SaunaScape

Bloomberg announced this morning that Goldman Sachs cheif equity trader in Moscow, Peter Kizenko, quit today. He plans to return to New Jersey and open a traditional Russian sauna, known as a banya.

According to the Bloomberg story, the banya will open next month in the New Jersey suburbs of New York City. No details were given on the name or location of the banya. We’ll keep digging and update this post when we find more details.

He is entering a crowded market. According to our database, there are currently 13 Russian Sauna establishments in and around New York City. Mr. Kizenko told Bloomberg, “There are a few in Brooklyn and Manhattan, but the aesthetics are not up to scratch. We are going for a mixture of the contemporary and the classical of Sanduny in Moscow.” The Bloomberg article says he had considered building his banya in London, but was stunned by the high price of real estate there.

Mr. Kizenko, if you are reading this, we wish you luck and would love to hear why you left the world of high finance behind for high temperature.

Update: The establishment will be called “Bear and Birch.” They have a website with just a landing page at the moment. More details are on their Facebook page, including this comment from Mr. Kizenko:

Whack, whack. Steam. Ice.

Over 1000 years of the Russian banya experience has finally been brought to New Jersey. Assembled and flown in from Moscow, Russia, the Bear and Birch is proud to present the East Coast with its first authentic Russian banya.

Invigorate, detoxify and revitalize yourself in a spacious setting with three types of steam to choose from. Follow up with a plunge into the cool downed pool and then saunter on over to the lounge area to chilllllll.

Enjoy a wide variety of teas while wrapped up in a Bear and Birch robe and decide on a Jacuzzi, shiatsu water massage or another round of steam as your next move. Complimentary recommended treatment cycles are offered by our in-house banya consultant to help you along the way to rejuvenation.

A full banya menu prepared especially by our renowned chef, Dmitry, in our mezzanine level dining area rounds out a superb day. BYOB and plasma screens means you don’t miss the latest sports action and two VIP rooms allow you to host a full range of social functions. Bear and Birch. Get Whacked.

We’ve added Bear and Birch to our database.

Bloomberg announced this morning that Goldman Sachs cheif equity trader in Moscow, Peter Kizenko, quit today. He plans to return to New Jersey and open a traditional Russian sauna, known as a banya. According to the Bloomberg story, the banya will open next month in the New Jersey suburbs of New York City. No details were given on the name or location of the banya. We'll keep digging and update this post when we find more details. He is entering a crowded market. According to our database, there are currently 13 Russian Sauna establishments in and around New York City. Mr. Kizenko told Bloomberg, "There are a few in Brooklyn and Manhattan, but the aesthetics are not up to scratch. We are going for a mixture of the contemporary and the classical of Sanduny in Moscow." The Bloomberg article says he had considered building his banya in London, but was stunned by the high price of real estate there. Mr. Kizenko, if you are reading this, we wish you luck and would love to hear why you left the world of high finance behind for high temperature. Update: The establishment will be called "Bear and Birch." They have a website with just a landing page at the moment. More details are on their Facebook page, including this comment from Mr. Kizenko: Whack, whack. Steam. Ice. Over 1000 years of the Russian banya experience has finally been brought to New Jersey. Assembled and flown in from Moscow, Russia, the Bear and Birch is proud to present the East Coast with its first authentic Russian banya. Invigorate, detoxify and revitalize yourself in a spacious setting with three types of steam to choose from. Follow up with a plunge into the cool downed pool and then saunter on over to the lounge area to chilllllll. Enjoy a wide variety of teas while wrapped up in a Bear and Birch robe and decide on a Jacuzzi, shiatsu water massage or another round of steam as your next move. Complimentary recommended treatment cycles are offered by our in-house banya consultant to help you along the way to rejuvenation. A full banya menu prepared especially by our renowned chef, Dmitry, in our mezzanine level dining area rounds out a superb day. BYOB and plasma screens means you don't miss the latest sports action and two VIP rooms allow you to host a full range of social functions. Bear and Birch. Get Whacked. We've added Bear and Birch to our database.

