Body to Body or Nuru: What Is the Difference

The short answer first: in both massages the masseuse works with her whole body, but the medium is different. Body to body is done with warm oil, so the touches stay distinct and you always feel exactly where she is. Nuru is done with a gel made from seaweed that removes almost all friction, so separate touches turn into one continuous glide. Everything else follows from that: how it feels on the skin, how intense it becomes, what it costs and even how long the shower afterwards takes.

What body to body massage actually is

Body to body grows out of a classic oil massage, except that far more than hands are involved. The masseuse uses forearms, palms, chest, stomach and thighs, and she shifts her weight so the pressure comes from the whole body rather than from fingertips. You lie on a futon in a warm room, the oil is heated in advance and the work is built in layers: back and legs first, then the front.

What matters is that oil keeps a certain amount of friction. Skin holds on skin, so you register which part of her body is leaning into you, when the pressure builds and when it releases. Individual touches remain separate events. That is why body to body massage feels like a massage with an extra dimension rather than a completely different discipline.

In practice the rhythm changes several times an hour. Sometimes hands and forearms lead, sometimes full body contact takes over, and between the two there are short pauses where your breathing settles. Anyone who has had a good oil massage will recognise the familiar structure, just tuned differently and with a different degree of closeness.

Warmth is part of the technique here. Oil heats up through friction, we keep the room warmer than most people keep their homes, and the body lets go gradually. Guests who arrive from a cold street or after a long working day usually spend the first quarter of an hour simply melting, and only then start to really feel anything.

What nuru is and where it comes from

Nuru came out of Japan, specifically from Kawasaki, where the style spread through salons in the 1970s. The Japanese word nuru translates roughly as slippery, which describes the whole point of it. The key is a gel made from seaweed that holds water, does not stiffen and stays slippery far longer than any oil can.

Our nuru gel is colourless and almost odourless, so no added fragrance enters the experience. We warm it in the studio before the massage so that the first contact is not a cold shock, which matters more with gel than with oil. It is extraordinarily slippery, yet it rinses off easily with water and leaves no greasy film. Oil is not like that at all, it soaks in and you can still feel it on your skin on the way home.

The sequence looks like this: a shared shower, then the masseuse applies the gel to herself and to you, and the massage runs almost entirely through full body contact. Her hands lead the movement and set the direction, but the glide does the real work. There is a step by step description in our article on what to expect from a nuru massage, and the details of what we offer are on the nuru massage page.

The core difference: oil versus seaweed gel

When guests ask about the difference they expect an answer about technique. But the technique follows the material. One thing decides it all: how much friction is left between two bodies.

How oil behaves

Oil moistens the skin and reduces resistance without cancelling it. A movement has a beginning and an end, it can stop in place, press in, stay a while. Skin warms up through friction and that warmth is part of the experience. Oil also soaks in, so it gets topped up several times during a longer session, and even that becomes part of the rhythm, because reapplying oil naturally creates a short pause.

How nuru gel behaves

Seaweed gel forms a continuous slippery layer between two skins and it stays there. A movement cannot easily be stopped halfway, it carries on gliding, which is why nuru is performed in long strokes along the full length of the body. Contact is continuous but, oddly enough, less specific: less pressure, more surface. The skin stays wet and cooler, which many guests describe as a floating or weightless sensation.

One practical note you will not find on a price list: the gel holds its slipperiness so well that it barely needs topping up during an hour. Oil gets reapplied routinely. That small detail says everything about how differently the two materials behave.

Pace and intensity: where the two part ways

Body to body moves in waves. Hand work and full body contact alternate, the pace rises and falls again, and the masseuse can slow down at any moment without losing contact. Arousal builds gradually because the body gets a chance to rest between phases and your perception keeps resetting.

Nuru runs more smoothly and, taken as a whole, more intensely. There are few natural places to stop, so the stimulation accumulates. Most guests describe it as a stronger and less predictable experience. Not because anything different is happening, but because the pauses that oil creates are simply not there.

Which gives you a simple rule. Do you want an experience you can meter out and talk through as it goes? Take body to body. Do you want to be carried along without wondering what comes next? Take nuru. Either one can be slowed with a word and either can be stopped at any time, only the default setting differs.

