dry room treatments

[sagetherapist]

I have a beautiful leased room in a full service salon. I love my space and my client list is active & healthy in its growth. I am constantly looking for new ideas to 'freshen up' my service menu: adding a new service or an 'add-on' feature every 4-6 months. We have no shower facility or wet room, so I feel limited. Does anybody have ideas to share? I offer customized therapeutic massage, hot stone massage, dry brush massage, seaweed gel wraps and an 'add-on' treatment I call the "Neat Feet Treat". I am an independent consultant for a skin care line, but am always interested in new retail ideas too! Thanks for your replies!
Sagetherapist

[Mantramaven]

I may have something that you can add... Just yesterday I learned a  "Dry Spa Treatment" Technique which is VERY simple and easy to do.  It's a 3 step body scrub treatment.
1) with person lying on their front, wet the body with a sponge with very warm water, moving quickly
* scrub small amount of body scrub (something grainy) in small, firm, circular motions.  
* wipe person off with hot wet handtowel
2) using a loofah or other scrubby thing, wet and squeeze some body wash onto it, and then scrub the body again in circular motions
*wipe off with warm wet towel

turn person over and do the same...

3) rub lotion onto front of body, something really rich for legs and feet is good, - this can lead right into a mini massage or reflexology..
* turn person over and then rub lotion onto back of body.

Supplies needed : 4 hand towels, crock pot, body scrub, body wash, lotion, couple of large towels for person to lay on, a towel to cover breasts when lying on back, person should either wear bathing suit, or bring extra undies, or they can be naked and draped with a towel.

It feels GREAT and is SOOO nurturing!  Takes about 20 mins.  Should have the room quite warm...or a variation which I'm going to try is to use 8 hot towels then I can drape the parts that aren't being worked on...i.e. do legs then cover, then do back then cover...etc

Hope this helps! email me  ;)

Lara from Alberta

[Mantramaven]

I would love to share ideas and tips with another therapist.. I have msn messenger which makes it really easy to chat.....  I am fairly new to this business and have a holistic wellness centre in our town with a friend of mine and we are looking for ways to attract the general public.

Any suggestions on treatments, marketing ideas, etc, is GREATLY appreciated!

Lara

[Sarita Kalu]

There is a parafango bodywrap that can be used without a shower.  It is a bodywrap that has a wax base so it peels right off.  you can get it from massage warehouse.com  

[Basicknead21]

Yesterday I had a mud body wrap and the place I went to also did not have a wet room or shower.  What they did was have a hot towel box where they kept wet towels warm and then after the treatment was done just wiped you off and sent you on your way.  It was very easy and only required maybe three or four hand towels.

[terraskye]

Before adding the Vichy Shower room we did body polish/ salt glow and a clay masque treatment in the massage room. I'd put plastic sheeting on the massage table and use warm moist washcloths to remove the product from the client. A little awkward at first but once I did a couple it was business as usual.

[Melanie]

Now, did you receive any special training for these treatments?  Or are they pretty self-explanatory?  I would love to include them in my practice (which is also located at a salon).

[mellikatt@yahoo.co]

How often do people come to your salon for these treatments?  

It seems as though the people in my town are not open to spending money on these type of treatments.  I would love to start doing them, but I'm afraid of spending the time and money on the products...only to have no one request the services.

That is what happened when I started to offer hot stone therapy.  I started offering it 5 months ago and my 1st hot stone therapy appointment is Saturday.  I obviously need to work on my advertising methods...I am still working on how to do that.

[crystal]

Have you tried offering a little taste of hot stones to all of your clients.  A little back or calf work is a good teaser.  As we all know the best advertising is hands on!!!  I started hot stone massage 2 years ago with 5 stones and a crock pot.  I have since taken a great 40 hour class for a 2hour hot stone massage.  When it came time for my clinical work I offered all of my clients a two hour hot stone massage in place of their 1 hour regular massage.  Now my practice is 95% i hour hot stone treatments, 4% partial stone work and 1% regular massage.