There is a lot of debate on the internet about what attire is appropriate to wear in a sauna in your gym’s locker room. Many of the blogosphere’s self-appointed etiquette experts say that there is no greater horror than nudity in the locker room sauna. We respectfully disagree.

Of course, we are biased.

What do you think? If there is a sauna or steam room next to the showers in your gym, what would you wear inside? Take our poll and let us know.

 

There is a lot of debate on the internet about what attire is appropriate to wear in a sauna in your gym's locker room. Many of the blogosphere's self-appointed etiquette experts say that there is no greater horror than nudity in the locker room sauna. We respectfully disagree. Of course, we are biased. What do you think? If there is a sauna or steam room next to the showers in your gym, what would you wear inside? Take our poll and let us know. What would you wear in a locker room sauna? Public OpinionView Results  

It is winter, and if you are like me, your skin now is as white as the snow. I have no problem with my white skin that comes with my northern European heritage. Many people, though, would rather have more color on their skin, especially when you are planning to bare most of it on a spa day.  Dozens of bottles of sunless tanning lotions  are waiting for you at your local drugstore that promise to make you look like you just returned from the beaches of Aruba. If you’re willing to spend more, you might opt for a session in a spray-tan booth or an airbrush tan from your local salon.

But what happens when you go in the sauna with a new sunless tan? Will it end up streaked? Will it wash off in one large oil slick when you get into the hot tub? Will it change to an odd shade of orange, making you look more like a Muppet? Let’s take a look at sunless tans and what happens to them in the sauna.

Types suntans

Before you can guess what will happen to your tan, you have to figure out what you are using to make your skin look tanned. There are two major types of product available today, sunless tanners and bronzers. Manufacturers can put any name they want on their bottle, so unless you read the instructions and ingredients, you may not know what you are really getting.

A true suntan

The look that sunless tanners try to simulate is that of a real suntan. When you lay in the sun or on a tanning bed, you are exposing your skin to ultra-violet (UV) rays. Inside your skin is a chemical called melanin. When the UV rays hit melanin molecules in your skin, they immediately turn brown. This process stimulates your body to produce more melanin, which darkens your skin in the areas exposed to the sun.

A true suntan affects all the layers of your skin. In most areas of your you have about five layers of skin cells. Approximately every week your skin makes a new layer of skin cells inside your body, which push the older layers to the surface. The oldest layer, which is on the outside of your skin is about a month old. To protect your body from dirt and disease, these skin cells eventually wear off as you exfoliate. Since a real suntan occurs through all the layers in your skin, it can last for about a month after you’ve last seen the sun. Sunless tanners try to simulate this look, but cannot penetrate deep inside your skin.

A sauna or steam room will not affect a regular suntan. Saunas and steam rooms do not give off any UV radiation. So using a sauna or steam room will not give you a suntan or increase the body’s production of melanin. A sauna will help promote exfoliation, so if you haven’t seen the sun in a while, a sauna or steam bath can speed up the loss of your bronzed color by a few days as that outer layer of tanned skin cells goes away. However, that loss of color was going to happen anyway.

Bronzers

Bronzers are the quickest way to get a tanned look. These are usually just a skin lotion with some dye in them. You can tell you have a bottle of bronzer when the instructions tell you not to wear clothing over your tanned skin. Many “airbrush” tans done at salons and spas are also done with bronzers. Here are some examples of bronzers on Amazon.

Many bronzers are nothing more than makeup. If you wash the area where you’ve used them, the color will come off. Others have a more permanent dye in them to change the color of your skin’s surface. As this outside layer of skin comes off, so does all the color. These can give your fake tan a blotchy appearance as the outside layer of your skin comes off unevenly.

You definitely don’t want to  use a bronzer if your plans include a sauna. If your bronzer is the makeup type, your sweat from the sauna can cause it to run like mascara, leaving you with unattractive streaks in your tan and causing you to leave strange brown stains on everything you touch. Strange brown stains are definitely not welcome on the towel you wrap around your body.  If you jump into the hot tub after your sauna bath, you could end up leaving your whole “tan” behind as an oily slick on top of the water. All of these options are much less attractive than pasty white skin.

