Steaming wisely: What you need to know about the bath, sauna and hammam
What to wear, how to go, what to take with you - a person who is going to a bath or sauna for the first time has no less questions than a first-grader before the First of September. Yes, and those who have already gone to bathe, often feel embarrassed in the bath and do not understand what needs to be done there. In order to visit the sauna (city or country) to be as comfortable as possible, we have compiled a short instruction on how to choose a sauna or a bath, how to behave and what to expect from the first visit to the steam room.
How does a sauna differ from a bath?
There are not so many differences as it may seem. Russian baths and Finnish saunas were traditionally used not only for relaxation, but to replace bathrooms where they could not be installed. In tsarist Russia, and later, public baths were preserved, much less luxurious than the Sandunovsky, but allowing city residents to keep themselves relatively clean. And in Finland, up to the 1940s, many children were born in a sauna - often it was the cleanest place in the grounds, and even allowed to carry out a “shameful” procedure away from the eyes of men, as it was then considered necessary.
Now saunas and baths can consist of only two rooms: the changing rooms and the steam room itself - but there must be a nearby, if not a separate room for washing, then at least a shower. The main thing in the bath and in the sauna is the warm-up process itself, which is achieved in slightly different ways. Although the temperature in the Finnish sauna is high (about 80 degrees, it can reach 160 degrees), but it allows you to stay in the steam room for a relatively long time and generally provides a relaxed pastime. In the bath, the air is usually hotter (under 100 degrees and higher) and the humidity is higher, so you need to incubate it only until the situation causes discomfort (even if it happens in a few minutes). By the way, funny felt hats in the bath allow you to avoid heat stroke, so that they should not be neglected.
Temperature and humidity - the main difference between saunas in different cultures, so it makes more sense to focus not on their name, but a combination of these characteristics. If you are not enraged by high humidity, you can try the hammam: the heat is relative, 30-50 degrees, but the humidity reaches 100%. Dry and hot will be in the conditional Finnish (the preferences of the Scandinavian neighbors are not very different from the ideas of the Finns themselves about the ideal sauna), but it’s very hot and, excuse me, wet in the Russian bath. Infrared saunas stand apart: they do not heat the air, but the body, and moreover, this is an ideal find for those who do not tolerate high temperatures. About the ability of infrared saunas to normalize blood pressure, reduce cholesterol and relieve chronic fatigue syndrome is said, but there is no clear evidence for this yet.
Why go there
On the physical side, everything is quite simple: the high temperature causes sweating, the pores open and are slightly cleansed, and the muscles warm up and stop aching. With brooms, it will be even better to disperse the bloodstream, massage and peel the skin. Regular visits to baths and saunas train the heart and even lower the death rate, and relaxation after the steam bath occurs such that it quickly and soundly falls asleep.
The cultural component is not worth subtracting from the baths. In Finland, the invitation to the sauna is a sign of friendliness and respect (the former president, Martti Ahtisaari, for example, held diplomatic talks in them), and neglecting them can be a great insult. Despite the fact that in other countries there is no such piety, only pleasant and close people are always invited to the bath or sauna, and you should at least thank for such a gesture. Especially shy is to remember that there is usually no carnal implication in such invitations: both baths and saunas are a powerful meditative experience in which nudity simply does not interfere with listening to the body.
Contraindications and safety
The list of contraindications for baths and saunas is extensive, starting with asthma and cardiovascular diseases, ending with epilepsy and cancer. You should skip the steam room if you just feel unimportant: no one in their right mind comes up with the idea of playing sports during an illness, and a bath is an exercise stress comparable to training. In addition, you should not bathe with a full stomach (after eating you need to wait an hour and a half) and even slightly tipsy: the heart and without alcohol have to strain more than usual. And due to the fact that after intense sweating, urination decreases, alcohol is worse excreted and guarantees a heavy hangover. Drink while entering the steam room, of course, necessary, but let it be water or tea. By the way, one should not hope for the fat burning effect of the bath: after it, the weight really decreases, but only at the expense of the water that came out with the sweat.
There is no need for special preparations before a bath or sauna: after a warm shower (make sure that all cosmetics are well washed), you can go straight to the steam room. If the stove is not electric, do not constantly pour water on the stones: it is the 200–00 milliliter portions that achieve the easiest steam that is pleasant to be in. Heavy steam in the heat is carried worse - that is why in the Hammam with 100% humidity the temperature is maximum 50 degrees.