[Joe E]

Crystal, congrats!   I offer hot stone as well and don't seem to have really mastered it.  I personally am not a fan of using tools in massage.  I don't think there is any tool that can replace the palpation skills of our hands but I would be very interested in hearing more about your protocol.  I can actually make more money doing back to back 1 hours than my 1.15 hot stone treatment.  Maybe the key is offereing it only at  2 hours and the clean up is such a nightmare too.  How much do you charge for the 2 hour hot stone vs. 1 hour deep tissue?    I find they get cold quickly and and the replacement process slows the whole thing down as well as losing contact with the client.  Any thoughts on how you've solved these dilemmas?  <br><br>Any thoughts would be appreciated.  Joe E. <br>

[crystal]

Hi Joe,
Where do I begin hmmmm.  I do 1 hour deep tissue stone massage.  I allow 1 and1/2 hours for each massage.  Currently I do 6 massages per day with an hour and 1/2  lunch.  Fri and Sat I do 4 massages without a lunch.  I use Michigan Basalt Stones for my hot treatments. They stay hot for approx 3-10 minutes depending on their thickness.  Michigan basalt has a very high iron content allowing it to deliver consistent heat.  I have two small roasters one at each end of my table.  The roaster at the head has spinal, triger point, chakra, hand and small back stones.  The roaster at the foot of the table has toe, lower leg, arm, thigh, pec, large back/calf and triger point pairs.  I use approx.  75 stones not counting cold work marble stones.  You develop a flow that allows for almost constant hands on for your client over time and with alittle forethought.  I use essential oils in my roasters to disenfect throughout the day and wash the stones/roasters with mild dish detergent each night.  I use as little oil on each client as possible and i wipe each stone before it goes back in the roaster.  Once my stones are up to temp (130-140) they reheat quickly.  The stones make all the difference, not all basalt holds heat as well as michigans.  My instructor is in Montana and has great stones also!!  If you invest in quality it really does pay off.  All of my massages are the same price. I charge by the hour not the service.  There is a nominal fee for the oils used in rain drop therapy as they are expensive but the cost per hour is the same.  It works for me!!!!!  I have been doing deep tissue work for 10+ years, nothing i have done in the past compares to my hot stone deep tissue, the results speak for them selves.  Sorry this is so long, Hope I have helped.
Love and Light
Crystal

[Joe E]

No, that's great info!  I don't have as many stones as you do and I do replace them back into the water during the treatment for use later in the massage.  For that reason, I disinfect all the stones and the roaster after every treatment.  I'll have to investigate the use of essential oils for cleaning stones.  I'm just not initially comfortable with a stone that's been on someone's body going onto someone else without a complete cleaning.   I'll also look into the Michigan stones as well.  Thanks for that info.  I don't know your area or where you live for that matter, but in both CT and CA where I've practiced, hot stone always warranted a higher price than traditional hands-on work.  Might be time for a rate increase for you.  lol.  

Thanks again.  Joe E.

[cassandra]

I too have a facility with dry rooms and one bathroom waayy down the hall.  We do hot stone massage with stones placed in a large electric skillet.  For clean up we use a pail of clean hot water and lots of alcohol.  It's very easy.  From another thread of messages on this site, I got the idea to put my large rice cooker to work as a hot towel steamer.  What a miracle treatment.  I wet and heat 3-4 hand towels and apply them to areas of extra tension, or use them to wipe off excess oil.  After use I return them to the cooker to be reheated and reused.  I usually work on the face first to guarantee that it gets a clean towel.  After using the rice cooker, I empty the towels, alcohol spray the unit and let it dry...very very easy.  Also recently I have been playing around with the fomentek bags.  They're great for the client to lay on when starting face up.  By the time you get to the back there is hardly anything to do.

Cassandra

[Joe E]

Cassandra, did I understand your post correctly?  Do you re-use towels from one client to the next without laundering them?  Joe E.  

