Take care of yourself
Although massages can be performed without oil, its use facilitates friction, makes the skin softer, more elastic and smooth, and avoids the drying up of the skin.
There are many types of massage (aesthetic, therapeutic, sporting, relaxing, etc.), in which the concomitant use of the oil is able to enhance the beneficial effects of the massage itself, assisting the relaxing or therapeutic action. During the massage, the oil represents the useful expedient to transport heat from the hands of the one who practices it to the skin of the recipient.
Massage oil
Massage oil consists of two components:
- Essential oils (or essences), responsible for the relaxing / energetic / therapeutic effect of the massage
- Fat matrix, in which the essences are dispersed
As we have seen, the massage oil facilitates the sliding and friction of the hands on the body.
The oil should never be applied directly to the skin, but poured and lightly rubbed on the hands of the masseur, since the skin tends to quickly absorb the oil.
Some believe that the choice of aromatic oil during the massage is even more important than the massage itself, since the use of the wrong oil or in any case not entirely appropriate for that patient could render the practice of the massage itself useless and ineffective.
Many authors believe that the ideal oils for massage are those cold pressed and not refined, in order to preserve all the intrinsic qualities of the oil: it seems that these oils maintain all the vitamins, especially those of group B and vitamin E. However, few know that cold and unrefined pressed oils, as well as being rancid easily, can contain some fungal spores that can be easily reactivated on contact with water. The process of refining oils therefore seems inevitable to guarantee their stability over time, as well as making them more appealing from a commercial point of view. [taken from The great manual of aromatherapy. Fundamentals of science of essential oils by M. Valussi]
Often some enriched oils are found on the market: following refining, the oil tends to lose vitamins and enzymes, so these substances are added afterwards, so that the oil can be sold as "pure".
To carry out the potential of the oil during the massage, it is not necessary to use a large quantity of product: in fact, the massage requires a thin layer of oil to be really effective.
Essential extracts
Essential oils are added to fat matrices, which are the basis for essences: these should never be used as irritants. Essential oils are extracted by steam distillation and subsequently added to the fat matrix: using the aromatic oil during the massage, one also benefits from the therapeutic properties of medicinal plants. The massage with aromatized oil, in fact, represents one of the cardinal techniques of aromatherapy, a practice that makes use of the use of essential oils for therapeutic purposes.
During the massage, the essences contained in the oil are able to free the skin from toxins, to heat, to relieve pain (when present) and to reduce swelling, to relax and to oxygenate the skin. To get these effects, the oils must be chosen carefully, depending on the type of massage you want to get.
The oils used for massages can have a vegetable or mineral origin; many authors prefer vegetable matrices, since it seems that the fatty acids contained therein are able to pass the skin more easily, to reach the microcirculation quickly and to favor an emollient effect. However, this hypothesis has not yet been demonstrated; what is certain is that vegetable oils can be unsaturated near the superficial layers of the epidermis and for this reason, it seems that the massage vegetable oils have more emollient properties than mineral ones.
how to choose massage oil ยป
