I strongly believe MT should look professional. I work with clients with pain and therefore I dress with scrubs, that is clean and ironed properly. Dress with low cuts in the front is not professional at all. It is rather disgusting. Nurses, doctors any person dealing with people are dressed professionally. My clients respect me as a professional MT and someone who knows what she is doing and well trained. MT are licensed and CEU are required like all health professionals.

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I never thought I will agree with this opinion, but you know… I agree partially now

This is such a great subject to talk about. I am the massage dept manager at a great local spa. I am always trying to come up with ideas to help my therapists succeed and become better professionals, and here we do have a spa dress code. And believe it or not, I still have problems. Some way or another there are always a few therapists who try to wiggle their way out of dress code. They’re main excuse is that their clients come back because of their massage not how they dress! I find this somewhat true, but when you first present yourself and when working with a client for the first time, you of course want to give them a great first impression of your own self care and wellness. And by dressign the part of a healthy, fit massage therapist, I think this is very important. Thank you for that information, C. flores, San Jose, CA.

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Ann

I completely agree that we have to dress as professionals to be treated like professionals .

The problem as I see it, however is that as a culture the dress code for professionals in the corporate world has changed, and we are a corporate culture.

Women go to work as lawyers, executives as well as administrators with short skirts, low cut tight form fitting cloths and open shoes and sometimes thongs.

The common sense that used to prevail about dressing , in terms of what message is being sent through that wardrobe, as far as I can tell ,no longer exists.

We actually have to teach this in our courses. We can’t depend upon the students to recognize this component to our profession.

I teach in many different settings as you do. I used to get somewhat angry when Id show up to take students to a facility and someone would have ripped jeans and flip flops. Now I simply recognize that they dont have the slightest idea because they are wearing the latest fashion.

In the 2 hospices where I take interns jeans are appropriate. In the skilled nursing facility where i go they are not. In san francisco on the weekends hospital physicians might be wearing jeans and t shirts. This is all very confusing .

Students are also coming from high school into massage school, going through oversized classrooms where they may have little or no personal attention and then going out to find a job.They are wearing what the culture has acceoted in all other facets of their experience.

I do therefore believe that a dress code or standard should be taught . I think just like teaching presence we have to teach dressing as a skill.

Blessings Irene smith http://www.everflowing.org

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