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Curious about dealing with various odors.  

Lingering cigarette smell in treatment room.  There have been a few times I have lightly sprayed fabreeze so the room doesn't smell like cigarettes after a client leaves.  Any other tricks?

Foot odors-  a product that will help eliminate client foot odor.  Something I can use to massage their feet.

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I keep baby wipes in reach for those times when a client's feet are dirty or have a strong odor. Just make it a part of the massage.

The main thing that feeds foot smell is sweat. With more than 250,000 sweat glands each, your feet are among the most perspiring parts of the body. In one day, each foot can produce more than a pint of sweat! Sweat is basically just salt and water, though, so it doesn't have a distinctive smell of its own. The smell is actually caused by bacteria on our skin that eats the sweat and excretes waste that has a strong odor. It's perfectly normal to have bacteria on your skin, and it doesn't ordinarily produce a noticeable smell, but sweat attracts bacteria and gives them a whole lot to feed on.

http://health.howstuffworks.com/skin-care/information/anatomy/quest...

Wear sandals or go barefoot whenever possible. Change socks during the day and alternate shoes daily to let them dry. These are things you can do to reduce your foot odor. If someone apologizes for having smelly feet I often discuss with them how they can reduce it. Several have simply bought another pair of shoes and no longer arrive with smelly feet. As the smell is usually not produced by a pathogen it isn't a worry of infection but simply objectionable odor which is heavier from the shoes and socks in the room. Simply laying out the socks to let both socks and shoes dry will make them more comfortable when they get dressed. Try also massaging their feet with tea tree or manuka oil and baby powder. Oils with EOs for anti-bacterial action make it unnecessary to risk embarrassing them with antibacterial wipes.

I have had a few clients that have had stinky feet.  But I am not sure if hey are aware of it or not.  However, I am.  Especially when I am massaging them.  I was hoping that there was a product that could be used discretely to reduce the odor while I am massaging.  

In school we were told that if we felt the need to "freshen up" before hands on practice to use the antibacterial gel.  That worked great!  But I am not sure about using it on a client.  Would it be inappropriate for me to apply that during a massage?

Daniel Cohen said:

The main thing that feeds foot smell is sweat. With more than 250,000 sweat glands each, your feet are among the most perspiring parts of the body. In one day, each foot can produce more than a pint of sweat! Sweat is basically just salt and water, though, so it doesn't have a distinctive smell of its own. The smell is actually caused by bacteria on our skin that eats the sweat and excretes waste that has a strong odor. It's perfectly normal to have bacteria on your skin, and it doesn't ordinarily produce a noticeable smell, but sweat attracts bacteria and gives them a whole lot to feed on.

http://health.howstuffworks.com/skin-care/information/anatomy/quest...

Wear sandals or go barefoot whenever possible. Change socks during the day and alternate shoes daily to let them dry. These are things you can do to reduce your foot odor. If someone apologizes for having smelly feet I often discuss with them how they can reduce it. Several have simply bought another pair of shoes and no longer arrive with smelly feet. As the smell is usually not produced by a pathogen it isn't a worry of infection but simply objectionable odor which is heavier from the shoes and socks in the room. Simply laying out the socks to let both socks and shoes dry will make them more comfortable when they get dressed. Try also massaging their feet with tea tree or manuka oil and baby powder. Oils with EOs for anti-bacterial action make it unnecessary to risk embarrassing them with antibacterial wipes.

Bon Vital has a line of foot balms, also as was mentioned, you can use aromatherapy such as tea tree (manuka) oil, eucalyptus, or lavender.  Although foot odor is common, do not forget to examine the area with your eyes the best that you can for signs of pathology such as athlete's foot.  There is nothing wrong with throwing on a pair of gloves (as long as the client isn't allergic to laytex) to massage the feet. 

I have one client who smokes like a train. After she leaves I have to open the windows, blast the fan and spray the room...after a few min's of airing out the room it's fine. Also, clean your vents in your wall unit and/or ac vents, dump your trash every night and don't leave dirty linens in your treatment room.

When I'm doing a full body massage, I switch to tea tree foot creme (http://www.natural-formulations.com/Products/Foot/Foot.htm) when I get to the feet - but if they ask, it's because it is even more moisturizing than the regular lotion I use on most of the body.  (But truly, the tea tree/eucalyptus/peppermint scent is capable of doing battle with the stinkiest of feet)

When I do one of my feel-good foot massages, I begin the session with rosemary foot spray (from the same page).  Clients always rave about how good it smells and how refreshing it feels.

Sacred Earth Botanicals has a fabulous foot lotion scented with lemongrass and peppermint that is lovely.

I read about Khepra Foot Balm somewhere. Probably amazon.  Ordered it and I am very happy with it.  Eliminates foot odor.  And the clients have said that it makes their feet feel nice afterwards.  Not greasy or slick. 

I have an ionic breeze air purifier in my treatment room. It is very effective at eliminating odors in the room.

I have a pretty fancy air purifier/ionizer that is on an appliance timer.  It runs at night when I'm not using the studio.  It always smells fresh when I arrive in the morning.

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