If your bottle of bronzer is the dye type, it might not embarrass you, but as you go through the exfoliating process of the sauna, your “tan” will come off unevenly. You’ll have a patchy look as your “tan” goes away in some places, but stays dark in others.

Sunless tanning products

A true sunless tanning product usually has a chemical called dihydroxyacetone or DHA, though a few other compounds are used.  Chemicals like DHA react with the outer layers of your skin and causes a chemical reaction that makes it change color over the course of a few hours. The reaction is similar to what happens to the flesh of a cut apple when you leave it exposed to the air. Here are some examples of sunless tanning lotions on Amazon.

You don’t have to worry about a sunless tanner washing off once it sets. The change to your skin color is permanent. However, some sunless tanning lotions also include a bronzer. This serves two purposes. The bronzer gives you an instant “tan” so you don’t have to wait for the reaction to take place. It also helps you see what parts of your skin you’ve covered and which ones you haven’t. All sunless tanning products take several hours for the reaction to take place. You definitely want to stay out of the sauna until the reaction is complete and wash away all the remaining bronzer on your skin to avoid leaving mysterious brown stains on everything you touch.

As we discussed above, the outside layers of your skin only stay on your body for about a week. Most sunless tanning products recommend you fully exfoliate the areas where you plan to use them before applying. This ensures you get the longest and most even “tan” possible. Since the outside skin layer will be “tanned” the most, when you lose this layer of your skin, you’ll also lose most of your “tan.”

Getting a good sweat going in the sauna or steam room, then rubbing your body with a loofah, brush, or getting a Korean body scrub are great ways to get a full body exfoliation in preparation for a sunless tanner. Of course, it is also a great way to quickly remove a sunless tan. Again, since these products affect just the outside layers of your skin, using a sauna or steam room can make a fresh sunless tan appear blotchy as different areas of your skin, like those that are regularly in contact with waistbands, bra straps and other clothing, are thicker and exfoliate more quickly than other areas.

Another problem with sunless tanning lotions is they do not work equally well on all areas of your body. The skin on your face, hands, feet, elbows, knees and pubic area is different from the skin on the rest of your body. These areas do not respond well to the sunless tanning lotion, leaving you with unnatural “tan lines” or they discolor your skin in those areas unevenly making it look dirty instead of tanned. Sunless tanning products also do not work well on stretch marks and other areas of scar tissue, so they can highlight these problem areas. Keep this in mind if you want an all-over “tan” before you go naked in your sauna.

