Should you undress for a massage?

Think back to your first massage.

When you walked into your first massage appointment, how did you feel?

Nervous? Excited? Apprehensive? Desperate to feel better?

At 31, I walked into my first massage appointment. Having come from work as a restaurant manager, I brought baby wipes and cleaned my feet.

Ya know, just in case.

My husband had gotten me 2 gift certificates for massage, and I was beyond excited. Not just to experience it, but to have time and space alone (with 2 young children and a 50-hour-a-week job, that didn't happen very often.)

The confident massage therapist told me,
"Undress to your level of comfort." as she left the room.

What WAS my level of comfort???

I hadn't ever had a massage. Knowing that surely she would be touching my skin, I took off everything except my undergarments.

But as she worked on my back, I was unnerved when she asked, "Could I unhook your bra?"

Umm. Now THAT felt weird AND invasive.

Noticing my hesitation, she said that she didn't want to get any oil on it.

Of course! That made sense. But it was weird to have her unhook and then hook it. I didn't like that experience.

Never mind that she also straight up tortured me for an hour, not once asking how the pressure was. I'll get into that in another blog post.

The point is:
Why do schools teach you to say to undress to your level of comfort? (I was taught that.)

Maybe you could suggest something better, like:

1. If you don't mind taking off your bra so I don't get oil on it, that would be great.
2. Most people take off their bras and undies. (Or leave them on. Whatever. This gives them a guide post at least.)
3. I'd love to be able to get all the muscles in your hips effectively. If you don't mind taking of your underwear, that would be helpful. Don't worry-I'll drape you professionally!

Any one of those comments would have helped me feel tremendously more comfortable.

As my massage specialty is barefoot massage, and I prefer the client to be nekked as the day they were born.

I say something along the lines of:

Your low back hurts? That could be coming from your hips and hamstrings. If you don't mind taking off your underwear so I can work that area well, that would be great. I'll make sure you're professionally draped. If you aren't comfortable with that, please pull up your boxers to here (and I show them).

Some massage clients leave on their drawers. Most don't.

Either one is fine.

What do you say? And will this change your approach?