Is Nuru Massage Messy? What the Gel Does to Skin and Hair
Yes, for about ninety minutes, and then not at all. The better question is where the gel ends up on you, how it feels as it dries and what to take off first.
Anyone who has seen a photograph of the technique reaches the same conclusion, and the conclusion is correct. A nuru massage is messy in the plainest sense: a generous quantity of warm, clear gel is spread over most of two bodies and kept there for as long as the session runs. What surprises people is how contained that mess turns out to be, and how completely it disappears afterwards. The bed and the linen have been dealt with elsewhere in this journal. This note is about the other surface the gel meets, which is you.
Where it goes
Back, shoulders, arms and legs take most of it, because that is where the long passes run. It reaches the chest and stomach once you turn over, and it collects wherever gravity sends it: the small of the back, the hollows behind the knees, the sides of the ribs where the body meets the sheet. It does not travel far beyond the area being worked, since it is too heavy to run. Faces are left alone. A careful therapist keeps the gel below the jawline, and if a stray trace reaches a cheek she wipes it away with a towel rather than letting it wander toward the eyes, where it would blur your sight for a minute until rinsed.
Hair is the slow part
Short hair barely registers. Long hair is another matter, not because the gel harms it but because a thick, slippery liquid and a great deal of hair take time to part company. If your hair falls past the shoulders, tie it up high before the session starts and take the tie with you into the shower at the end. Beards gather a little when you lie face down on a towel and want a proper rinse rather than a splash. Nothing sticks for good. The gel dissolves in water, so warm water and a minute of patience clear it from hair as completely as from skin, and shampoo simply makes the job quicker.
What it feels like as it dries
This is the part nobody mentions. Left exposed to room air for long enough, a thin film of gel starts to lose its water and turns faintly tacky, rather like skin that has dried in the sun after a swim in the sea. It is not unpleasant and it does not last. Add a few drops of warm water and the film becomes slippery again, which is why a therapist keeps a small bowl or a damp towel within reach during the longer bookings. If you step out of the shower and still feel that slight tackiness along the backs of your arms, you have simply not rinsed long enough, and another thirty seconds under the water settles it.
Things to take off first
- Rings, which slip off gelled fingers easily and are surprisingly hard to find again in a pile of towels.
- Watches and bracelets on fabric or leather straps, where gel works into the stitching and dries there.
- Necklaces on fine chains, which knot themselves once they are slick.
- Contact lenses, if you tend to rub your eyes when you relax.
Phones belong on a table well away from the bed. A screen touched by a gelled finger becomes unreadable, and nobody enjoys trying to silence one mid-session with a hand that cannot grip.
After the shower
The closing rinse is the reason the mess never follows you out of the room. It takes a few minutes in warm water, and the therapist will usually point out any patch you have missed; the nape of the neck and the backs of the knees are the usual culprits. Towel off completely before dressing, because clothes pulled onto skin still damp with a trace of gel will remind you of it for an hour. Once you are dry there is nothing left on you at all, no scent, no residue and no sheen, which is a genuine difference from an oil session, where the skin carries a trace of the oil well into the next morning.
If the idea of any of this puts you off, there is a cleaner cousin. A soapy massage happens in water and foam from start to finish, so nothing needs rinsing away that was not already being rinsed. For people who have wondered about the gel and hesitated, the more usual experience is that the mess stops being noticeable within the first five minutes, because the sensation is so much more interesting than the substance.
The short answer
Messy during, spotless after, with a little care over hair and jewellery. The waterproof sheet and the towels protect the room, which is covered in the piece asking whether the gel stains, and the shower protects you. If you are booking a nuru massage and your hair is very long or your bathroom very small, mention both when you write to book, and the therapist will arrive ready for them.