So if you really feel you need to darken your skin and you can’t lay out or get to a tanning bed, a sunless tanner is a better option than a bronzer. Make sure you exfoliate very well before you use it, or else your sauna or steam room will make it go away quickly. Better still is to use your sunless tanning product right after a good exfoliating session in the sauna or steam room. Your “tan” will last the longest and should have the most even appearance as it ages.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Sunless tans are great, but how will they react to the sauna or steam room? Image via Flickr."][/caption] It is winter, and if you are like me, your skin now is as white as the snow. I have no problem with my white skin that comes with my northern European heritage. Many people, though, would rather have more color on their skin, especially when you are planning to bare most of it on a spa day.  Dozens of bottles of sunless tanning lotions  are waiting for you at your local drugstore that promise to make you look like you just returned from the beaches of Aruba. If you're willing to spend more, you might opt for a session in a spray-tan booth or an airbrush tan from your local salon. But what happens when you go in the sauna with a new sunless tan? Will it end up streaked? Will it wash off in one large oil slick when you get into the hot tub? Will it change to an odd shade of orange, making you look more like a Muppet? Let's take a look at sunless tans and what happens to them in the sauna. Types suntans Before you can guess what will happen to your tan, you have to figure out what you are using to make your skin look tanned. There are two major types of product available today, sunless tanners and bronzers. Manufacturers can put any name they want on their bottle, so unless you read the instructions and ingredients, you may not know what you are really getting. A true suntan The look that sunless tanners try to simulate is that of a real suntan. When you lay in the sun or on a tanning bed, you are exposing your skin to ultra-violet (UV) rays. Inside your skin is a chemical called melanin. When the UV rays hit melanin molecules in your skin, they immediately turn brown. This process stimulates your body to produce more melanin, which darkens your skin in the areas exposed to the sun. A true suntan affects all the layers of your skin. In most areas of your you have about five layers of skin cells. Approximately every week your skin makes a new layer of skin cells inside your body, which push the older layers to the surface. The oldest layer, which is on the outside of your skin is about a month old. To protect your body from dirt and disease, these skin cells eventually wear off as you exfoliate. Since a real suntan occurs through all the layers in your skin, it can last for about a month after you've last seen the sun. Sunless tanners try to simulate this look, but cannot penetrate deep inside your skin. A sauna or steam room will not affect a regular suntan. Saunas and steam rooms do not give off any UV radiation. So using a sauna or steam room will not give you a suntan or increase the body's production of melanin. A sauna will help promote exfoliation, so if you haven't seen the sun in a while, a sauna or steam bath can speed up the loss of your bronzed color by a few days as that outer layer of tanned skin cells goes away. However, that loss of color was going to happen anyway. Bronzers Bronzers are the quickest way to get a tanned look. These are usually just a skin lotion with some dye in them. You can tell you have a bottle of bronzer when the instructions tell you not to wear clothing over your tanned skin. Many "airbrush" tans done at salons and spas are also done with bronzers. Here are some examples of bronzers on Amazon. Many bronzers are nothing more than makeup. If you wash the area where you've used them, the color will come off. Others have a more permanent dye in them to change the color of your skin's surface. As this outside layer of skin comes off, so does all the color. These can give your fake tan a blotchy appearance as the outside layer of your skin comes off unevenly. You definitely don't want to  use a bronzer if your plans include a sauna. If your bronzer is the makeup type, your sweat from the sauna can cause it to run like mascara, leaving you with unattractive streaks in your tan and causing you to leave strange brown stains on everything you touch. Strange brown stains are definitely not welcome on the towel you wrap around your body.  If you jump into the hot tub after your sauna bath, you could end up leaving your whole "tan" behind as an oily slick on top of the water. All of these options are much less attractive than pasty white skin. If your bottle of bronzer is the dye type, it might not embarrass you, but as you go through the exfoliating process of the sauna, your "tan" will come off unevenly. You'll have a patchy look as your "tan" goes away in some places, but stays dark in others. Sunless tanning products A true sunless tanning product usually has a chemical called dihydroxyacetone or DHA, though a few other compounds are used.  Chemicals like DHA react with the outer layers of your skin and causes a chemical reaction that makes it change color over the course of a few hours. The reaction is similar to what happens to the flesh of a cut apple when you leave it exposed to the air. Here are some examples of sunless tanning lotions on Amazon. You don't have to worry about a sunless tanner washing off once it sets. The change to your skin color is permanent. However, some sunless tanning lotions also include a bronzer. This serves two purposes. The bronzer gives you an instant "tan" so you don't have to wait for the reaction to take place. It also helps you see what parts of your skin you've covered and which ones you haven't. All sunless tanning products take several hours for the reaction to take place. You definitely want to stay out of the sauna until the reaction is complete and wash away all the remaining bronzer on your skin to avoid leaving mysterious brown stains on everything you touch. As we discussed above, the outside layers of your skin only stay on your body for about a week. Most sunless tanning products recommend you fully exfoliate the areas where you plan to use them before applying. This ensures you get the longest and most even "tan" possible. Since the outside skin layer will be "tanned" the most, when you lose this layer of your skin, you'll also lose most of your "tan." Getting a good sweat going in the sauna or steam room, then rubbing your body with a loofah, brush, or getting a Korean body scrub are great ways to get a full body exfoliation in preparation for a sunless tanner. Of course, it is also a great way to quickly remove a sunless tan. Again, since these products affect just the outside layers of your skin, using a sauna or steam room can make a fresh sunless tan appear blotchy as different areas of your skin, like those that are regularly in contact with waistbands, bra straps and other clothing, are thicker and exfoliate more quickly than other areas. Another problem with sunless tanning lotions is they do not work equally well on all areas of your body. The skin on your face, hands, feet, elbows, knees and pubic area is different from the skin on the rest of your body. These areas do not respond well to the sunless tanning lotion, leaving you with unnatural "tan lines" or they discolor your skin in those areas unevenly making it look dirty instead of tanned. Sunless tanning products also do not work well on stretch marks and other areas of scar tissue, so they can highlight these problem areas. Keep this in mind if you want an all-over "tan" before you go naked in your sauna. So if you really feel you need to darken your skin and you can't lay out or get to a tanning bed, a sunless tanner is a better option than a bronzer. Make sure you exfoliate very well before you use it, or else your sauna or steam room will make it go away quickly. Better still is to use your sunless tanning product right after a good exfoliating session in the sauna or steam room. Your "tan" will last the longest and should have the most even appearance as it ages.

