Sensual Oils and essential oils for Asian massage
Almost every type of massage uses oils. Oils are needed to help a masseuse’s hands move smoothly and freely over your skin without any uncomfortable friction, which you would have without any lubrication. I deliberately use the word lubrication because in order to make the skin slippery, some so-called masseuses use butters, lotions and gels. (Of course, they are the ones who everyone knows I love. Yes, I am talking about those wonderful, charming, opportunists posting ads as professional masseuses who use baby oils for massage. Good for them, bad for the clients and worse for the business, but I am not going there, not today.)
There are not major benefits in using oils, lotions and gels, at the end it is more a personal option unless we are doing a special treatment. For example, a London Nuru massage therapist will use a specific gel which is very slippery and made with seaweed, which makes a gel not only with high lubrication properties, but also very detox. A reflexotherapist will probably use a butter while giving a foot massage because this is an area which is usually dry and oils will get absorbed too fast, also gels and butters will keep the area cold giving a shooting effect.
As a sensual massage therapist and Tantric practitioner, my personal choice is always oils. When you mention oils, many people are already thinking of a very greasy substance which is going to stay on the skin for hours and is going to stain the clothes as well. This is probably true of baby oil because the base is a petroleum derived product, but a massage oil is not. There is a difference to make between carried oils and essential oils. Massage oils have two components, one is the essence – do not confuse with fragrance, essence is natural, fragrance is synthetic – and the medium, where we dissolve the essence for a massage oil, the medium, is going to be oil and those are the carried oils.
There are hundreds of carried oils, jojoba, almond, avocado, castor seed oils and so on. These oils are vegetable and therefore the skin will usually absorb them very easily. Some are thicker than others and we mix these in order to obtain the right consistency for the oils, the right thickness, in other words, lubrication. Depending on the type of treatment and the type of skin we are treating, some could feel more greasy than others, but the grease is not animal based, is not animal fat, which is usually the one leaving nasty stains on your clothes, as petroleum derived oils will also do. Are you getting my drift now? I think so < grim >. Carried oils are seeds, flowers, roots, plant extracts, and all of them have different benefits for our health, beauty and are also therapeutic. When a therapist has the right training, usually as an aromatherapist, he knows for what to use each carried oil, how we can treat skin problems, nurse muscles, and balance emotional disorders.
Many clients freak out when you mention the essential oils, but most of the time, they do so for the wrong reasons. When we hear the voice of essential oils, is very common to think we are going to stink of flowers, patchouli, lavender… all over the town, and that people will kick us out of public places for smelling like an old Victorian lady at a royal reception; other times we are afraid we are going to smell like an ambulant drug store. Lets face the first fact:
The amount of essential oils to use is minimum, a couple of drops per full body massage, which means that unless someone is sniffing you like a dog on heat, he is not going to get any smell.
Another fact is that because we are not using any alcohol the smell is very volatile, so probably the strong smell you will get during the massage will be gone after one hour, which probably is by the end of the massage session. The use of alcohol in perfumery is exactly to make the perfume stay longer over our skin, which is the reason why when buying a natural perfume it does not last longer, because there is no alcohol in it, or at least should not be. I guess this is the same as those ‘professional’ masseuses using the baby oils, get figure how many natural perfumes are as natural as they should be.
Another reason is that essential oils are natural oils not synthetic fragrances, which are the ones usually used in perfumery for the same reason as alcohol, to make it last longer.
Visit our massage parlour at west London to get authentic oil tantric massage services. We also provide outcall massage to Hammersmith area, contact us for further information regarding to our sensual Asian massage in London.
What has all that to do with sensual massage and tantric massage?
Everything and nothing. Let me get there. A sensual masseuse or a tantric massage practitioner will give you a great experience no matter what oil he uses, except, yes, you got it, that damned baby oil. But when we are allowed to support our technique with the right essential oils, the whole experience gets enchanted. Essential oils are like the spices used while cooking. I know many purists say that if the ingredients are top quality, spices are not necessary, and it could make sense. We can say the same about the massage: if the massage is good, nothing else is needed. But it is.
During a sensual massage session, all the senses get stimulated, and the more we stimulate the senses, the richer is going to be the experience. A good massage technique could only achieve some senses, but not all of them smell, taste, as well as never will substitute the stimulation of a relaxing sound, you do not want to hear me sing. All those are the spices of a sensual massage session. Yes if a client does not want me to use essential oils, I can still burn incense, but it will be the same as instead of using perfume, you just perfume the room, the smell is there but not on you. There is something sensual when the smell increases with the movements of the therapist. You will get the smell on different intensities according to his movements or where the essential oils have been applied; yes, there is also a way to do it, to intensify a session, there is an order and a way to apply the essential oils. When the smell is on the room, incense, herbs and so on, the smell is just there. Essential oils also have properties, there are thousands of essential oils and each one has its own properties, which are more intense and specific than the ones from the carried oils, aware of those, we use one or other essential oils depending on what we want to achieve.
London Tantric massage beside the sensual component of a full body nude massage session has also a mystical, spiritual component, and we use specific essential oils to boost those essential oils, such as sandalwood, cedar, sage, basil, which will aid our mind to go to a meditative state. But also there is a process, which is first to calm our mind and thoughts, second to induce the mind to a meditative state, but after and more importantly we need to energise the person we are treating so he will feel energised, happy and ready to take over the day. Yes, in many cases because the aim is different we will stop the process. If you are having a massage at twelve in the night at your hotel, why should I energise you, if all you want is to sleep? I want you to remember me in the morning but not because you did not get any sleep after the massage.
Essential oils are expensive?
Very! There are cheap versions? Keep away from those, and for the ones using baby oils, no, the one pound store essential oils are not a substitute. Those will burn and if you put on the skin of someone you are going to burn his skin and probably intoxicate them. Essential oils are expensive and that’s the fact, cheap versions are for burning to create or synthetic now. Just please be aware, essential oils have a lot of benefits but also can harm you. Never go to someone who does not know what he is doing. I can keep you calm or I can give you a head pain for the rest of the day. Essential oils should be always diluted in the right proportion so you do not get any rush or your skin gets burn, and there are essential oils which are a big No, no never to be used! So as I always say, go to a professional, pay what we professionals usually charge, and if it smells like a baby oil, run away!!!