
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Donna C. Agrinsonis, LMT said:Steve I love the picture. I am going to start using my hot stones more during my massages as well so I am glad to see that others are doing that. Do you use the stones for deep tissue massage and relaxation massage?
I use hot stones in almost every massage I do. The stones help to relax the muscles so I can do moderate and deeper work in problem areas with less discomfort. My usual routine starts with my client face down. I begin with broad strokes over the shoulders and back. Then I use hot stones on the spinal erectors, the traps and the levator scapulae.
When I finish working on the back I adjust the draping and move down and use stones on one of the hips. I basically do two big circles -- one over the SI, the L5-S1 area and the gluteus medius and one over the gluteus maximus and hamstrings. Then I massage the back of the leg before moving to the other one.
After my client turns over I use stones on the cervical erectors, the SCM, the lev. scapulae and trapizius like I showed in the photo in my previous comment. I leave the stones tucked under the traps and move down to use stones on the quads. Then I massage the legs, the arms, the shoulders and the front of the torso.
I can place stones under a client wherever they are having problems -- the lumbar area, the piriformis, the hamstrings, etc.
I'm glad you like my photos. I've had many taken over the years -- actually I usually set up the shots and have someone else take the pictures of me working. I'm in the process of re-working my website and I plan to put a lot of my photos on it.
Here is one photo that I actually took myself. The model from the previous two pictures was relaxing while I adjusted the lights and her pose was so beautifully languid that I told her not to move. I placed the stones and adjusted the top sheet to look like draping from classical art, then I snapped several pictures.
I love the photo myself, but I have been hesitant to use it because I worry that many people (i.e. potential clients) would see it as too sexually suggestive. I would welcome other people's opinions. -
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Awesome! The pictures are FABULOUS! Wow you are doing things I keep thinking about doing but have been putting off. What kind of camera are you using because your pics are very clear and sharp? Also, since you use stones in most of your massages (something I would LOVE to do) - do you ask your clients for permission to use the stones or do you advertise that you automatically use them?
Steve Traylor said:Donna C. Agrinsonis, LMT said:Steve I love the picture. I am going to start using my hot stones more during my massages as well so I am glad to see that others are doing that. Do you use the stones for deep tissue massage and relaxation massage?
I use hot stones in almost every massage I do. The stones help to relax the muscles so I can do moderate and deeper work in problem areas with less discomfort. My usual routine starts with my client face down. I begin with broad strokes over the shoulders and back. Then I use hot stones on the spinal erectors, the traps and the levator scapulae.
When I finish working on the back I adjust the draping and move down and use stones on the hips. I basically do two big circles -- one over the SI, the L5-S1 area and the gluteus medius and one over the gluteus maximus and hamstrings. Then I massage the back of the leg.
After my client turns over I use stones on the cervical erectors, the SCM, the lev. scapulae and trapizius like I showed in the photo in my previous comment. I leave the stones tucked under the traps and move down to use stones on the quads. Then I massage the legs, the arms, the shoulders and the front of the torso.
I can place stones wherever a client is having problems -- the lumbar area, the piriformis, the hamstrings, etc.
I'm glad you like my photos. I've had many taken over the years -- actually I usually set up the shots and have someone else take the pictures of me working. I'm in the process of re-working my website and I plan to put a lot of my photos on it.
Here is one photo that I actually took myself. The model from the previous two pictures was relaxing while I adjusted the lights and her pose was so beautifully relaxed that I told her not to move. I placed the stones and adjusted the top sheet to look like draping from classical art, then I snapped several pictures.
I love the photo myself, but I have been hesitant to use it because I worry that it looks too sexual. I would welcome other people's opinion. -
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Hmmmm. I like the photo but since you are trying to show something suggestive of hot stone massage, I would do a picture with the stones on the model rather than next to her. I get the classical art thing because my mother used to have a lot of photos like that and they are truly magnificent. However, for marketing purposes, your photos actually showing you doing hot stone massage are much more effective. If your goal is to create a beautiful representation of hot stone massage, I would suggest having the model lay face down with the stones all along the top of her back and take a side view picture and perhaps drape the sheets really nice (even with two colors of sheets to add interest) coming from her hips down. So the picture would go from the head, back, hips and part of the legs. Just an idea...
Steve Traylor said:Donna C. Agrinsonis, LMT said:Steve I love the picture. I am going to start using my hot stones more during my massages as well so I am glad to see that others are doing that. Do you use the stones for deep tissue massage and relaxation massage?
