The spa emoji: 🧖 💆 🛀 and what each one means
There is no emoji officially called "spa", so three characters share the job. Person in Steamy Room shows someone wrapped in a towel in a sauna or steam room and is what most people mean by the spa emoji or the face-mask emoji; it came in 2017 with Unicode 10.0, together with Person in Lotus Position and Person Climbing. Person Getting Massage, a face with two hands pressing on the temples, has been around since the original 2010 set (Unicode 6.0); besides massages it is often used to mean "I need a minute" or "my head hurts from this". Person Taking Bath, from the same 2010 set, is a person in a tub with a shower head above and is the usual bath emoji.
All three come in gendered forms built with an invisible joiner: woman and man in steamy room, woman and man getting massage, woman and man in lotus position, and all of them take skin tones. Hot Springs is older than any of them: the three rising wisps of steam are the Japanese map sign for an onsen, encoded in 1993 and an emoji since 2010. Around them sit the bath-day props: Bathtub, Shower, Bubbles (2021), Soap and Sponge (both 2018), Lotion Bottle and Cucumber for the slices over the eyes. For a face mask there is no dedicated emoji ( is a medical mask), so or is the standard way to say it.
Self care emoji for a night in: tea, candles, a book and nothing to do
Most self care emoji combos are not about a spa at all but about an evening at home. The warm drinks are Teacup Without Handle (green tea, herbal tea), Teapot and Hot Beverage; add honey, lemon or ginger for the cold-season version, or warm milk before bed. Candle sets the light, and since there is no lavender emoji, Hyacinth (2022) has become the stand-in for lavender candles, bath salts and pillow sprays. are the petals in the bath, and the plants on the windowsill.
Then the cosy layer: Bed, Person in Bed, Couch and Lamp, fuzzy socks, Teddy Bear and rain on the window. The slow hobbies are Open Book, a journal with a pen, Headphone and music, knitting, painting, a puzzle and a film. and a glass of wine are the treats. The unplugging emoji round it off: No Mobile Phones and Mobile Phone Off for a digital detox, for do-not-disturb, for "unplugging", and Low Battery turning into Battery for feeling recharged.
Calm, zen and relax emoji faces
The relax emoji face is Relieved Face: eyes closed, a small content smile, the look of sinking into a hot bath. Smiling Face with Smiling Eyes and Smiling Face are the warmer, quieter smiles, adds love, and Melting Face (2021) is what people now send for "melting into the sofa" or a massage that is too good. Face Exhaling is a long breath out, used both for relief and for a breathing exercise, Face in Clouds means zoned out or head in the clouds, and with is the nap.
The zen set is Person in Lotus Position (yoga, meditation, "finding my calm"), Lotus, added in 2021 and the flower of stillness in Buddhist and Hindu art, Om, Yin Yang for balance and Prayer Beads for a mala. candle, sparkles, crescent moon and cloud give these combos their soft background. For a self care walk or beach day there are Person Walking, Sun, Rainbow, Water Wave, Beach with Umbrella, Spiral Shell, Butterfly, a reminder to drink water and Sloth for a day of doing nothing on purpose.
Self care emoji combos and aesthetic captions
A good self care emoji combo names the ritual in three or four characters: is bath, candles and wine; a face mask; tea, a book and socks; breathing; a duvet day; switched off and recharged. For a pamper day booking or a salon post, or says it in one line. The hearts that go with self care are the gentle ones: White Heart, Pink Heart, Growing Heart, Light Blue Heart, plus Heart Hands, a hug and gratitude; and are the "treat yourself" pair.
The aesthetic self care captions on Instagram, Pinterest and in Notion planners are built from text symbols rather than colour emoji. Sparkles and dots: ｡ ･ , as in ｡ ｡ or ･ﾟ self care sunday ･ﾟ. Flowers and sky: ꕤ ༄, as in me time or rest . They are plain characters, so they take the colour of the font and stay small next to the emoji, which is what makes the caption look soft instead of loud.
Finding self care emoji on iPhone, Android, WhatsApp and Instagram
On an iPhone or Android, open the emoji keyboard and search "steam", "massage", "bath", "lotus" or "candle"; "spa" finds on most keyboards because it is one of the emoji's official keywords. Long-press to pick a skin tone and, on most keyboards, the woman or man version. On Windows press the Windows key and the full stop, on a Mac Control Command Space. On Slack and Discord the shortcodes are :person_in_steamy_room:, :massage:, :bath:, :person_in_lotus_position: and :candle:.
Designs differ by platform but read the same: Apple's wears a towel turban in a dark steamy room, Google's and Samsung's sit in a sauna, and is a tub with a shower head everywhere. WhatsApp shows Apple's designs on iPhone and its own on Android, so a combo you send looks slightly different on the other side; everything on this page is standard Unicode and pastes into WhatsApp, Instagram bios and captions, TikTok, Notion and Telegram as is.
Symbols
121Click a symbol to copy it and open its page.
Spa day
The spa emoji, the bath and the home-pamper kit.
How to use them
6 situationsClick to copySelf-Care & Spa Emoji combos
15Worth knowing
- The word spa comes from Spa, a town in eastern Belgium whose mineral springs drew visitors from the 16th century on; by the 1600s English writers were calling any healing spring "a spa".
- is the Japanese map symbol for a hot spring. In 2016 Japan's mapping agency found that many foreign tourists read it as a steaming bowl of food and drew an alternative with three bathers sitting in the water; after protests from onsen towns both marks were allowed.
- Person in Steamy Room and Person in Lotus Position were added together in 2017 (Unicode 10.0). Bubbles, Lotus and Melting Face all arrived in the same 2021 release (Emoji 14.0).
- "Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation" comes from Audre Lorde's 1988 essay collection A Burst of Light, the line most often quoted when self care is traced back to its roots in Black feminist writing.
- There is no lavender emoji. Hyacinth, added in 2022, is used for lavender so often that people are surprised to learn its real name.
Questions people ask
8Is there a spa emoji?
Not one called spa. Person in Steamy Room is the closest and is what most people mean; massage, bath, lotion and hot springs fill in the rest.
What is the self care emoji?
There is no single one. The usual picks are and ; combine two or three, like , to say self care without words.
How do I copy and paste self care emoji?
Tap any emoji on this page, , and it is copied; paste it into Instagram, WhatsApp, Notion or a text.
Is there a face mask emoji?
No sheet-mask or skincare-mask emoji exists; is a medical mask. People write a face mask as or , and the spa face on its own already suggests one.
What does the massage emoji mean?
A person getting a head massage. Literally a spa or salon visit; figuratively "I need a break", "this is giving me a headache" or exasperation. is the woman, the man.
What is the relax emoji face?
Relieved Face: eyes closed, calm smile. and are the quiet happy ones, melting face is "so relaxed I'm melting", and is a long breath out.
What are good self care emoji combos?
for a bath night, for a face mask, for a cosy evening, for breathing, for a digital detox and for being kind to yourself.
What emoji means zen or calm?
Person in Lotus Position, Lotus, Yin Yang and Om for zen; , , and for calm. are the text symbols for a calm caption.