I’ve been a Lifehacker fan since its beginning. While some of their topics are obscure geekdom, the occasional tip about a new piece of software or website that ends up saving me hours makes it a daily stop on my morning review of the news. I was really interested this morning when I saw their new post “How to Hack Your Bathroom into a Home Sauna.”

I had to check the calendar to make sure today isn’t April 1. It isn’t.

Holy sh*t Lifehacker. What will you stoop to for linkbait?

The post is chock full of lots of crazy ideas and very few concrete details, like:

If you plan to install a wood-burning stove, you’ll need to fire-proof the walls and roof around the stove. Particle board isn’t cheap, but this is one area you don’t want to skimp on.

If you don’t have an air vent in the bathroom, don’t make one: the gap under the bathroom door will work just fine.

Um, NO NO NO NO NO!

If you’re putting a wood burning stove anywhere enclosed, you need to make sure you have proper ventilation. If you don’t you’ll end up at best poisoning yourself and at worst asphyxiating yourself and your whole family in your project. Especially if you follow their instructions to build a sauna stove:

A wood burning stove can easily be made from a junk yard gas canister. Use a cheap angle grinder to lop off the top, then just find a metal bucket, cut a hatch and fit the flue.

Those are the instructions. All of them. Now go forth and build one of these and put it in your house!

Please don’t follow these instructions. We value you as a reader too much to have you kill yourself in a home-made deathtrap.

If you’re really set on building your own sauna in your home, buy a good book like How to Build Your Own Sauna & Sweat by Mikkel Aaland, The Sauna: A Complete Guide to the Construction, Use, and Benefits of the Finnish Bath by Rob Roy, or Hot Tubs, Saunas & Steam Baths: A Guide to Planning and Designing your Home Health Spa by Alan Sanderfoot.

If you don’t want to shell out the dollars for a book, then visit Sauna Times or Kalle Hoffman’s Sauna Pages. Both offer plenty of free advice and detailed plans for building your own saunas and sauna stoves.

And unless you really, really know what you’re doing, build your first DIY wood stove sauna in a shed, far away from your home and anything else flammable.

Meanwhile, watch for these exciting posts coming soon to Lifehacker: “Improve your mood: Hack your bathtub and a toaster into your own electro-convulsive therapy system” and “Hack your own Botox from cans you fish out of your grocer’s dumpster!”

