As much as my wife and I enjoy massage, we had never heard of massage bars until we got our hands on the rubME Massage Bar from ME Bath and Body. It is a solid bar designed for use in massage.
They are not exclusive to ME Bath and Body, others like Lush also make them, but these were the first we encountered. ME Bath and Body is a part of Pleasure Works, which also makes the Please line of lubricants, and is a company that has had pretty consistent high quality products in our experience.
The Massage Bars come in a 2 oz. foil wrapped package and the bar is about 1 inch thick and 2.4 inches wide. It is good for about a dozen massages more or less, as your mileage will vary. It is made from cocoa butter, shea butter and essential oil with the scents of English Lavender, Pomegranate Mint, French Vanilla, Morning Dew, Coconut Lime, Amber Rose, Nude (unscented), Forget Me Not (sweet honey), and After Dinner Mint (Chocolate Mint).
The bars have a very low melting point, coincidentally enough, right at about body temperature. So here’s the rub- that low melting point can be a problem if you live in a warm area like where we do in Los Angeles. If you have it shipped, there is the possibility that it could melt in transit or while sitting on your hot porch, so this is something I would suggest you purchase at a local couples boutique.
We tried the Coconut Lime. The scent is quite strong. It has a slight waxy feel.
I went in a bit skeptical. I learned to do massage using massage oil, and that is the way I have done it for many years.
The first thing I tried to determine is how easily this was applied. The best way is the most obvious way- hold it in your hand and rub it against their skin. It will melt into your fingertips and into their skin at the same time- both places that you want to become slippery. With the combination of what was on my fingers and what I applied to their skin, it was actually quick and easy to get enough to do the job.
It does feel quite different from massage oil, and even from massage cream. It does not stay slippery quite as long as an oil, but long enough, and it is actually easier to apply. You don’t have to flip open a bottle or worry about that bottle tipping over and leaking. It is much less messy and does not stain the sheets. It washes off more easily than a massage oil does.
The major difference I noticed is that it does not spread as widely as massage oil. I can put a small pool of oil in the palm of my hand, rub the hands together to warm up the oil (not necessary with the bar), and apply that over a fairly large area of skin. With the bar, you need to run the bar over the areas that you want to massage. It will spread a little beyond that area, but just not as much as an oil will.
Do I like it? Yes, much more than I thought I would. Will it replace massage oil for me? No, that is what I am still most comfortable with. However, there are times where I can see this having many advantages over an oil. It is easy to apply. It leaves you feeling less oily. I can see it being very useful for improvised massages rather than the full traditional lie on a massage table type of massage.
One thing that is not a plus is that once out of the packaging, you have a bar of easily meltable unprotected material. It is unfortunate that is does not come in some type of case. I put it in an inexpensive 1 pint Ziploc Twist ‘n Loc which is much larger than it needs, but does keep it protected and air tight. A smaller container would make it more easily portable.