Having spent a lot of time as both a patron and an employee of day spas, I know that the service menus at these facilities can be confusing sometimes. Between the fancy names and the generic descriptions that all sound alike, sometimes it is hard to tell the difference between services and ultimately decide which is best for you. One such example is the ever popular Hot Stone Massage versus the Express Hot Stone Massage. While it is easy to deduct that one service is shorter than the other, the question still remains- what are the other differences? Well, wonder no longer! Here is everything you need to know about these two best-selling services!
Hot Stone Massage versus Express Hot Stone Massage
The full version is considered by many to be the ultimate massage experience. This 90-minute massage therapy service takes advantage of the pain relieving and relaxation qualities of heat therapy to enhance the massage experience. The massage therapists use smooth, heated lava stones to relieve stress and ease pain in two ways, by placing them on key pressure points on the body and also as an extension of their hands to perform the actual massage. The use of these two methods maximizes the advantages of heat therapy. The combination of heat, pressure, and rhythmic massage in the full version of the massage allows for the deepest relaxation possible.
The Express Hot Stone Massage is best viewed as a combination of the Full Body (Swedish- style) Massage and the full version. Like the Hot Stone Massage, the Express Hot Stone Massage takes full advantage of the benefits of heat therapy when combined with massage therapy, but this service is only 60-minutes. To make up for the shorter duration time, the massage therapists only use the smooth, heated lava stones to deliver focused heat on the key muscles of the body. They do not use the stones as an extension of their hands to perform the massage.
You may be wondering why anyone would choose the Express Hot Stone Massage over the Hot Stone Massage if they could afford to do the longer service. Well, I posed this question to some of Le Jardin’s patrons and the two most common reasons were that they liked that the therapists used their hands in the Express Hot Stone Massage and that they felt the massage therapist was able to pay more attention to them instead of the stones in the Express verison because less stones are needed to perform the service. Some other people we asked complained that the Express Hot Stone Massage was just a tease, and they wanted to feel the heat all over during the entire massage.
What’s the difference between the Hot Stone Massage and the Express Hot Stone Massage?
The major difference between the Hot Stone Massage and the Express version is not only the length of the massage but the fact that the heated stones are used throughout the entire massage process. This makes that heat penetrate into the muscles and take you to a whole different level of relaxation. During the Express Hot Stone Massage the stones are used briefly and then a traditional style Swedish massage then takes place for the remaining portion of the massage.
Well, there you have it folks! What do you think? Which version do you prefer?
