Where Can I Get the Best Stones for Hot Stone Massage?

By Selena Belisle, CE Institute LLC Founder & Instructor

Hot stone massage is a wonderful thermal therapy bodywork because of its heat. It’s not the stone by itself that makes a hot stone massage feel good. It’s the HEAT in the stone with a carefully trained and skillful application that creates that incredible hot stone massage experience. Afterall, massaging someone with a room temperature stone usually does not feel good at all. That’s why it’s important to use the right stones for hot stone massage. Sharing what we would consider to be the best stones requires providing some basic information, so that massage therapists can make an educated choice to find the absolute best stones.

The type of stone that should be used for hot stone massage is an opinion to some; however, most hot stone professionals agree that black basalt lava spewn from volcanic eruptions is best. That’s because some volcanic basalt lava has very high metallic content which can conduct and hold heat longer than most other stones or materials. Basalt lava can have other colors such as green and redish stones; however, in this article, we're going to focus on the most common and popular black variety.

Most random stones do not have the higher metallic content of the basalt lava. There are other reasons we chose black basalt lava from volcanic eruptions, such as it’s born from tremendous energy which is further shared in our hot stone massage training. Hot stone massage can be a wonderful energetic therapy to recharge the body and more. Below is a picture of Hawaiian Big Island's Kīlauea volcano smoldering in November 2017 before it errupted in May 2018. Can you see or feel the energy from it?

Can I Use Stones From Landscaping Stores for Hot Stone Massage?

I would say no, with the following information. I have taught hot stone massage for a few decades now, and in some recent classes, I’ve had other licensed massage therapists tell me that they simply picked up a bag of black round smooth stones at Home Depot, Lowes, and other landscaping supply stores (pictures of these are below).  The students who are also LMTs said using those landscaping stones is the same basalt lava stones as others cultivated and shipped by professional stone retailers.  So, I did a test myself and found that they are not the same, and we do NOT recommend these!

The black round stones that are sold in landscaping supply stores for the purposes of lining a driveway or making walkway paths, etc., are of a lighter material.  That means they have less metallic content, because it’s the metal within the hot stones that make them heavier.  That means, while those cheaper landscaping stones might look the same, they do not retain the heat as long as the professional basalt lava stones sold by ethical hot stone retailers. 

To prove the point, stone suppliers need to ship their product to landscaping retailers, which can be costly.  Logistically, stone suppliers will be choosing the lightest stones possible to save on shipping costs.  That means, the black round stones sold at landscaping companies would have the least metallic content within them to avoid excessive weight and shipping costs, when delivering them to landscaping retailers.

Why It's Important to Use the Right Stones for Hot Stone Massage

Please keep in mind that even some of the best hot stone sets might only retain heat for a minute or two per stone.  A regular river stone picked from the river or even a basalt stone picked up from the beach (as shown in the picture below from the Volcanic island of Madeira Portugal) might only retain heat for a few seconds. This is why it’s so important to use proper stones (aka as service products or materials), in hot stone massage. 

The longer the stone retains the heat, the longer the enjoyable thermal therapy exchange will be provided to the client. Changing stones during hot stone massage is inevitable, to keep the session going with stones that are always hot. The key is to keep your stones hot, and not have to change them so frequently by using proper stones that retain heat the longest.

Can I Pick My Own Stones Naturally To Create My Own Hot Stone Massage Kit?

This is a tricky question. The answer is yes and no, unless you get luckier than I was. You can pick your own stones and use them, however, you must have the legal right to do so.  

I have visited two archipelago groups of islands made from volcanic eruption with basalt lava stones abundantly available on the beaches of Hawaii (pictured below) and Madeira, Portugal.  In both islands, I found the same beautiful tumbled black lava stones on their beaches.  The problem is, it’s hit or miss if you can find black lava stones amongst these millions of tumbled stones that have the higher metallic content.  My experience is that tumble polished lighter stones are what wash up on the beaches. Those lighter stones that wash up on the beaches lack the heavy metallic content that is required for professional hot stone massage.

Here's a short video showing basalt lava stones naturally tumbling in the ocean waves which is what makes the stones naturally smooth after millions of years of tumbling. Just imagine the energy charged into these stones with this action:

Not All Basalt Lava is The Same

It's important to note that not all basalt lava creates great stones for hot stone massage. That's because basalt lava can have larger variables, and is not all the same.  In the pic below from a Hawaiian lava field, you can see that this particular basalt lava field is porous, which would be great for shipping a lighter stone to save on shipping expense, while it would be a poor lava candidate for hot stone massage application.  Unfortunately, after machine polishing, it would be hard to identify porous stones versus those with a large metallic content; however, professional hot stone retailers usually sell the heavier and higher metallic content stones.

