Better than botox

Several years ago, when botox was first becoming popular, I thought I would try it to ensure the fine lines did not become more deepset. My sister wisely told me I would be better to spend the same amount of money on a monthly therapeutic massage, which would relax me and therefore my face. It would also be a more pleasurable way to spend my money than pointy injections. I thought this was a very good idea and found someone nearby.

I enjoyed the massages but the person doing them wasn’t exactly to my taste. She was very sterile and practical and didn’t have the ‘bedside manner’ I required. If she got too warm she would say ‘gosh it’s getting hot in here and turn the heating off’. She did not ask me, the customer, lying there in knickers and a towel (I was the one paying and I was lying there cold). And I didn’t like the way I was in and out within the hour, including changing and paying. Wasn’t an hour long massage an hour long?

I never spoke up though, I simply didn’t go back. I left it a few years without going for my monthly massage, and then on chatting with a customer in our store, discovered she was an aromatherapy masseuse just across the road from us. I booked in with her and haven’t looked back.

I have just had a massage this afternoon and feel so blissed out. She is the polar opposite from my first masseuse. When I arrive the room is warm and dimmed, with soft carpet underfoot. The whole time I am there is a real sensory experience.

She often has a candle, incense or scented oils going, and everything is immaculately clean while still being welcoming and homely. She starts by getting me to take my shoes off and soaks my feet in a foot spa-bath for a few moments and massages in an exfoliating scrub. This is rinsed off and my feet are dried.

She then leaves the room and I change and hop up onto the table. The oil column heater in the corner is heaped with clean towels for her to use, and the towel on the table to cover myself with is toasty warm. As she massages my back, my legs etc, towels are replaced with hot ones, and once she has done with each foot they are wrapped in a warm hand-towel for the remainder of the massage. Can you imagine how wonderful this feels?

She uses a different mix of oils each time. Today I had patchouli, geranium and ylang ylang, and the hour is finished off with a rose oil facial massage.

All the while relaxing meditative music is playing softly.

I've not tried botox yet, and I'm so glad I took the good advice to indulge in regular massage instead. And if you think it's indulgent, just flick through all the other things you spend money on - as I've discovered, some things sneak into your budget uninvited, whereas others, like a regular massage are well worth the investment.