Calvin Massage Therapist [Review]

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Length: 4.5 mins read (952 words)

Outlet: KEP Apartment, Kuchai Lama

Service tried: 90 mins full body massage

Last visit: March 2023

(Please click here for Calvin’s contact)

Cleanliness 4 / 5
Customer service 4.5 / 5
Skill 4.5 / 5
Facility 4 / 5
Ambience 3.5 / 5

Calvin was recommended to me by one of my blog reader who became friend subsequently, Mike. If it is not for Mike, I wouldn’t know how I would come across Calvin as he has no FB or Google business. His current clientele is mainly his regular and possibly, through word of mouth. Calvin is no newbie in the industry. He used to work in an establishment but it closed down due to Covid. Now he is on his own doing it from his residence.

I was early. I parked my car outside of his apartment (quite a number of empty parking spaces) and proceeded to his unit. You don’t have to bother to register at the guard house, just wave and go in. 🙂 From the guardhouse, his block is to the right. The lift was spoilt so I climbed my way up to 3rd floor. Soon after, I was greeted by an amiable looking gentleman.

I was brought to his room. Slightly claustrophobic but somehow, it has a very relaxing ambiance with his light setting, music and temperature. It was a contrast from the living room that I just passed through. But his working space definitely seems tight and I was wondering how will he maneuver himself. To his credit, he did that very well without interrupting his flow or routine.

The first half of the session started on prone with dry technique. Over a towel drape, he used a lot of thumb and knuckle pressure points and kneading technique starting at the leg to the glutes then the back / shoulder. His strength was good and I opted for a medium strength. I don’t feel like hard strength today as I just been to one last week and was quite sore from that. On the back, he was also paying a lot of attention to my erector spinae group of muscles (with some elbow technique as well to go deeper). He is among the first few therapists I encountered who works directly on the mid glutes point. It was such a relief for my lower back after he finished.

Second half of the session was oil based and one thing that strikes me the most in this session was his oil application. It was effleurage with mixture of ASMR and it is really amusing. Once he has applied the oil, he continued his routine with hard thumb stroke to work on the muscle and its insertion point. At certain interval, he then used soft but firm touches. After, he shifted again to exerting strength to continue his works. At one point of the leg, he also externally rotated my leg so he can work more on the lateral muscles (another nice touch instead of mainly concentrating on the medial portion).

It was really nice combination between his soft and hard technique. And after he finished on each part, he will be doing the “brushing” off technique like how one would experience in shiatsu massage modality. In the session, I was constantly looking forward to how he will approach the next body part. How will he combine the yin and yang of his stroke this time round? At certain moment, I was dozing off to sleep but I was also fighting it cos I don’t want to miss out what he is going to be doing next.

Indeed, he didn’t disappoint. From the leg, he continued on the back / shoulder (with a bit of the neck). As though he was working on a big canvas, he was alternating back and forth by using his strong thumb / forearm stroke with his lighter and subdued touch before brushing off; creating a wave like sensation on my back. Subsequently, he worked on my hand while in the same position then to the glutes area again. What he did on my hand, he definitely alleviate the pain on my “golfer’s elbow” (my another work injury) and hope the effect will last for a while.

All in all, the session was done mostly on prone and on supine, it was more supplemental. I don’t really mind because he already managed to tackled most of my pain points before I was turned over. It was adequate. So, while on supine, he worked a bit more on my feet, leg, thigh and finally chest / stomach. But as mentioned earlier, it is not a detailed routine for all these portions but it does the job.

I was seated up and he did some simple kneading and tapotement to end the session.

Update (Nov 2021): Went back again and he modified the treatment room layout a bit and it is slightly more spacious now for him to manuvre around. Also, his marketing collaterals now clearly state that he only accept fully vaccinated patron.

Note:
– I brought my own oil mix cos I wanted to use a muscle blend EO for today.
– He never asked me for MySejahtera cert, so I am unsure how strict he is in the SOP compliance. Maybe he assume that everyone is vaccinated or possibly he also take non vaccinated client. But, throughout the session, both of us are masked.
– He has so much potential to be a great treatment massage therapist but unsure whether that is the direction he is looking at, for his unique massage routine.

Pros:
– Very unique way of combining his soft vs hard technique. Certainly a highlight.
– A friendly therapist (he also communicate well in Mandarin and English)
– Affordable price especially for a therapist with his skill.

Cons:
– He has other house mate and you don’t get the relax ambiance til you step into his room which double up as the treatment room.
– His routine doesn’t work too much on the neck area