This porous lava pictured above is much different than high metallic content lava that can leave tiny and more sparse pitting from the leaching of metal from the stone.

Let’s Not Break the Law to Practice Hot Stone Massage

Most states, countries or places will not let someone just take natural resources, such as removing beautiful stones from a public beach. It’s usually against the law to do so. People cannot, and should not go to a volcanic archipelago and grab some stones from public or private areas to take or keep. While that could save a therapist $80ish from having to order stones from a professional stone supplier, you might also be breaking the law, and adding a lot of bad energy to your bodywork with that logic. Of course you could pick stones from your own property, but the question is, do you have volcanic basalt lava with a heavy metallic content in your backyard?

I stayed at the Kalani Oceanside Retreat for Lomi Lomi training In Big Island, Hawaii. Every morning, guests were invited to swim at the local black sand beach that was just filled with naturally smooth and tumbled black lava stones (pics below). I asked if I would be able to take some of the stones back to the retreat to test them, and then return the stones back to the beach the next day, and they said yes, so I did.  This is how I found that picking what appeared to be some of the most beautiful thick black basalt lava stones from the black sand beach would not guarantee a great stone  for hot stone massage. I have naturally tumbled and polished basalt lava stones that I ordered from professional hot stone retailers that both retained more heat longer than anything I was able to collect and trial from that black sand beach in Hawaii.  So lesson learned, not all black basalt lava is created equally.

How Can You Tell Which Basalt Lava Stones Have the Highest Metallic Content?

One would really need to know the volcanic fields and chemistry to learn where the higher metallic content lava fields are. Touring lava fields, such as what’s available as public parks in Hawaii is quite fascinating.  Lava fields can be various shades of color including black and dark green, depending on the gasses and chemical composition of the volcanic eruption. Some lava fields are smooth, some are sharp, some have pockets of air while others are dense. Some have glistening mineral content reflecting the sun and some are quite dull.  Examples of these Hawaiian public park lava fields are shown in the pics below.

And believe it or not, according to one professional stone retailer who is no longer in business, some of the best stones I’ve used were not picked from a lava field at all. He said he was picking the best high metallic content basalt stones that were hundreds of miles away from their volcanic eruption origin!

Ethical hot stone wholesalers and retailers regularly have the best supplies; although, one of my suppliers has told me that first class naturally tumbled basalt lava stones have disappeared from nature. They’ve already been picked and sold. He ethically disclosed that he felt the hot stone sets he was selling today were of second class quality given the first class quality is already gone. Afterall, the best basalt lava stones are naturally created and thus have a limited supply. 

So Where Can I Get The Best Stones for Hot Stone Massage?

Our recommendation today would be to purchase the polished hot stone sets such as what we have pictured below here at our school.  As CE providers, the boards state we're not supposed to promote one retailer over another; however, therapists should be able to find similar sets to what we recommend from viewing the picture below.

The larger the set the better.  Larger sets allow better and more reliable thermal therapy application when swapping out cooler stones for hot stones throughout the session, as we show and teach in our hot stone massage training.  But, before purchasing a polished set, try going to ebay to see if there are any second hand naturally tumbled stones for sale.  Like any profession, massage therapists retire or switch trades, and they may try to sell their business assets on an online platform.  If you can find a set of naturally tumbled stones second hand, that might be your best option of all.  Using naturally tumbled stones is usually best because they are considered to have better energy than a stone that was cut or polished by a machine.

If you do find a second hand set of naturally tumbled stones and they are rusting (picture below), or have tiny nonsharp pits in them, that’s okay!  Do you know why there’s tiny pits in those naturally tumbled basalt lava stones? That’s where a piece of metal has been rusted from the stones.  So, when you have rust and tiny pits in these naturally tumbled basalt lava stones, then it's confirmed that the stone has high metallic content given that’s what creates it.  At the same time, NEVER use any stone that has sharp edges, cracks, etc.  Safety is paramount and it’s important to protect your own hands and the client’s body by not using anything that could harm or injure it. Cracked or sharp edge stones should be disposed of immediately.