I use hot stones in almost every massage I do. The stones help to relax the muscles so I can do moderate and deeper work in problem areas with less discomfort. My usual routine starts with my client face down. I begin with broad strokes over the shoulders and back. Then I use hot stones on the spinal erectors, the traps and the levator scapulae.
When I finish working on the back I adjust the draping and move down and use stones on one of the hips. I basically do two big circles -- one over the SI, the L5-S1 area and the gluteus medius and one over the gluteus maximus and hamstrings. Then I massage the back of the leg before moving to the other one.
After my client turns over I use stones on the cervical erectors, the SCM, the lev. scapulae and trapizius like I showed in the photo in my previous comment. I leave the stones tucked under the traps and move down to use stones on the quads. Then I massage the legs, the arms, the shoulders and the front of the torso.
I can place stones under a client wherever they are having problems -- the lumbar area, the piriformis, the hamstrings, etc.
I'm glad you like my photos. I've had many taken over the years -- actually I usually set up the shots and have someone else take the pictures of me working. I'm in the process of re-working my website and I plan to put a lot of my photos on it.
Here is one photo that I actually took myself. The model from the previous two pictures was relaxing while I adjusted the lights and her pose was so beautifully languid that I told her not to move. I placed the stones and adjusted the top sheet to look like draping from classical art, then I snapped several pictures.
I love the photo myself, but I have been hesitant to use it because I worry that many people (i.e. potential clients) would see it as too sexually suggestive. I would welcome other people's opinions. -
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Donna C. Agrinsonis, LMT said:Awesome! The pictures are FABULOUS! Wow you are doing things I keep thinking about doing but have been putting off. What kind of camera are you using because your pics are very clear and sharp? Also, since you use stones in most of your massages (something I would LOVE to do) - do you ask your clients for permission to use the stones or do you advertise that you automatically use them?
My camera is an Olympus D-580 Zoom digital. I bought it six years ago based on a quality comparison in Wired magazine. It was in the upper part of the middle price range, about $800, before prices for digital cameras dropped. But since I use it mostly for my business it was completely tax deductible. Some of the clarity comes from having additional lighting rather than depending on the flash. Instead of regular photographers lights I use five or six clamp-on flood lights (about $6 at Home Depot).
I offer a combination massage that includes hot stones and a full hot stone massage. My menu and webpage describe them this way:
Pinnacle Signature Massage
Created to meet the special needs of each client, a Signature Massage combines long, relaxing massage strokes with Hawaiian Lomi Lomi and Swedish massage techniques. Deeper muscle work and the penetrating warmth of hot stones are added to help with problem areas of muscle tension.
Hot Stone Massage
The weight and penetrating warmth of heated volcanic stones placed on the body and under the body and used in the therapist's hands melt muscle tension and create an amazing level of relaxation.
A majority of my new clients come through referrals, so most new clients know what I offer. Otherwise, I ask during the intake session whether the new client has experienced a hot stone massage before and I tell them that I use hot stones as a regular part of my massage.
If you start using hot stones you will need to add extra set-up time between clients. I usually use four pairs of stones for my regular massage. After a massage I use anti-bacterial dish soap and a scrub brush to clean the stones. I also wash the liner of the stone heater and the plastic bowl that holds cold water to cool the stones down to a comfortable temperature. A full hot stone massage uses about 45 stones, including eight small toe stones, and the turnaround time is around 45 minutes. -
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Donna C. Agrinsonis, LMT said:Hmmmm. I like the photo but since you are trying to show something suggestive of hot stone massage, I would do a picture with the stones on the model rather than next to her. I get the classical art thing because my mother used to have a lot of photos like that and they are truly magnificent. However, for marketing purposes, your photos actually showing you doing hot stone massage are much more effective. If your goal is to create a beautiful representation of hot stone massage, I would suggest having the model lay face down with the stones all along the top of her back and take a side view picture and perhaps drape the sheets really nice (even with two colors of sheets to add interest) coming from her hips down. So the picture would go from the head, back, hips and part of the legs. Just an idea...
My eventual goal is for my webpage to have a separate page for each of the types of massage I offer, with three or four pictures on each page. A web designer I talked to said that it's better to have lots of screen-size pages rather than one long page that requires viewers to scroll to find what they're looking for -- which is what I have now.
So if I use this photo, it would be at the bottom of the page for Hot Stone Massage and it would have a caption talking about the "amazing level of relaxation". I would use some of the photos that I included earlier to illustrate the massage.
Adding to my last comment -- having Photoshop to edit photos makes a big difference in the quality of the final product.
