Your First Massage at Home: The First Ten Minutes, What to Wear, and How to Say Stop
A plain walkthrough of the first ten minutes of an in-home massage session: arrival checks, clothing, how draping works, and how to say you are uncomfortable.
What happens before anyone knocks
When you make a booking on LEGA, the therapist does not immediately know where you live. Until the booking is accepted and paid, they see your district and nothing more. The full address is released only after both of those things have happened. This matters for the first ten minutes because it means the person arriving at your door already has a confirmed booking attached to their name — they are not someone who found your address and decided to show up.
Every therapist on LEGA has been verified in person at the LEGA office before taking a single booking. National ID checked, training certificates checked, photograph taken there in the office, and massage skills graded 1 to 5 by the LEGA team. The photo on the profile is the photo taken at that visit. If the person at your door does not match the profile photo, that is a problem, and you should not let the session begin.
You also choose a female or male therapist at the time of booking. If you are nervous about having a stranger in your home, this is not a small preference to be apologetic about. Choose whichever makes you comfortable enough to actually relax, because a session you spend bracing against is not worth the ninety minutes.
The first ten minutes, step by step
On arrival, the therapist checks in through the app with a photograph of the location and a GPS reading. You do not need to do anything for this part. Then the session cannot start until you read out a 4-digit code that appears in your own app. The therapist enters it on their side. This is a deliberate gate: it confirms the right person reached the right address, and it confirms you were present and willing to begin. If you are not ready, do not read out the code yet.
After the code, expect a short conversation — usually a few minutes. The therapist will ask what you want from the session, whether you have any recent injuries, surgeries, skin conditions, or areas that hurt, and whether there is anywhere you would rather they avoid. Answer honestly, including anything that feels minor. A therapist who knows about a sore shoulder or a healing bruise can work around it. One who does not know will find it with their hands, which is a worse way to find out.
Then the practical setup: a flat space, either a mat on the floor or your own bed, a cleared area roughly two metres by one, and somewhere to put a bag. Oil is used on skin, so a towel or old sheet underneath is sensible if you care about the surface. The minimum session length on LEGA is 90 minutes, and the earliest you can book is 30 minutes from now, so there is usually time to get the room ready before anyone arrives.
What to wear
Loose clothing you can move in, and underwear you are comfortable being seen in, because underwear generally stays on. That is the short answer. Most people undress to their underwear under a towel or sheet, lie face down, and the therapist works around and over the covering.
If undressing to underwear is more than you want to do on a first session, wear loose shorts and a loose t-shirt and say so during the intake conversation. Some techniques work through fabric and some do not; the therapist will tell you honestly what is and is not possible with clothes on and adjust the plan. Less access means a different session, not a failed one.
Take off watches, rings, necklaces and anything else that will press into you or snag. Tie long hair up. If you wear contact lenses, lying face down for an extended period is often uncomfortable, so consider taking them out first.
How draping works, and why
Draping means you stay covered by a towel or sheet for the whole session, and only the single area being worked on is uncovered at any one time. Back and shoulders are uncovered while they are being worked, then re-covered before the therapist moves to a leg. Nothing else is exposed while that happens. When you turn over, the therapist holds the sheet up, looks away, and you turn underneath it.
The reason is partly warmth — lying still for ninety minutes gets cold quickly — and mostly that it removes ambiguity. Draping makes the boundary of the session physical and visible rather than something both people have to negotiate by feel. It is standard professional practice, and a therapist who treats it as optional is not working to standard.
Gluteal and upper-thigh areas hold a lot of tension and are sometimes worked, always through or under the drape and only with your explicit agreement beforehand. The chest, genital area and buttocks are never uncovered. There is no version of a LEGA session in which that changes. If a therapist suggests otherwise, end the session.
Saying you are uncomfortable
The simplest sentences work best, and you do not owe anyone a reason: "too hard," "too light," "please skip that area," "I want to stop." Say it in whatever language is easiest for you. Therapists expect this and most will ask about pressure within the first few minutes anyway. Adjusting pressure is routine, not a complaint.
Discomfort that is not about pressure deserves the same directness. If you want the room brighter, the music off, the conversation to stop, or the session to end early, say so. A session that ends at forty minutes because you changed your mind is a session that ended. An SOS button is available in the app throughout, for anything that goes past discomfort into feeling unsafe.
Payment is held after you pay and released to the therapist after the session, so you are not handing cash to someone in your living room and hoping for the best. The hourly rate shown on the profile is what you pay — no admin fee, no transport surcharge. You can pledge a tip in the app before a therapist accepts, or give cash afterwards, which the therapist keeps in full. Neither is expected.
One limit worth stating plainly: massage can relieve muscle tension and help you relax. It does not treat, cure or diagnose anything. If you have persistent pain, numbness, a recent injury, are pregnant, or are managing a condition, ask a doctor before booking, and tell the therapist what the doctor said.