An oil massage is a flowing, full-body treatment using warm oil and continuous strokes, worked directly on the skin. It is the closest thing on our menu to what most people picture when they think of a massage, and it is the one to choose if the goal is simply to stop feeling wound up.
Where Thai massage moves you around, this one asks nothing of you. You lie still, face down and then face up, under a towel, and the therapist works from your feet to your shoulders and back again. Plenty of people fall asleep partway through and that is a perfectly good outcome.
On this page
What actually happens in the hour
Setting up
The therapist lays her own fresh sheet over your bed, sets the oil somewhere warm and steps out while you undress to your level of comfort and get under the towel. Underwear stays on for most people.
The long strokes
She starts face down, usually with the back of the legs, then the back and shoulders, which is where most of the hour goes. The strokes are long and repetitive, following the muscle rather than working across it, and the pressure builds gradually as the tissue warms. Halfway through she holds the towel up while you turn over and does the front of the legs, the arms, and finishes at the neck, scalp and face.
Finishing
Only the part being worked on is uncovered at any time. The rest of you stays under the towel throughout.
The oil, and what it does to your sheets
The oil is plain and unscented, warmed before she starts. If you would rather have a scent, that is the aromatherapy massage and it is a different treatment at a different price.
Nothing goes on the hotel's bedding. The therapist works on a sheet she has brought and takes away with her afterwards, so whatever oil comes off you ends up on her linen. She uses roughly enough to keep her hands moving and no more, so you will not be slick when she has finished, though a shower afterwards is still a good idea.
Who it suits
Anyone who has never had a massage before, because there is nothing to brace for and nothing you can get wrong. Anyone who wants to sleep. People who find Thai massage too active and deep tissue too intense.
It is the default late-night booking for a reason. If it is one in the morning and you cannot switch your head off, this is the treatment that fixes it.
Pressure, and how to get it right
Medium by default. Firm enough that it is clearly doing something, soft enough that you are not tensing against it.
Say so at the start if you like it heavier, and say so again during if the first adjustment was not enough. The therapist has no way of knowing what your normal is and would rather be told twice than have you leave thinking it was too light. If you want it genuinely hard, book the deep tissue instead, since that is a different technique rather than the same one done more forcefully.
How long to book
Sixty minutes covers the whole body but moves at pace. Ninety is the length most regulars settle on, because it gives the therapist time to stay on the back and shoulders long enough to actually change them.
Two hours is not excessive if you have had a hard week or a long flight, and the three hour option exists for people who genuinely want to lose an afternoon. There is no pressure to fill the time with anything other than the same slow work.
Which length to book
Sixty minutes reaches everywhere once. It suits a first booking, or a late one where the only aim is to be asleep by midnight.
Ninety is the length regulars choose, and the reason is arithmetic rather than luxury. A full body pass takes roughly forty minutes at a proper pace, so an hour leaves twenty minutes of concentrated work and ninety leaves fifty. That is the difference between a shoulder feeling looser and a shoulder actually letting go.
Beyond that, two and three hours are for people who want to lose the afternoon rather than solve a problem, and there is nothing wrong with that.
Where we bring oil massage
It is the most portable thing on the menu, because all it needs is a bed and somewhere for the therapist to stand. That covers essentially every hotel room and condo in Bangkok, from serviced apartments in Thonglor to the tower blocks along Rama 9.
It is also our most requested treatment in the small hours, which is worth knowing if you are booking at two in the morning: therapists who work nights do this one constantly and are unlikely to be woken up by it.
Questions about relaxing oil massage
- Do I have to undress completely?
- No. Most people keep underwear on and everyone stays under a towel except the area being worked. Undress to whatever you are comfortable with and the therapist works around it.
- Will I be covered the whole time?
- Yes. Only the limb or the section of back being worked on is uncovered at any moment, and the towel goes back over as she moves on.
- Can I have it on the sofa or does it have to be the bed?
- The bed is much better. It gives the therapist the height and the length she needs. A sofa is workable at a push but the hour will be less comfortable for both of you.
- Should I shower before or after?
- After, so the oil has time to absorb. A quick rinse beforehand is welcome if you have been out all day, but nobody expects it.