Like I said, I've taken lots of photos over the years. One of these is probably more what you have in mind:
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I am relatively new to hot stone massage so thus far I have never had more than one massage during the course of a day where I used the stones. If you have 3 consecutive clients where you use the stones, you wash the stones each time in between? This is something I have been wondering about, particularly now that I was considering using the stones on a more regular basis.
Steve Traylor said:Donna C. Agrinsonis, LMT said:Awesome! The pictures are FABULOUS! Wow you are doing things I keep thinking about doing but have been putting off. What kind of camera are you using because your pics are very clear and sharp? Also, since you use stones in most of your massages (something I would LOVE to do) - do you ask your clients for permission to use the stones or do you advertise that you automatically use them?
My camera is an Olympus D-580 Zoom digital. I bought it six years ago based on a quality comparison in Wired magazine. It was in the upper part of the middle price range, about $800, before prices for digital cameras dropped. But since I use it mostly for my business it was completely tax deductible. Some of the clarity comes from having additional lighting rather than depending on the flash. Instead of regular photographers lights I use five or six clamp-on flood lights (about $6 at Home Depot).
I offer a combination massage that includes hot stones and a full hot stone massage. My menu and webpage describe them this way:
Pinnacle Signature Massage
Created to meet the special needs of each client, a Signature Massage combines long, relaxing massage strokes with Hawaiian Lomi Lomi and Swedish massage techniques. Deeper muscle work and the penetrating warmth of hot stones are added to help with problem areas of muscle tension.
Hot Stone Massage
The weight and penetrating warmth of heated volcanic stones placed on the body and under the body and used in the therapist's hands melt muscle tension and create an amazing level of relaxation.
A majority of my new clients come through referrals, so most new clients know what I offer. Otherwise, I ask during the intake session whether the new client has experienced a hot stone massage before and I tell them that I use hot stones as a regular part of my massage.
If you start using hot stones you will need to add extra set-up time between clients. I usually use four pairs of stones for my regular massage. After a massage I use anti-bacterial dish soap and a scrub brush to clean the stones. I also wash the liner of the stone heater and the plastic bowl that holds cold water to cool the stones down to a comfortable temperature. A full hot stone massage uses about 45 stones, including eight small toe stones, and the turnaround time is around 45 minutes. -
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I just found some excellent info on hot stone sanitation in the stone therapy group called Stone Sanitation Procedures...fact and fiction! For anyone who has not seen it and is interested, check it out. A real eye opener for me!
Donna C. Agrinsonis, LMT said:I am relatively new to hot stone massage so thus far I have never had more than one massage during the course of a day where I used the stones. If you have 3 consecutive clients where you use the stones, you wash the stones each time in between? This is something I have been wondering about, particularly now that I was considering using the stones on a more regular basis.
Steve Traylor said:Donna C. Agrinsonis, LMT said:Awesome! The pictures are FABULOUS! Wow you are doing things I keep thinking about doing but have been putting off. What kind of camera are you using because your pics are very clear and sharp? Also, since you use stones in most of your massages (something I would LOVE to do) - do you ask your clients for permission to use the stones or do you advertise that you automatically use them?
My camera is an Olympus D-580 Zoom digital. I bought it six years ago based on a quality comparison in Wired magazine. It was in the upper part of the middle price range, about $800, before prices for digital cameras dropped. But since I use it mostly for my business it was completely tax deductible. Some of the clarity comes from having additional lighting rather than depending on the flash. Instead of regular photographers lights I use five or six clamp-on flood lights (about $6 at Home Depot).
I offer a combination massage that includes hot stones and a full hot stone massage. My menu and webpage describe them this way:
Pinnacle Signature Massage
Created to meet the special needs of each client, a Signature Massage combines long, relaxing massage strokes with Hawaiian Lomi Lomi and Swedish massage techniques. Deeper muscle work and the penetrating warmth of hot stones are added to help with problem areas of muscle tension.
Hot Stone Massage
The weight and penetrating warmth of heated volcanic stones placed on the body and under the body and used in the therapist's hands melt muscle tension and create an amazing level of relaxation.
A majority of my new clients come through referrals, so most new clients know what I offer. Otherwise, I ask during the intake session whether the new client has experienced a hot stone massage before and I tell them that I use hot stones as a regular part of my massage.
If you start using hot stones you will need to add extra set-up time between clients. I usually use four pairs of stones for my regular massage. After a massage I use anti-bacterial dish soap and a scrub brush to clean the stones. I also wash the liner of the stone heater and the plastic bowl that holds cold water to cool the stones down to a comfortable temperature. A full hot stone massage uses about 45 stones, including eight small toe stones, and the turnaround time is around 45 minutes. -
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