During the warm summer months, no massage therapist wants his or her client to suffer in a stuffy session room or become uncomfortably hot and sweaty on the table. Maintaining a comfortable temperature for clients is, after all, one of the many keys to offering the best massage possible. Therefore, when Mother Nature turns the heat up during the summer months, it is up to the professional practitioner to find ways to cool clients down to a comfortable level.

From light fans and breezy open windows to cool sheets and even cool tools—eye masks, flax body pillows, stones and so on—there are several ways to reduce oppressive summer heat during a bodywork session. One great way to drop the temperature down, which not many people may consider, is to purchase a massage cream that has cooling properties.

Applying such a cream can have bigger benefits than one might expect. For instance, smoothing a cooling massage cream onto the client’s skin will often make the client more receptive to the breeze from a fan or open window and more apt to cool off. As an added bonus, many of the massage creams that contain cooling elements also are great for relieving body aches and muscle tension.

As you begin your search for a massage cream to stock during the hot summer months, take a little time to decide what’s important to you in a bodywork lubricant. You most likely know what type of massage cream texture works best for you, so you

may want to stick with that consistency, or try out a couple new creams that seem like they could hold the same—or more—appeal in terms of texture.

If organic is important to you, you’ll also want to investigate which creams were manufactured in an all-natural manner, from the growth of any of the plant-based ingredients all the way to processing the material into a massage cream.

These are just two examples of the type of characteristics you may need to consider as you select the cooling massage cream best for business. As for the specific ingredients typically blended into massage cream to add a cooling effect, these tend to vary.

However, there is an array of essential oils that may be featured, all of which seem to create a cool sensation on the skin of massage clients. You may choose to purchase a massage cream that already has one or more of these oils blended into it, or you could buy the oils separately and custom create your own cooling massage cream by adding a few drops of essential oils to the mix. If you choose to add essential oils on your own, be sure to consult an expert first about how much to use and exactly how to use it.

Examples of essential oils that can cool a client down include wintergreen, juniper, peppermint and eucalyptus. Taking some time to investigate the full span of benefits each essential oil can bring will help you select the best ones to be in a massage cream.

---Brandi Schlossberg

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