Hands On Massage and Facial Spa — Local services in Maplewood

It’s taken me a few days to write this review because of how emotionally disturbed I was by what happened when I went to the spa.

My partner purchased a gift certificate for me for a Swedish massage and a facial. The session started regular enough with the masseuse, asking me about areas of where I may have some pain, when was the last time that I had a massage and my fitness level.

I proceeded to show her areas that I had pain and told her that I played tennis occasionally and also did some light stretching daily. she then asked me to demonstrate to her, the stretches that I’ve been doing which I proceeded to do. In response to seeing the stretches that I had been doing she quips back in a disgusting tone and says “well there’s the problem then you’re doing it all wrong. People think they know everything and what they're doing, but they don't” and then continues on a tirade for at least 5 minutes about how she's a professional and this is what she does. I honestly can't even remember everything that she said because at this point I’m just so confused about why this woman is speaking to me so angrily, that I’m going in and out of the conversation and trying to make sense what did I do to her for her to be this angry. She then makes comments about my appearance saying that she could try and dress like me, put on a wig to look like me to have long hair but she won’t be me, because she's not me. The entire thing was bizarre.

Then she explains that I’ll be getting a head to toe massage and I tell her that my partner paid for Swedish massage and I wasn’t sure if that was the same thing. In response to that, she YELLS at me and says “Look, whatever issues you have on the other side of the door, you leave it there. This is about you and me and I don't care about what issues you have going on in your life outside of this room.” Now I'm BAFFLED and starting to feel uncomfortable and unsafe because of the level of venom and animosity I feel coming from this woman. At this point 15 minutes have already gone by in what was supposed to be a 50 minute massage.

She then tells me that I'll have to undress and that less is better and to take off my bra. I tell her that I'm going to keep my bra on and show her that Im wearing a very sheer bralet thae she can maneuver over. Her response verbatim “What’s the point then? That doesn't make sense. You do what you want but I won't massage those areas.” So I ask her, can you massage over the bra to which she responds, “I use lotion, you want lotion on your clothes?” in the most condescending tone. I've never been to a spa where the masseuse wasn't understanding and accommodating about keeping underwear on. This woman however made it seem like it was a huge issue, again asking me “What’s the point then?”

She then leaves so I can get undressed. At this point, my alarm bells are all ringing, I’m sweating and feeling claustrophobic. My intuition is screaming for me to leave. She was unprofessional, disrespectful and venomous that I was concerned if I let this woman touch me, she'd do something inappropriate to me during the session. I grabbed my things and ran out of there literally trembling with fear. When I opened the door, she was waiting for me, arms folded, leaning against the wall with the most sinister look on her face. I was so emotionally disturbed that I forgot my keys. When I returned to retrieve them she was at the front entrance with the receptionist or owner, with a smirk on her face, opened the door for me to leave and said have have wonderful day.

The entire interaction was so disturbing that I left without getting my facial and called my friend sobbing — to the point where I had to pull over — about how awful this woman was to me. The only thing that makes sense as to why this stranger would treat a paying customer this way is that she simply didn’t want to service me and was resentful...

I literally just had my first massage there with Martin for my upper back and neck. I was a newbie to the whole massage experience and Martin walked me through the whole process. Helpful, funny, knowledgeable, and most importantly having the MAGIC hands to ultimately cure what I came in with. He literally is the Fixer! Some people I’m sure just want peace and quiet during their massage and Martin would respect that, but again, I wanted to have the play by play of what he was doing …. which he did. His room was awesome. Well sized, nicely dimmed lighting, great white noise of water trickling, and calming appropriate soothing music. The oils, smells, lotions etc smelled wonderful. He even used those awesome hot little towels multiple times per part of the body he was working. On top of all of this, he also used this automatic massage gun called HyperIce which was truly amazing! But, in the end he provided a fantastic balance of his hands and the gun. I honestly had NO clue of what to expect and if this session would really be beneficial or not, but honestly, I a SO SO SO glad that I went! So insanely glad, that I am highly considering a once a month visit. Hands down (no pun intended), Martin and his establishment is totally worth giving a try and ultimately making a regular visit. Thank you so much Martin! You truly do have a gift with your 30+ years...

I got a massage with Martin, it was a bizarre experience:

insisted on showing me old photos of him as a chippendale (?) invited me to a party hes throwing in maplewood insisted i should be a gymnast based on my physique metallica blasted in the middle of the massage im pretty sure he was texting while massaging my legs? massage itself was really bad, he would start massaging a body part for maybe 3 minutes, move on to the next part and so on. so none of the knots or tension i had was actually addressed. the whole thing was really incoherent and sloppy. when i told the woman (maybe the owner?) at the front desk that the massage was not great, but i would still pay for it, she got mad at me.

will not...