Sweaters: contraindicated for massage?

[cicerone]

Tis the season ~ and this was a first for me after 4 years of doing chair massage.

The client had on a really soft sweater, which I thought would be perfect for the work (compared to some clothing people wear). However, after several strokes, the fabric started "pilling" ~ with the fibers clumping up under my hands!

I changed to compressive techniques as soon as I noticed it, but... I was mortified, and must admit that I did not inform the client of the situation.

What would you have done? Now that I know what "might" happen, I can let people know ahead of time. I do not own a sweater that soft - would having a lint brush handy be advisable, or make matters worse?

[Timedess]

I dunno! That does sound.... embarrassing.

My husband has mentioned a piece of cloth he's seen some use when doing chair massage (I can't remember what it's called)- where they place a smooth/silky piece of material over the client's clothes and massage through that. I wonder if something like that could help a situation like you're describing? I'll have to bring this up to him and see if he's ever considered that happening, what he'd do.

I'm sure some of the many experienced folks here will chime in soon with some real advice!

[elsewhere]

The cloth is called "Magic Hands" and works great in situations like that.

[meecindy]

Magic Hands is fabulous and have saved my hands and probably their clothes many times. I believe Massage Warehouse sells them.

[Timedess]

Is that some sort of special material? What is it made from?

[Timedess]

I found this:At Amazon.com[/url]

[handsofpeace]

My worst clothing problem doing chair massage was when I was running the forearm up the back in a nice effleurage move and the man's shirt rrrrripped! Nice big rip in the back! I was so embarrassed and apologized profusely. I offered to replace it and he said it couldn't be replaced, "It is an old favorite." He also said his wife would be thankful; she hated that old shirt!
I wondered what he told his co-workers or his wife-----"Oh, the massage therapist ripped it." I did feel a bit better knowing it was an old shirt with old worn out fabric. It was about seven years ago and I haven't ripped any more clothing. Many, many chair massages since then!

[Savannah Bloom]

handsofpeace! Your BWOL "stage name" is sort of an oxymoron after hearing that story! HA~ That's too funny.
I've had a rash on my forarm from doing the same move over silk screened imprints on peoples t-shirts. And wool sweaters and I don't get along well at all............but never have torn any clothing! There's always a first time though.
A sense of humor in our line of work is such a gift! Thanks for sharing that!
savannah

[cicerone]

I can't get into the Amazon link at the moment - y'all are calling it Magic Hands? For Christmas my daughter gave me "The Magic Massager" which she ordered from Massage Warehouse. Is this a knock-off, or is there confusion on the name?

I've only practiced with it a couple of times, but it seems too small to for me to do my usual massage. I have client today that offered to let me practice "all I want" on her, so I'll give it another go, and let you know.

[pueppi]

I found this:At Amazon.com[/url]

I can't get into the Amazon link at the moment - y'all are calling it Magic Hands?

I just pulled the amazon link provided and that one is for the "Magic Massager", if that helps you any.

Magic Massager Cloth
Other products by Magic Massager Massage Cloth

I don't know if it's a knock off, but I'll try to search that out for you.


Update: I still can't find a Magic Hands massage cloth, but I did find another site for the Magic Massager: http://www.massagecloth.com/

Same pic as is on the amazon link you were given:


Looks to me like it is made out of synthetic silk type material.... I used to have a shirt made out of something like that in the 80's. It was reallly "heavy duty" and never wore out.

[ccMarie]

Looks to me like it is made out of synthetic silk type material.... I used to have a shirt made out of something like that in the 80's. It was reallly "heavy duty" and never wore out.

Polyester?? Maybe??

Someone makes these and sells them at the clinic store where I went to school, but they make them with a fleece fabric on one side, for grip I guess, and a polyester slippery side. They make large ones and smaller ones.

[Timedess]

It does look like polyester. I saw some at the massage supply store down in Dallas a few weeks ago. I'm pretty sure I could make one, if I had one to base off of. If I could find a place to put my sewing machine. If I could find the time to mess with sewing *anything*. Etc..

[Amy]

Very easy to make. I have fabric remnants around my craft room, a colleague and I made a few for our chair events that we do. They work great!

[SafaaM]

Another time where I wish I could sew or for product availability purposes lived in the US