The honest answer is less than you think, and later than you think.
What to wear for a body to body massage splits into two moments. There is what you have on when the therapist knocks, and there is what is still on you once the oil is warm. The first is a question of ease. The second is a question of glide, because anything caught between two skins interrupts the one thing this technique depends on.
At the door
Whatever you would wear to answer a knock from a friend. A hotel robe is ideal: it closes, it opens, it hangs on the back of the bathroom door without a second thought. Loose trousers and a T-shirt work just as well. There is no need to be undressed before she arrives, and nothing is gained by it. The first minutes go on practical things, towels laid across the bed, oil set to warm, a word about pressure, and those minutes pass more comfortably when you are dressed for a conversation.
Avoid anything that takes effort to remove. Laced boots, a fitted shirt with twelve buttons, a belt. Not because anyone minds, but because a struggle with a cuff is a small shot of adrenaline you do not need ten minutes before lying still.
What to wear for a body to body massage once it starts
Very little, and ideally nothing oil can reach. Underwear is the usual question. Keeping it on is entirely your choice and changes nothing about how you are treated. It does change the mechanics slightly: fabric drags against a passing forearm, drinks the oil, and marks the edge of every long stroke across the hips. Plenty of guests start in underwear and set it aside once the towel is down and they are face down, which is a perfectly ordinary sequence. The towel stays wherever you want it.
What the therapist wears is covered on each technique page. Naked massage has its own listing because that is precisely the question it answers.
Take these off before you lie down
This is the part that actually matters, and it has nothing to do with modesty.
- Watch and fitness band. A metal clasp under a forearm moving at speed is the most common snag of the whole hour. Oil also creeps under a strap and stays there for days.
- Rings. Oil makes fingers slip, and a ring left on the bedside table is easier to find than one lost in a fold of towel. Put them somewhere with a lid.
- Necklaces and chains. Face down, a pendant presses into the breastbone. Face up, a chain catches in long passes across the chest.
- Earrings that hang. Studs are usually fine. Anything with a hoop or a drop can catch when your head is turned on the pillow.
- Glasses. Obvious, and still forgotten until the turn.
- Contact lenses, for a long booking. Keep them in for an hour if you like seeing the room. For two hours or an overnight, long stretches face down on a pillow dry the eyes, and taking them out beforehand is simply more comfortable.
- Hair ties that dig. A low knot presses into the pillow. A loose, high one, or none, is kinder to the neck.
Socks
Off. Feet are part of the route, and the lower legs take long passes from ankle to knee that a sock cuts in half. If your feet run cold, turn the room up a degree or two before she arrives rather than keeping socks on. The preparation guide walks through heat, light and the half hour before the knock.
When the technique is not oil
Gel and foam raise the stakes on everything above. Nuru gel coats whatever it touches, fabric included, and a soapy session begins in the bathroom, where anything you are wearing will be wet within a minute. For those forms, a robe at the door and nothing under the towel is not a style preference but plain logistics. Oil, gel, foam sets out how each material behaves on skin and in a room.
And afterwards
Something you will not mind getting a little oil on. A thin film stays on the skin for a while, and a pale cotton shirt shows it. Dark, loose and soft is the brief: an old sweater, the robe again, pyjamas if the booking runs into sleep. If you are heading out after, leave ten minutes for a warm rinse and dress then.
Keep the clothes you plan to wear folded somewhere out of the way. A shirt thrown across the end of the bed sits exactly where a used towel will be dropped.
The shortest version
Robe or loose clothes to open the door. Jewellery, watch and glasses off. Underwear your call. Socks off. Something dark for after.
That is all the wardrobe this requires. Everything else travels with the therapist: warm oil, fresh towels, and a practised sense of where fabric would have been in the way. For how the room itself shapes the session, body to body massage at your hotel covers beds, bathrooms and linen.