Ever heard of a massage dedicated exclusively to your breasts? No? Then read on.
In the West this practice isn’t perhaps as popular or well known, but if you take a closer look at Chinese spas, you’ll notice there’s almost always a breast massage on the menu – if not, just ask.
According to Green Massage’s Kiki Ren, the primary reason is to help “relieve toxin build-up and encourage blood circulation for a healthy lymphatic system.”
Although the massage focuses mainly on the breasts, it also stimulates the lymph nodes located in our armpits. Lymph nodes are filters located throughout the body within the lymphatic system. They help lymph (a clear fluid) travel through the body to clean and drain toxins from tissues. According to breastcancer.org, the nodes filter out and trap unwanted substances such as bacteria, viruses and cancer cells before safely removing them.
Ren went on to explain other benefits of this unique treatment: better skin tone, firmness, relief from painful premenstrual symptoms, removal of toxins, tone muscles and added relaxation. For women who have had (or plan to have) babies, the massage also claims to increase milk production, reduce discomfort and lessen engorgement during breast feeding by unblocking plugged milk glands.
Ok, these sound like perfectly legitimate, professional reasons and not a booby prize.
According to one happy (and regular) customer: “As someone with larger breasts, I always feel so much better after. They feel like whipped air!” Unfortunately, she also mentioned that the treatment can be painful at times, due both to the therapist’s iron-clad fingers and a comb-like object dragged over the boobs to facilitate circulation.
Regardless, in the name of research and – ahem – potentially perkier boobs, we sent two intrepid Shanghai Living editors to different Green Massage spas (the K11 Artmall branch on Huaihai Lu and Shanghai World Financial Tower in Lujiazui) to try it out. Both enjoyed extremely professional female masseuses who put them immediately at ease. After a quick back and neck rub, they were asked to roll over. Therapists used a fairly forceful kneading technique on practiced pressure points, lots of rubbing and finally hot wax.
The result? Both agreed it wasn’t half as painful as expected (no “comb” was used at any point), though each felt different lasting effects. One editor (who hasn’t got children) felt a floaty-light afterglow and was instantly converted, but the other (who has three children over the age of five) was far from blown away.
Green Massage is running a special buy-one-get-one-half-off deal on their “Lady Breast Care Massage” (usually RMB480/pax) through March 15, which could be a great excuse for the uninitiated to go and check it out.