I've been a Lifehacker fan since its beginning. While some of their topics are obscure geekdom, the occasional tip about a new piece of software or website that ends up saving me hours makes it a daily stop on my morning review of the news. I was really interested this morning when I saw their new post "How to Hack Your Bathroom into a Home Sauna." I had to check the calendar to make sure today isn't April 1. It isn't. Holy sh*t Lifehacker. What will you stoop to for linkbait? The post is chock full of lots of crazy ideas and very few concrete details, like: If you plan to install a wood-burning stove, you'll need to fire-proof the walls and roof around the stove. Particle board isn't cheap, but this is one area you don't want to skimp on. If you don't have an air vent in the bathroom, don't make one: the gap under the bathroom door will work just fine. Um, NO NO NO NO NO! If you're putting a wood burning stove anywhere enclosed, you need to make sure you have proper ventilation. If you don't you'll end up at best poisoning yourself and at worst asphyxiating yourself and your whole family in your project. Especially if you follow their instructions to build a sauna stove: A wood burning stove can easily be made from a junk yard gas canister. Use a cheap angle grinder to lop off the top, then just find a metal bucket, cut a hatch and fit the flue. Those are the instructions. All of them. Now go forth and build one of these and put it in your house! Please don't follow these instructions. We value you as a reader too much to have you kill yourself in a home-made deathtrap. If you're really set on building your own sauna in your home, buy a good book like How to Build Your Own Sauna & Sweat by Mikkel Aaland, The Sauna: A Complete Guide to the Construction, Use, and Benefits of the Finnish Bath by Rob Roy, or Hot Tubs, Saunas & Steam Baths: A Guide to Planning and Designing your Home Health Spa by Alan Sanderfoot. If you don't want to shell out the dollars for a book, then visit Sauna Times or Kalle Hoffman's Sauna Pages. Both offer plenty of free advice and detailed plans for building your own saunas and sauna stoves. And unless you really, really know what you're doing, build your first DIY wood stove sauna in a shed, far away from your home and anything else flammable. Meanwhile, watch for these exciting posts coming soon to Lifehacker: "Improve your mood: Hack your bathtub and a toaster into your own electro-convulsive therapy system" and "Hack your own Botox from cans you fish out of your grocer's dumpster!"

In Finland, the Christmas sauna has been a tradition for longer than Christianity has existed. Today, millions of saunas are heated throughout the land on Christmas Eve for the population to enjoy. In the book Christmas in Finland, the authors estimate that 70% of the population of Finland will enjoy a joulusauna on Christmas Eve. Many of Finland’s public saunas even have special Christmas Eve and Christmas Day hours for their patrons who don’t have their own sauna.

The sauna in Finland is not just a place of refuge and relaxation. It is a bath. So the Christmas sauna has a practical purpose. With Christmas celebrated at the winter solstice, close to the new year and symbolized with the birth of Christ, it is the perfect time to cleanse your body to symbolize that rebirth. In Finland, the sauna is the preferred place to bathe yourself. The temperature in Helsinki rarely gets above freezing this time of year, so having a nice hot place to bathe can help get the chill from your bones.

While the sauna is heating, many capture those kilowatts by cooking in it. Two Finnish-Canadian women published The Sauna Cookbook a few years ago with recipes for both enjoying while you sauna and cooking in the sauna. Another Finnish-Canadian, Sauna Pekka reminisces about a Christmas dinner of his youth:

At Christmas time in Finland we bake a 12 kg (26 lb) ham “kinkku” in the equivalent of 100°C (212°F)  sauna heat for eight hours. For the ham we do not pour löyly, as it cooks better without it. When I sit in North American dry heat saunas, the poor ham comes always in my mind.

Christmas is a more recent invention than the sauna. Christmas came to Finland about 700 years ago. When Christmas arrived, it took on some of the existing midwinter celebrations that had existed for thousands of years before. Throughout much of Scandinavia, the old beliefs held that on the night of midwinter, the dead returned to walk the earth. Many still keep the sauna warm and throw another ladle of water on the rocks to make it comfortable for when your ancestors, elves and gnomes visit.

Modern health practitioners caution that you should not take a sauna too close to a large feast like that eaten on Christmas eve. They caution that you should use the sauna in the afternoon. However, people who know Finnish folklore understand that after dark, the sauna is reserved for the dead. Some say the devil himself walks the earth to find a sauna to bathe in at midnight on the winter solstice.

Other old beliefs say that the midwinter celebration is a time to thank the gods for the past season’s bountiful harvest and ask them for a fertile growing season in the spring. Some believe that throwing beer on the sauna stove helped appease these gods.

