Star Treatment

Warming Wonder

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Heat is inherent in healing. So, anything you can do to ease clients' chill is a good thing. Adding paraffin treatments to your services is one way to do it.

Paraffin is as easy as add-ons get—melt it, apply it, remove it ... ahhh! Bliss Spa at the W Hotel in Westwood, California, added the magic meltable to its best-selling Blissage and renamed it the Super Blissage (85 min./$195).

While clients enjoy the custom massage, paraffin booties soothe their tootsies. A targeted paraffin pack is also applied to any area of the body that needs extra TLC, such as the shoulders, neck or back, or a pulled muscle in the hamstrings. The nonporous wax draws blood to the area, accelerating healing.

The results: A new bestselling, relaxing treatment. Here's how they do it:

The protocol:

1. Begin with the client on her stomach. Commence with a gentle foot massage using warm aromatherapy oil.

2. Place the paraffin booties on her feet, and then cover her legs with sheets.

3. Expose the area of the body to receive the paraffin pack (most clients opt for the back, neck and shoulders). Slowly paint paraffin over a targeted area, creating a thick layer. Cover it with a sheet of plastic, and then a towel and sheets.

4. Begin your massage on the lower body by targeting the hips, thighs, buttocks, calves and ankles.

5. Remove the paraffin booties and massage your client's feet.

6. Uncover the back and remove the towel, plastic and paraffin pack.

7. Perform a massage on the upper body by focusing on the back, neck, shoulders, arms and hands.

8. Instruct the client to turn onto her back.

9. Perform a massage on the legs, arms and chest.

10. Conclude with a cranial-sacral massage that utilizes warm aromatherapy oil.

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