Wiping off oil or lotion?

[>Moony<]

Does anyone wipe down the client with a warm moist rag to get rid of any excess lotion or oil on the skin? I had this done recently and liked it. Do any of you do this?

 

[Wrecking B]

I don't do this, but I don't leave excess oil on the client. I use smaller amounts and massage the oil right into the skin. Glide is still good quite awhile after the oil slick is gone!

If someone was prone to leaving extra oil on my skin, though, I do think I'd appreciate the warm moist towel!

 

[frmthesouthgrl]

Wiping off oil or lotion?

Does anyone wipe down the client with a warm moist rag to get rid of any excess lotion or oil on the skin? I had this done recently and liked it. Do any of you do this?

I have. I used hot stones in my massages by default, which requires a lot of oil. So at the end of each body part, I redrape as usual, but then sort of slowly push the sheets along the skin under my palms in sort of a firm slow effleurage stroke. This serves nicely as sort of a conclusion to each body part and it gets the excess oil off once I'm done with the area.

Also, if I accidentally apply some excess oil to the client's skin, I'll gently wipe that off right away so they're not swimming in it LOL

Hugs,
~Jyoti

 

[Stardust]

If I have used too much I will wipe it off. But I use a towel under the head so I don't get my client's hair too greasy with my hands, and tell my client they can use it to wipe down when they are done if they need to.

 

[Larry E]

If I ever need to get excess off the client I tend to do what Jyoti does with the drape, but that doesn't happen very often. However, after a recent hot stone session, the therapist did wipe me off with a towel and left it for me to use when we were done. I definitely appreciated that.. but I'm not sure I liked that she used a very scratchy towel. She said that was on purpose, though, to help the client "come back down to earth".

 

[dollmaker54872]

I don't use oil so I don't worry about wiping off the excess (I use cream) but I do like to use hot towels and my clients love it when I use a hot towel on them at the end. I just do it cause it feels good.

Angie

 

[Just Call Me G]

I did a trade with a co-worker last week. And have to admit that I've been told many times that I don't do the typical swedish massage. (I tend not to like to do deeper work, thus like a little more friction rather than excessive glide.)
So, I had her demonstrate to me what she considered a traditional swedish.
:roll: The minute she left the room I grabbed a towel & wiped off the excess oil... all of my skin, from neck to toes, was literally shining with oil!
Eww... I mean even my feet were so oily that when I put my shoes on my feet squished with each step! :?
There has to be a happy medium somewhere!

 

[Stephanie S]

She was using my Lotus Touch Therapeutic Oil Gel. A product I've been using for several years and never had an issue with.
It's pretty well known at the spa that I don't go through as much oil as the other girls do.
I just think someone was "oil happy"... :roll:
Could be that she just wasn't used to the consistency of the product I guess.
I sure felt like a walking oil slick afterwards though! :?

 

[Janet]

Jeff4824, I hope they didn't just use a rag on you, it was probably a small towel

I'm oil phobic, I use jojoba so I don't inflict the oil slick on anyone, I use less than 1fl oz per treatment, a little bit over that for hot stones.

In my lomi lomi training, straight on the massage table vinyl, they used so much oil because they were sliding the body around on the table, flipping you over rather than asking you to turn. I would always make sure I went second and run off and have a shower during the break after the swap, I just felt so slimey. I got so fed up with it at one point I had to go have a swim in the ocean, I felt I was suffocating under all the oil, the lecturer said it was all my "stuff" coming out and I had to be cleansed in the salt water, but I just felt too slimey to go on. Everyone thought I was really neurotic having so many showers. (these were all 4-5 day live in courses) On the last course I did with them I took my own jojoba, I didn't need to run off to the shower every swap, the lecturer said my "stuff" had been released, but I had quite a few other students with irritated skin from all the oil trying to swap with me and get me to use the jojoba on them to get a break from all the oil on the course. The very last swap I did was with a guy whose skin was so irritated I wouldn't even use the jojoba, I gave him a clay wrap, no massage, by that seforum.xxxe we were supposedly so in tune that whatever we wanted to do was ok. His skin was looking almost normal after I'd used the green clay on him.

