I’m not a great sports fan, and I go to the gym rarely, so for me, a massage is a relaxing and pleasant way to keep my body in shape. Of course, I understand that it’s no substitute for regular physical activity, but it’s better than doing nothing.
So when a colleague recently told me that a new massage salon called Cyborg Massage had opened in Kyiv, I was interested.
I was even more intrigued when I found out the story behind it. The masseur is a former Ukrainian soldier who fought to defend Donetsk Airport in the eastern Donbas against Russia-backed militants. The salon is thus named after Ukrainian fighters defending the airport, nicknamed “cyborgs” for the long, determined, almost superhuman resistance they put up until the airport was surrounded and destroyed in January 2015.
Although I’ve tried out nearly 10 masseurs around Kyiv, I still can’t say that I have found “my” masseur – a person whose work I’m completely happy with. The problem is that the female masseuses I’ve tried in Kyiv give gentle massages that tend to have little effect, while the male masseurs whom I have visited sometimes touch parts of the body inappropriately.
So I wanted to find out whether this new massage salon was a place where a woman could feel comfortable, and in safe, professional hands.
First impressions were good: The male voice over the phone when booking my first session was pleasant. However, the salon itself is not so easy to find – it took me 25 minutes to get to the address by foot from Kontraktova Ploshcha metro station. It took a phone call to the salon’s owner and masseur, Dmytro Krykun, to navigate me to the salon itself, as there is no signboard yet.
The place is in the basement of a multistoried building, and doesn’t look like anything special. There are two tiny, modestly equipped, but clean rooms separated by curtains. In the first room visitors can sit on a shabby sofa to take off their clothes and shoes. The other room has a massage table, two lockers and a regular table.
Krykun offers three types of massages – a classical one, a cupping massage (using jars) and a massage with honey.
I opted for the classical massage on my back. It was not too rough and not too gentle. I was very relieved that the masseur was tactful and careful during the massage.
It appears I’m not the only one – most of Krykun’s clients are women, he says. He is willing to treat war veterans for free, but he says they are less careful about their health and come to for a massage only in extreme cases.
Krykun judges his client’s mood well – he didn’t chatter when I wanted to lie in silence, but was responsive when I wanted to talk, which was something I appreciated.
The massage was not relaxing and did not make me sleepy. I even felt mild pain in muscles that were put under strain. The masseur’s warning to “be prepared to feel some pain in your back tomorrow” brought back unhappy memories of my childhood, when my mom took me, as a teenager, to a masseur who performed a massage so hard that the following morning I felt as if I’d been hit by a truck.
“How will I explain to my editor why I’m not coming to work tomorrow?” I thought.
But I shouldn’t have worried: The next day I felt slight pain in my back muscles, like a person who regularly goes to the gym might feel the day after a not too strenuous workout session.
Those who like nice interiors and fancy places are not going to like the Cyborg Massage salon. But it’s an ideal place for the less picky, offering a well-performed massage at a good price. It cost me Hr 200 for a one-hour massage, while an average price of a massage in Kyiv starts from Hr 400.
I don’t know whether I will go to the gym more regularly, but I certainly know that I will be having some more massages at Cyborg Massage.
Cyborg Massage salon is located on 31 Turivska St. For more information go to Facebook page
