It is a scrub so whatever they are rubbing on your body has some texture , not sure if it’s salt tho. But they never go crazy with the rubbing so it’s definitely not painful and it doesn’t sting, at least for me. once done, you have to wash yourself off in the shower that is in the same room. I remember at Shangri La (RIP) , the masseur actually washed the scrub stuff off your body, which was always nice