Going from aromatherapy training where you use 0.75 fl oz for a full body massage to lomi lomi where it seemed to be a gallon of oil per day (and it was unscented mineral oil....) I know which volume of oil I prefer, so that's what my clients get

 

[Michael J]

I have to use oil, because I have skin allergies and the spa I work at only provides Alba body lotion (which isn't even massage lotion, which I think is crappy, but that's another thread) anyways, I used to be concerned about them being oily, so now after I do the back, I put a hot towel on them and do compressions, after the feet I wrap them w towels and do some stretches, and then at the end, I leave them a nicely rolled hot towel to wipe down if they prefer. I think probbaly 90% use the towel. I hate being oily too but not as much as I hate receiving a massage with my skin feeling like its being pulled because the therapist doesn't use enough product.
p.s I wouldn't wipe someone's oil off with the sheets because it does stain the sheets, or at least it holds this stale grapeseed oil smell in them over time. But again, my spa uses really cheap detergent/

 

[Tan Boon Hwee k]

I use macadamia nut oil which provides the glide/grip I like and absorbs nicely into the skin. I also use peppermint shea butter on the feet, which I mix up myself. At the end of the session I use a dry tissue to wipe off any excess from the bottoms of the feet.

 

[Renolouie09]

Macadamia nut oil sounds heavenly! I think I'll have to try that!

 

[mm92280]

we were trained in school to wipe off each body part after we were done with it, before re-draping. I use a hand towel. It gets excess gel (no oil usage here....yuk) and it provides a tactile sensation most people love. Like a scratching of an itch. It is pleasant to receive and most appreciate it. I ALWAYS do that.

 

[?u??sfloozy]

In school we learned just that, to wipe up and down each arm and leg with a warm towel, and to lay the hot towel on teh back when done. It is nice, but takes some time and disrupts continuity....a trade off, I'm sure.

I don't like a lot of lube either, hate having a lot of it around my neck and ears, into my hair. Lotion or oil, does not matter. Too much of it and it does not absorb.

 

[L3G3ND T1M3]

Essential oils can still be absorbed for quite a while afterwards, so no wiping off here! (because almost everyone gets essential oils)

 

[vinslave]

Wiping off oil

In Hawaiian Temple Lomi, we are trained to wipe off excess oil form the client. There is a lot of oil used because it is applied once on each side, and it has to last the entire session. Also, oil gets on the vinyl of the table as a lot of underbody wortk is done. So, the client gets wiped off as part of the treat ment befire they turn over, and before they are recovered at the end.

For other styles, I sinple leave a towel for the client to use after I leave the room.

 

[imaghost]

I use massage cream, and only as much as I absolutely, essentially need. At the end, it is absorbed completely and doesn't need wiping off.

I've had clients ask what I used because they loved how they felt afterwards...moisturized, but not greasy. Just like they put on lotion after the shower or something.

They never taught us anything in school about wiping people off, but there's a lot we didn't learn at my school...alas...that's another story!

 

[Shehab K]

I use jojoba and typically will wipe the bottoms of my clients' feet when I finish up.

I had a really great massage a couple weeks ago, but the MT used a cream, and I felt so slimy between my toes and on my arms afterwards that I couldn't wait to go home and shower. I'd like to go to her again, but I think I'll ask if she would use the jojoba on me.

 

[robbinhood]

When I do Abhyanga (Indian warm oil massage, which uses A LOT of oil) I always wipe the client down afterwards. I don't wipe each body part down, though. I massage their front side and then have them turn over. The sheet against skin absorbs most of the oil from the front side. After doing their backside, I do wipe down the legs, gluts, back, arms and neck. However, everyone coming to this treatment knows it is completely oily and I also have a shower they can use afterwards. (I also use a waterproof table cover to protect my padding/table)

When I do a regular swedish/deep tissue massage, I do use oil. It is an oil that washes out of clothing easily (Soothing Touch Fragrance Free Lite). I use a medium amount of it. Not a lot, but not very little. I think they are pretty oil free when I am done, but I live in a very dry climate and many times when I try to wipe the oil off they say "No, leave it on!" In any case, for every client, I wipe the feet off with hot towels (I use cream on the feet) and then put some special Amber Heel Recovery cream on their feet.

I have been thinking recently of creating a "Preferences Form" for my regular clients that asks specifically about their likes and dislikes regarding music, draping, oil, lotion, cream, style of treatment, or anything else I can think of. I know a lot of this stuff about them already, but it would be nice to have directly from them in a chart in their file.

I use an Ayurvedic approach in general and that states that oil is good and a healing, medicinal element. I know not everyone likes oil, but I also think that many who can come to understand this, learn to like it ("excess" oil) a lot. For those that don't, I always abide by their wishes and use lotion/cream and/or wipe them down and/or offer a shower.

 

[XoXSweetieBabeeXoX]

When I do massage, I also try to use as little oil as possible. I also do the compression-like techniques after I have re-draped to help remove any excess oil.

Also, I offer all massage clients the option of me using an oil remover on any/all areas worked on. This is great if clients are going back to work or just don't want any oil left on them when they leave. Also good for acne prone skin.

Brian