The differences side by side

If it has to fit on one screen:

• Medium: body to body uses warm massage oil, nuru uses colourless seaweed gel.
• Friction: oil reduces it, gel removes almost all of it.
• Feeling on the skin: oil gives warmth and readable pressure, gel gives a wet, cooler, continuous glide.
• Pace: body to body works in waves with pauses, nuru runs on without stopping.
• Lead: in body to body the hands and forearms still do a lot of the work, in nuru full body contact takes over.
• Price for 60 minutes: body to body 2000 CZK, nuru 2200 CZK.
• Afterwards: oil stays on the skin and you can feel it, gel rinses off with water and leaves no greasy film.
• Who we recommend it to: body to body is the safe choice for a first visit, nuru is the step up for someone who wants something more intense.

What it costs and why nuru is more expensive

Prices are identical in both studios and apply to one masseuse.

Body to body massage:

• 30 minutes 1600 CZK
• 45 minutes 1800 CZK
• 60 minutes 2000 CZK
• 90 minutes 3000 CZK

Nuru massage:

• 30 minutes 1700 CZK
• 45 minutes 2000 CZK
• 60 minutes 2200 CZK
• 90 minutes 3100 CZK

The gap is 100 to 200 CZK depending on length and the reason is mundane. Seaweed gel is a consumable, it has to be imported and it costs considerably more than massage oil. Add the preparation and warming of the gel before the session and the longer cleaning of the room afterwards. With two masseuses the price doubles for both massages. The full overview including our other rituals is on the price list.

Notice how the gap behaves as sessions get longer. At thirty minutes it is a hundred crowns, at ninety minutes still only a hundred. The longer the massage, the smaller the role the gel plays in the price, because preparation and cleaning take the same time whether the session lasts half an hour or an hour and a half.

Which one to choose

On a first visit

First time in a salon? We suggest body to body for 60 minutes. The reasoning is practical. The structure is more familiar, it can be slowed at any point and it leaves you room to get used to the place, to the masseuse and to the simple fact of being touched this closely by someone you have just met. The thirty minute version is more of a taster and the full sequence does not fit into it.

When you want something more intense

Nuru makes sense once you roughly know what a salon visit involves and you want an experience that goes further. Sixty or ninety minutes is the right length. At thirty minutes a large share of the time goes on preparation and the shower, so the massage itself ends up short and the value is not great. Ninety minutes of nuru is the strongest thing on our price list for one guest and one masseuse.

There is also a group of guests who pick nuru straight away on a first visit and are perfectly happy with it. Usually they are people who know erotic massage from elsewhere and want to compare. If that is you, say so at the start and the masseuse will adjust the opening accordingly.

Can you combine them or book one after the other

Yes, and guests do. There are two routes.

First: book nuru for 90 minutes and tell the masseuse you want to start with the oil part. She can do the classic hand and forearm work at the beginning and then move on to the gel. It does not work the other way round, because after gel you cannot return to oil without a shower in the middle of the session, which would break the whole flow.

The second route is to split them across two visits and compare with some distance between them. Most people pick one after two visits and then stay with it. If you are tempted to try both in one evening, be aware that after two hours of intense contact the body reads things differently, and the second massage in a row tends to be the weaker experience.

Both massages can also be booked with two masseuses. Nuru comes into its own there, because a continuous glide gains an extra logic with three people involved. In that case the price doubles, so 4400 CZK for an hour of nuru and 4000 CZK for an hour of body to body.

Practical matters: shower, towels, cleaning and timing

Both massages have a shower before and after. Before, for hygiene and because warmed skin responds better. After, because the oil or the gel has to come off. With nuru that step is quicker, the gel goes down the drain fast and completely. Oil needs soap and a few more minutes.

Towels, sheets and shower supplies are all provided, you need to bring nothing. With nuru it is worth tying your hair up. The gel rinses out without any trouble, but it lengthens the shower for no good reason.

Cleaning up is our job, not yours. After nuru the surface, the towels and the mat are changed and washed, because the gel soaks into nothing and simply stays on top. That is exactly why we leave a longer gap between nuru bookings in the schedule, and why booking ahead pays off, especially for evening hours and weekends.

About timing: the minutes we quote are the massage itself. The shower, getting changed and finishing your drink in peace are not counted, so allow roughly an hour and a half for a sixty minute massage. Anyone who arrives at the last minute in a hurry mostly robs themselves of the part they came for.

Bookings go through WhatsApp on +420 776 739 466. We are open daily from 10:00 to 05:00 and we run two studios: Opletalova 1566/30, Prague 1 New Town, and Lužická 1416/29, Prague 2 Vinohrady. There is no online payment, you pay on the spot in cash or by card.

And if you cannot decide, write to us on WhatsApp and tell us what you want from the evening. We will recommend one of the two. We do this every day, so you will get an answer in minutes rather than hours.