If you can, heat up your sauna this Christmas (or whichever winter holiday you celebrate). May it bring you peace, luck and a good harvest in the new year.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] In Finland, the Christmas sauna has been a tradition for longer than Christianity has existed. Today, millions of saunas are heated throughout the land on Christmas Eve for the population to enjoy. In the book Christmas in Finland, the authors estimate that 70% of the population of Finland will enjoy a joulusauna on Christmas Eve. Many of Finland's public saunas even have special Christmas Eve and Christmas Day hours for their patrons who don't have their own sauna. The sauna in Finland is not just a place of refuge and relaxation. It is a bath. So the Christmas sauna has a practical purpose. With Christmas celebrated at the winter solstice, close to the new year and symbolized with the birth of Christ, it is the perfect time to cleanse your body to symbolize that rebirth. In Finland, the sauna is the preferred place to bathe yourself. The temperature in Helsinki rarely gets above freezing this time of year, so having a nice hot place to bathe can help get the chill from your bones. While the sauna is heating, many capture those kilowatts by cooking in it. Two Finnish-Canadian women published The Sauna Cookbook a few years ago with recipes for both enjoying while you sauna and cooking in the sauna. Another Finnish-Canadian, Sauna Pekka reminisces about a Christmas dinner of his youth: At Christmas time in Finland we bake a 12 kg (26 lb) ham “kinkku” in the equivalent of 100°C (212°F)  sauna heat for eight hours. For the ham we do not pour löyly, as it cooks better without it. When I sit in North American dry heat saunas, the poor ham comes always in my mind. Christmas is a more recent invention than the sauna. Christmas came to Finland about 700 years ago. When Christmas arrived, it took on some of the existing midwinter celebrations that had existed for thousands of years before. Throughout much of Scandinavia, the old beliefs held that on the night of midwinter, the dead returned to walk the earth. Many still keep the sauna warm and throw another ladle of water on the rocks to make it comfortable for when your ancestors, elves and gnomes visit. Modern health practitioners caution that you should not take a sauna too close to a large feast like that eaten on Christmas eve. They caution that you should use the sauna in the afternoon. However, people who know Finnish folklore understand that after dark, the sauna is reserved for the dead. Some say the devil himself walks the earth to find a sauna to bathe in at midnight on the winter solstice. Other old beliefs say that the midwinter celebration is a time to thank the gods for the past season's bountiful harvest and ask them for a fertile growing season in the spring. Some believe that throwing beer on the sauna stove helped appease these gods. If you can, heat up your sauna this Christmas (or whichever winter holiday you celebrate). May it bring you peace, luck and a good harvest in the new year.

Dear Infrared Sauna Industry:

I’m a traditionalist myself, but I will admit, I’ve been inside an infrared sauna or two in my day and it was an enjoyable experience. I can see the advantages of an infrared sauna. The low prices, easy assembly, quick heat up and localized heating all make it an option for many people who may not otherwise be able to enjoy a sauna. I get it.

Just please tell me, why do you insist on discrediting the sauna industry with lies? It damages all our credibility.

My point is illustrated by this quote from a business offering infrared sauna sessions that aired on a Fox affiliate a few days ago.

“If you sweat profusely, clinical studies show that you can burn up to 600 calories in a hour of being in there,” says [redacted].

The infrared sauna makes the same rays that come from the sun, but filters out UV radiation.

“The traditional saunas of the past go a half inch into the tissues,” [she] says. “This goes an inch and a half, so three times deeper. Even the sweat produced for this is different.”

That’s because the heat is different. The infrared sauna reaches temps up to 140 degrees and breaks up the water molecules that hold toxins in your skin. So when you sweat in here, you sweat toxins out.

Four paragraphs, lots of false claims. Let’s look at them:

“Burn up to 600 calories in an hour.” This is false. In a sauna, you don’t burn many more calories than you would otherwise sitting on a couch. You’re definitely not going to burn the same number of calories that you would during a strenuous workout on a stair climbing machine.

The truth is saunas do help with weight loss. Researchers don’t completely understand it, but regular sauna sessions help your brain better regulate your appetite to get your body back to a healthy weight. If you are overweight, the sauna will help you lose weight. If you are underweight, the sauna will help you gain it back.