Usually, a bath or sauna is visited several times in the evening: when it becomes quite hot, they go out to refresh themselves under a shower or into the air (desperate - in a snowdrift), and then return to the steam room. The duration and number of visits are individual, but the general formula is this: 10 minutes, 10 minutes, rest, repeat everything from the beginning. Rest after the steam room is very important, so you give the body to calmly cope with the load, and the rest should be passive - it is better to sit or lie down. During the first visit, especially for beginners, it is not necessary to climb on the upper shelves, where the hottest thing is: you should gradually get used to the high temperature (this is why it is recommended to take a hot shower before the bath). You should also choose places away from the stove: despite the fact that everyone understands the danger of burns, their number does not decrease over the years.
It is better to skip brooms for the first time, and the rest - to take them only from the second or third call. If the air in the steam room is dry, you should drag the basin with water to dip the brooms - they will not dry out quickly. They begin to fan themselves off their feet and gradually rise to the back, and what is there is no force from the very beginning: the intensity of the strikes should be increased gradually. It is more convenient if there are two people in the steam room at this time: one is lying and the other is working as a broom - this is safer, an experienced partner will help to recognize the signs of indisposition. After the last call, you should rest for at least half an hour, then take a shower, and dress only when the sweating is over.
How to behave in the bath or sauna
A bit of captaincy: in any public place you have to behave politely, and baths are no exception. Other visitors to the sauna, too, come to relax, so they certainly will strain loud conversations. You should not take any gadgets with you: in the place of high humidity, firstly, not the place, and secondly, almost every modern device has a camera - even if you choose a playlist in Apple Music, and do not photograph the neighbor opposite, he certainly does not know about it.
In general, from extraneous things in the steam room is to take only a towel: it is not clear who could sit up to you on the same bench, so to sit on it with a covered or uncovered fifth point would be at least unhygienic. In addition, everyone has a different threshold of disgust, and if the puddles of sweat on the bench do not bother you, then other visitors may well spoil the mood. Well, you should not use fragrant shower gels and even more perfume, because foreign odors in a closed hot room distract no less than chatter.
A separate conversation - about the use of cosmetics. All that you would like to smear on yourself in the steam room (scrubs, masks, creams), it is better to use between entering the steam room, and optimally - after the last, when you relax before taking a shower. The point is not even in etiquette (in the home bath they will certainly not be against the mask on the face), but that cosmetics should be stored and used at a certain temperature, and there is no guarantee that any component of the cream will behave wrong. It is unlikely that a mass market cream that contains few active substances will cause great damage, but it is better not to check natural products and cosmeceuticals with heat. In addition, hot skin is softer, that is, it is easier to traumatize it with a hard scrub. In general, even 10 minutes after visiting the steam room, the pores will still be open, and the skin will be susceptible, so that the effectiveness of cleansing and moisturizing agents will not go anywhere.
What to go
In the sauna, you can walk in clothes and without clothes. Some lovers insist that a sauna bath is not just called a bath - they say, they do not take a bath in underwear. Nevertheless, it is best to focus on your feelings: if you are totally uncomfortable without clothes among strangers, you should put a towel on yourself, even if the other participants are sitting without everything - as a last resort, you can politely answer the question that today you are not ready be naked, but have nothing against it if others do so.
If you are invited to go to the bath or sauna in the company, you should check with the organizers, um, the dress code and the composition in which they will visit the steam room. Some prefer to steam families, some - with girlfriends or friends, for others there is nothing hampering in the mixed age and different sex of the participants. Depending on the answer, you can estimate whether to take a cape or not.
Just do not appear in the bath in the bathing suit. Swimwear fabric is dense, and even if you did not swim before it in the pool, it is simply uncomfortable to sweat in it. But the swimsuit soaked with bleach is even worse, because at high temperatures the chlorine evaporates, and even those who are not allergic are not helpful to inhale it. It makes no sense to appear in a more closed dress in the steam room (including in sportswear), but shale is useful in public - hygiene is above all else.
PHOTO: 1, 2, 3, 4 via Shutterstock
