In the realm of professional massage therapy and bodywork, personal preferences have a major influence on your practice, whether you realize it or not. Basically, the decisions you make as far as how you shape your massage career are going to have an impact on the kinds of clients who come to see you, the popularity of your services and your overall bottom line.
Most of us would love to have hard and fast rules when it comes to making choices in our lives. After all, things seem so much simpler, or at least a whole lot clearer, when everything is black and white. The reality, however, is there are many shades of gray in between, and it turns out this is a good thing. With so many different people on the planet, it is nice to know our options abound and personal preference can stay alive and well.
The kinds of choices we are talking about here range from selecting a massage table and linens to picking out the perfect session room sounds and lighting levels. Of course, there are other choices made in between and on a daily basis, including the attitude you choose to take each day, the techniques you choose to learn and advance, and the marketing methods you employ to spread the word about your practice.
Again, all of these decisions tend to come down to personal preference—especially the decision you make about your massage cream. As a crucial component of your session work, your massage cream has to perform in a way that not only suits you but also pleases your clients. Therefore, you may wish there were a few hard and fast rules about how to find the ideal massage cream for you and your practice. While the issue is not black and white, there are a few guidelines you can use along with your own personal preference.
Essentially, all the guidelines around picking out the best possible massage cream are only going to narrow down your options. This is a good thing, considering how many different massage creams are on the market these days. So, use the guidelines to cut the list down to a few worthy candidates, then bring your personal preferences to the forefront to select the optimal massage cream.
As far as the guidelines that can help you narrow down your massage cream options, these suggestions do also entail a bit of personal preference as well. For example, if one of your personal preferences is to have no artificial or synthetic ingredients in your massage cream, then you can use this “rule” to narrow down your list of choices. If another personal preference is that your massage cream contain no fragrance of any kind, then you can further cut down on that long list of options.
When it comes down to it, and you have your list narrowed down to a reasonable number of massage creams, then it is time to put these massage creams to the ultimate test. Order samples or a small amount of each massage cream, then test them out on friends and family members.