How Much to Tip for a Massage, What to Wear and How Often to Book

In the US the convention for how much to tip for a massage is 15 to 20 percent of the session price, calculated on the regular price before any discount or gift card comes off. At Tao Spa most guests leave 18 to 20 percent. A tip is appreciated and never required; it goes directly to the therapist, and the amount is your call.

How much to tip for a massage doesn't change with the length or style of the session: a 30-minute Reflexology and a 120-minute Deep Relaxation Massage are tipped at the same rate, and what moves the number is the price. The table does the arithmetic for six example prices chosen because they're easy to work with; they are not lines from our menu, which lives on the Glenside menu and Spring House menu pages.

If you're caught between two figures, round up to the nearer easy number; on a $100 session, $18 and $20 are both a normal tip. The one thing worth getting right is the base figure after a special or a gift card, which the next section covers.

Wear whatever is comfortable to arrive in and easy to put back on, because for a table massage you undress to your own comfort level once the therapist has left the room. You're under a sheet the whole time and only the area being worked is uncovered. Some guests keep their underwear on, some don't; both are normal and the draping is the same either way.

What each service needs from you isn't the same across the menu. Oil goes on skin in every table massage, so a shirt you'd mind marking is the wrong shirt; reflexology only needs your lower legs free; a facial starts with a robe; and two sessions on both menus are done fully clothed and without oil.

Loose, stretchy clothes: leggings or joggers and a t-shirt. Thai Massage is a 60-minute session built on assisted stretching, done clothed and without oil, so what you arrive in is what you're worked in. Jeans, belts and anything stiff get in the way. Our Thai massage guide walks through the session; the same dress code applies to the Healthy Combo Massage, also clothed and oil-free.

Every 3 to 4 weeks is the rhythm most of our regulars settle into for everyday stress and stiffness, and every 2 to 3 weeks suits a heavy training block or a long stretch at a desk. There's no researched ideal schedule. The NCCIH summarises the evidence as mostly short-term benefit for things like pain and stress, which argues for a steady routine over an occasional marathon session.

The practical answer is a budget and a calendar. Because we sell no memberships, the interval is yours to change whenever life does. Two 60-minute sessions a month tend to hold a desk-worker's shoulders better than one 120-minute Deep Relaxation Massage every two months, because the tension has less time to rebuild. If deep work leaves you tender for more than a day or two, stretch the gap or ask for lighter work.

Both storefronts take walk-ins during open hours and share one phone line, (215) 824-8585. Glenside, at 106 N Keswick Ave, is open 9 AM to 9 PM daily; Spring House, at 752 N Bethlehem Pike, opens 10 AM to 9 PM and is closed Tuesday. Appointments are recommended for 90-minute sessions, couples sessions and weekend evenings; the walk-in page explains how a same-day visit works.

Knowing how much to tip for a massage is the easy part. Cash is preferred because the listed prices are cash rates, there are no memberships, and a call or text is the fastest way to ask anything this guide hasn't covered. Once the session is over, our massage aftercare guide takes over: water, a slow afternoon, and why you might be sore tomorrow.