[CRYSTAL]

NOPE
RE READ JOE
SHE SAYS SHE CLEANS UP AFTER THE CLIENT
SHE REUSES THEM ON THE SAME CLIENT

[happyhands]

I think she meant that she use them again and again on the same person. And when a new person came in she use new ones. Or that is how I took it. ( God I hope that is what she meant to say ).

[cassandra]

Joe,
I reheat and reuse the towels on the same client, always reserving a clean towel for the face.  Sorry for the confusion.
Cassandra

[Joe E]

That's cool.  I just didn't understand it on first glance.   I'm glad it works for you.  I guess everyone's set-up is different.  My set-up must not be optimal.  Also, I have this huge roaster which is such a hassle to carry around for clean-up.  My in-room sink is tiny and you can't clean the roaster itself there so I'm forced to walk it down to the work-room way in the back.   It's a pain but thanks for the info.  Joe E.
 

[CRYSTAL]

Hey Joe,
How about two smaller roasters, your stones would heat up faster too.
crystal

[Joe E]

That's actually something I've considered, but I have limited space for them and for the amount that I do hot stone, it's not worth it to invest any more money.  I'd rather focus on the other specialty massages/body treatments that I offer that don't require so much clean up.  Even wet treatments are easier in our space.  Appreciate the input though.  

Thanks again.  Joe E.

[happyhands]

Joe how big is your room... The reason I ask is I'm moving to a new spa and the rooms are tiny. I'm afraid that I"m going to have toooo much and not sure what to leave at home. The rooms are 8x 12.

[cassandra]

Joe,
I don't know how many stones you have, but a large electric skillet works for me.  I used to use a crock pot, but the skillet is so much easier to handle.  My sink is way down the hall (no in room plumbing) so I fill up a bucket with clean water ( you can also have an empty bucket for dirty).  Our faucet and sink are too small to accomodate filling the bucket from the sink, so I keep a pitcher by the sink for this purpose.  The clean water goes back to the room to fill up the stone pot and the excess is reserved for the stones after use.  I put alcohol in the water before you adding the dirty stones to help get the oil off.  The stones are easily transported to the sink in the bucket for additional rinsing and cleaning.  Dirty water from the stone pot is emptied into the bucket that transported the stones after I return them to the room and take them out (or you could use a separate bucket).  I lay them on a thick towel on my massage table and dry them if I'm not reusing them right away.  I thoroughly spray down the stone pot with alcohol ( I would imagine any antibacterial spray like those hospital sprays would work) and wipe out with paper towels.  The stones are returned to the pot and the bucket is thoroughly alcoholed and dried.  If you have a small in room sink, I'm sure you could even streamline this process more.  It takes me about 15 minutes to clean and reload the pot.

[Joe E]

To answer all the questions.....Happy Hands, my room is not very big.  There is a console on one wall with cabinetry and a sink with a minimal amount of space on either side of the sink, where I keep a fountain and my oils.  I have a CD player mounted to the wall and the massage table.  In the far corner I have just enough room for a hot-cab on a rolling shelving unit.  On the top shelf I keep the large roaster with my stones.  There really isn't any other room left for furniture without prohibiting my body mechanics.  One roaster is all I can use but al of the suggestions are good.  Cassandra, we do a similiar protocol but I really appreciate hearing it step by step.  If nothing else, it solidifies that I'm doing it as stream-lined as possible.  Obviously, rotating roasters would be best but that's not going to happen for me anytime soon.  Thanks again for the info.  Joe E.

[Spa_Girlz]

Just a quick haha about the size of rooms.
They don't need to be large, although i get a lot of clients that comment on the size of the rooms a the spa that i work at.  
Keep in mind the average jail cell is 6X8!

[GreenDragonfly]

****BUMP****

This topic is interesting and might give some people new ideas for different things to try in their dry room - especially for extra something special for the holidays!