Last month, with the launch of our first professional massage oil without CBD, Kelly and I returned to where it all began. Before Vital Body was a CBD company, we were bodyworkers with a spa in Santa Cruz and 14 therapists. I was a bit of a cream and oil hobbyist back then, making the products we used in our own treatment rooms. I'd like to walk you through what's in the oil and why.
Why we made it
Therapists have been asking us for a non-CBD line for years. Not every practice carries CBD, not every state allows it, and not every client wants it. Even in a spa that loves our CBD products, CBD isn't part of every treatment, but a cream or an oil is part of every massage. We've built a reputation as a brand practitioners can trust for quality ingredients, and being therapists ourselves, we understand exactly how a therapist needs their cream or oil to perform in a session. So it made perfect sense for us to make an oil our spa and practitioner customers could use every day in their regular massages. It also means those professionals who can't work with CBD, or would simply rather not, can now work with us.
What's in it
The base is a blend of carrier oils: sunflower, safflower, apricot kernel, fractionated coconut (MCT), olive, and camellia, with a little vitamin E (tocopherol) for added skin nourishment and to protect the oils from oxidation. Infused into that base is the same six-herb blend that's in most of our products: arnica, calendula, chamomile, comfrey, dandelion and ginger. Other massage oils on the market include one or two of these, like arnica or ginger, and I'm really proud we’ve packed it with six!
There are no preservatives, no dimethicone (a synthetic, silicone-based polymer often added to give more slip), and no parabens in any of the three versions. It's also nut-free. Apricot kernel and coconut oil both come from a stone fruit rather than a tree nut, and neither is on the FDA Allergen Guidance list. As always, if a client has any concern about this classification and their own sensitivity, they should consult their health care provider for guidance.
Finding camellia
One of the trickiest parts of making any massage oil is getting the balance of grip to glide right. You want the glide to last long enough that you're not reapplying every couple of minutes, but not so long that it feels heavy or greasy on the client’s skin. I experimented with some new oils, one being the highly emollient avocado oil. But I found that in this blend, it was feeling a bit too heavy and sticky. Then I tried one I had never worked with before: camellia oil. The high levels of oleic acid and squalene in it provide incredible hydration and help support the skin's moisture barrier. After the first batch, I was excited to discover that it also gave the blend a really nice texture and resulted in a good glide with none of the stickiness. It's also very similar in composition to the skin's own natural sebum, which is part of why it feels the way it does. It's a new ingredient for us, and I'm excited about it!
I actually found it while I was looking for a substitute for jojoba, which is one of my favorite oils, and I know a lot of therapists love it too. I use it in our massage creams at a low enough concentration that it usually doesn’t stain sheets. But Comphy, the sheet company used by many of our spa partners, doesn't cover damage under its warranty when its sheets are used with jojoba or grapeseed, and I wanted this first oil line to work for every spa using their sheets. So there's no jojoba or grapeseed in it, which makes it Comphy-compatible.
Three versions
Clean Slate is unscented, for clients or therapists with allergies or sensitivities to fragrance, and it's the most versatile of the three. Down to Earth is our grounding blend, built around hinoki and chamomile with mandarin and palmarosa. Hinoki is a Japanese cypress, and if you've heard of forest bathing, that's the feeling we were after. Drift Away is our tropical blend of coconut and vanilla – think a sunny day on a white sand beach. The scented versions use natural fragrance oil (made from plant materials such as natural essences or extractions), and Down to Earth also has pure essential oils, so there's no synthetic fragrance in either. All three come in 64 oz and 128 oz sizes for professional use.
What I'm most excited about
Professional massage products are a pretty traditional category, and I don't see much in it that was formulated by massage therapists. Kelly and I spent years in the treatment room ourselves, so we know what therapists are looking for, both in how a product performs and in what's on the ingredient deck. I'm excited for this oil to reach more practitioners and spas, especially the ones who couldn’t work with us until now. If you'd like to try it in your treatment room, our team can help, and if you have a question about anything in the formula, I'm always happy to talk ingredients!
