What Happens During a Body Polish?

What Happens During a Body Polish?

A body polish usually takes place in a wet room, which has a tile floor and a drain. The therapist may offer you disposable underwear, the leave the room. You will start face-down on a massage table covered with a towel, a sheet or a thin piece of plastic, or on a special wet table that has a Vichy shower overhead. In that case you won't have to get up to be rinsed off.

The therapist will return and start by gently rubbing the exfoliant on your back, the backs of your arms, and the backs of your legs and feet. You are draped with a towel or sheet, so only the part she is working on is exposed. Then you turn over and she does the other side.

When the therapist is finished, you usually step into a shower to rinse off. Be sure to rinse thoroughly so you don't take little granules back to the table. And don't use shower gel -- it's good to keep the oil and aromatics on your skin. If the spa is doing the treatment on a special wet table, the therapist will either rinse you off with a hand-held shower, or turn on a Vichy shower.

If you step into the shower, the therapist will put clean sheets on the treatment table while you're showering and step out of the room again. You dry off and lie face-down on the treatment table underneath a sheet or towel. Then the therapist returns and applies body lotion or oil.