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The 411 on soy candle massages

The doctor's waiting room was interestingly decorated, and a woman in a sari sat at reception. Sitting there waiting to see the Durban doctor recommended highly by my homeopath back in Cape Town I felt a little tearful. My relationship was a mess, I was sunburned, and I didn't know what the hell was wrong with me.

But Dr Yoni (not his real name) did. After a brief consultation, during which I cried lot and explained that I kept fainting and suffering nose-bleeds - for no logical reason, being a clean-living 19-year-old - he said what I needed was a woman's massage, to calm me down. I was pleased: here was a safe environment. He wouldn't be like all those guys who's "tricked" me into bed with a bit of oil on my back...

I was pretty desperate to be cured, so when he asked me to remove my clothes and lie on the bed, I submitted. And the massage was pretty amazing. Pretty much exactly what they have in mind when a character in a porn movie says "trust me, I'm a Doctor." I felt much better afterwards. Relaxed and slightly giggly.

That is, until he introduced me to his wife, the receptionist, on the way out. I tried not to look at his right hand.

For a few years after that, I avoided any massage where physical contact could be made, unless I was trying to seduce someone. I

But curiosity overcame me eventually, and I got to experience a few more things, among them the Couples Massage (a little weird, honestly), Thai Massage (it hurts, but it works). Then another in Madagascar that was interrupted by a flatbed truck full of musicians campaigning for the current president (who in the end won by coup, not through artistic integrity.) There was the "sports massage" by a former rugby player that made me wonder: is casual sex a real sport? And another from a weird hippie dude who bowed to me beforehand, kept apologising throughout, and then refused to let me pay full price at the end.

I tend to try everything once. This leads me into some weird places, like the back room of a hair salon in Sea Point, where the towels, though clean, were suspiciously stained and threadbare. When I looked up at the ceiling during the strange breast-rub some therapists insist on, I realised that the room sometimes doubled as an operating table or a birthing room of some sort. Ja, don't go there.

And then there's been usual Salon stuff, that tends to end just as you're beginning to relax and get used to the horrible music.

You name it, I've taken it lying down. You get the picture.

So I wasn't expecting much from Spice Health & Skincare Studio where their signature is a "soy candle massage". But the honey-coloured lighting, warm but not overpowering, smells and just the way I was received instantly relaxed me. It was hard to believe I was deep in one of those Northern Suburbs strip malls, where there's always at least one knife or gun shop next to the tuisnywerheid with the wooden Dad's Bar signs in the window, and baby city takes the place of Pick 'n Pay.

But the bed was heated. The therapist, Natalie, was clear about where I should lie and how. The wax was warm, not burning hot, and not smelly as it ran onto my back, transforming into a thick oil that absorbed easily and gives great grip. Natalie could feel where the tension was but kept the pressure balanced.

The soy candle massage is combined with some hot stone therapy and is deep and calming, but never invasive; never hard work. It's done to the tune of classical music just light enough to be soothing and not light enough to be cheese. And best of all: it's 90 minutes long.

The luxury manicure that followed was equally amazing, mainly because Natalie somehow knew I didn't want to talk. There is nothing more irritating than for me than lying on a bed answering mundane questions about my day to day life. What do you do? Where do you live? Are you married? Or listening to someone whine about the crime, or trying to flog you products. None of that happened, and it didn't hurt a bit.

At the end of it all, even my hard-worked hands looked pretty feminine, and when I sat up to drink my tea I felt deliciously zombified.

The owner Taryn Lilley launched Spice Health & Skincare Studio in response to the lack of therapeutic or relaxation-oriented salons in Durbanville. You can get almost anything waxed, dyed or curled there, but few beauticians specialise in soothing your soul, because not all beauticians have that talent. A treatment like a massage is by nature a little intimate as it fulfils the human need to be touched - but it should never feel weird, just wonderful.

Spice Health & Skincare Studio's plans for the near future include developing the "spice" theme to add aromatherapy treatments to the soy candle range. For details and bookings: visit www.spicestudio.co.za, email them at info@spicestudio.co.za or phone them on 021- 914 7319.

@Jeanbarker is on twitter. She's studying screenwriting in California and blogs photos of weird signs on jeanbarker.wordpress.com.

 
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