Hot Stones Facials... What You Don't Know.

This pic has nothing to do with hot stone facials. I just thought you'd
get a kick out of seeing me in our gauze oatmeal mask. We all think
 it has kind of a Leatherface meets Jason quality about it. 

I dipped my thumb and first two fingers in the “crock pot” to pull out a couple of stones. As soon as I touched the piping hot water I jerked my hand back and remembered that I should be using tongs. After I retrieved two stones from the pot, I quickly laid them on the facial bed at the sides of Beth’s head. 

“Ok, Beth. Just tell me if these stone are too hot.”

“Don't worry. I will.”

I LOVE giving facials. I think it’s about as relaxing for me as it is for the person receiving. Everything in my facial world has been going fabulously - - then enter, the hot stone facial.

Learning to incorporate hot stones into your facial is one of our objectives at NBU. We also add them to our “back facials” (which by the way are absolutely heavenly… I’ve had the embarrassment of waking up on two occasions to wipe away drool.)

While hot stones sound divine, you really can’t imagine what the esthetician is doing behind your head to make this serene feeling a reality. The key to not burning yourself (or the client) when you’re using hot stones is to keep the stones moving and keep “flipping” them on the surface of the skin. I vividly remember Ms. Kelly pausing when she was demonstrating the hot stone facial for us. With squinted eyes, she looked at each of us and gave us this warning, “Lots of people... drop their rocks.”

So, allow me to paint a picture for you – you’re grasping two very hot, smooth rocks and trying to continuously flip them while keeping them in contact with your client’s skin - - oh yeah, did I mention that your client’s face and shoulders are coated in about ¼ cup of grape seed oil?

I felt so clumsy giving Beth a hot stone facial last night. I visualized one false move and the hot oily stone shooting out of my hand, across the clinic floor, and shattering one of our mag lamps.  

The reality? Beth fell asleep three times during her facial, which is the ultimate “pat on the back” in the esthetician world (other than a fat tip, of course). When I finally removed Beth’s head wrap, she let out a deep sigh. “I’ll get up in a minute,” she said. I knew what that meant….

“That’s fine” I said. “Just take your time.”

I stood up and began to clean up my supplies. When I walked away a slow motion smile came across my face. Oh yeah… I rocked that hot stone facial  - no pun intended of course.