This is the question that comes up most on the phone, and the honest answer is that they are much less similar than the menu makes them look.
The short version
Thai massage moves you. Deep tissue works into you.
If you are stiff, book Thai. If something specific hurts, book deep tissue.
Thai massage
You stay fully dressed, in loose cotton clothes. There is no oil. You work on a firm mat rather than a table.
The therapist uses hands, forearms, elbows, knees and sometimes feet to apply pressure along the sen lines, and moves you through a sequence of assisted stretches — hips opened, spine rotated, shoulders taken through a range you would not reach on your own.
It is an active treatment. You are not lying still for an hour. People often describe leaving feeling taller, which is a strange thing to say about a massage and also exactly right.
Book it for: general stiffness, desk posture, hips that have stopped moving, and anyone who likes the idea of being stretched.
Deep tissue
You undress to your comfort, under a towel, on a table. Warm oil.
The therapist works slowly into the deeper layers of muscle, staying with one area until it releases rather than covering the whole body evenly. Forearms and elbows do a lot of the work because thumbs cannot sustain that kind of pressure for long without wearing out.
It is a specific treatment. You point at something, and that is where the hour goes.
Book it for: one shoulder that has been up by your ear for a month, lower back tightness from driving or lifting, calves after running, and anything you can put a finger on.
Which hurts more
Neither should hurt, but they are uncomfortable in different ways.
Thai is uncomfortable in the way a good stretch is — a strong sensation while it is happening, gone the moment it stops. Deep tissue is uncomfortable in the way pressing a bruise is — a duller, more sustained feeling that you breathe through.
Both should stay on the right side of the line between "something is happening" and "I am bracing against this". If you cross it, say so.
What about the day after
Deep tissue can leave you a bit sore the next day, particularly the first time. That settles within a day and is nothing to worry about. Thai rarely does, though you may notice muscles you had forgotten about.
Still not sure?
Answer this: can you point at it?
If yes, book deep tissue. If it is more that everything feels seized up and you cannot say exactly where, book Thai.
And if you have never had either, book neither — start with a relaxing massage and see how you get on with being on a table for an hour first.