“The infrared sauna makes the same rays that come from the sun…” This is partially true. All hot things give off infrared rays. Light bulbs, the sun, even your body now is emitting infrared rays to heat something in the room cooler than you. Infrared saunas use specialized heater panels to create their infrared rays, while a traditional sauna uses heating elements and rocks to create infrared rays.

“Infrared sauna radiation goes deeper into your skin than a traditional sauna.” Unfortunately, that is not true. Traditional saunas have, if anything, more sources of infrared radiation than a “pure” infrared sauna.

“The sweat produced is different.” True, but unfortunately not the way they would like you to think. Because the heat in the infrared sauna is lower and the heat is localized to the parts of your body closest to the heating panels, the sweat is less intense than in a traditional sauna.

“The heat is different” This is partially true. Infrared saunas use infrared heat only from special radiant panels. A traditional sauna heats with infrared heat from the stove, the walls and even the water vapor in the air surrounding you. In addition, the heat of the air directly transfers heat to you.

“The infrared sauna breaks up the water molecules that hold toxins in your skin” False! The heat of a sauna does not break up the water in your skin. It also doesn’t break up the fat in your skin. What all hot baths do is send blood from your internal organs to your skin to help keep your body cool. This changes your circulation and can help move toxins in your blood stream past specialized organs in your skin that will eject toxins as part of your sweat. These toxins are mainly metabolic wastes, but can include some other environmental toxins.

So, infrared sauna industry, you’ve made a big point of making claims which are nonsense, yet on closer inspection, turn out to be not that far from the truth after all. It would do us all a lot better if you came clean and purged your marketing material of this junk.

We’re all in this together. The more people who are aware of saunas and their legitimate benefits, will give you more potential customers. Sure some of them will choose to get a traditional sauna, but for those who don’t, you’ve got a pretty decent product for them.

Cheers,

Chris

 

 

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] Dear Infrared Sauna Industry: I'm a traditionalist myself, but I will admit, I've been inside an infrared sauna or two in my day and it was an enjoyable experience. I can see the advantages of an infrared sauna. The low prices, easy assembly, quick heat up and localized heating all make it an option for many people who may not otherwise be able to enjoy a sauna. I get it. Just please tell me, why do you insist on discrediting the sauna industry with lies? It damages all our credibility. My point is illustrated by this quote from a business offering infrared sauna sessions that aired on a Fox affiliate a few days ago. “If you sweat profusely, clinical studies show that you can burn up to 600 calories in a hour of being in there,” says [redacted]. The infrared sauna makes the same rays that come from the sun, but filters out UV radiation. “The traditional saunas of the past go a half inch into the tissues,” [she] says. “This goes an inch and a half, so three times deeper. Even the sweat produced for this is different.” That's because the heat is different. The infrared sauna reaches temps up to 140 degrees and breaks up the water molecules that hold toxins in your skin. So when you sweat in here, you sweat toxins out. Four paragraphs, lots of false claims. Let's look at them: "Burn up to 600 calories in an hour." This is false. In a sauna, you don't burn many more calories than you would otherwise sitting on a couch. You're definitely not going to burn the same number of calories that you would during a strenuous workout on a stair climbing machine. The truth is saunas do help with weight loss. Researchers don't completely understand it, but regular sauna sessions help your brain better regulate your appetite to get your body back to a healthy weight. If you are overweight, the sauna will help you lose weight. If you are underweight, the sauna will help you gain it back. "The infrared sauna makes the same rays that come from the sun..." This is partially true. All hot things give off infrared rays. Light bulbs, the sun, even your body now is emitting infrared rays to heat something in the room cooler than you. Infrared saunas use specialized heater panels to create their infrared rays, while a traditional sauna uses heating elements and rocks to create infrared rays. "Infrared sauna radiation goes deeper into your skin than a traditional sauna." Unfortunately, that is not true. Traditional saunas have, if anything, more sources of infrared radiation than a "pure" infrared sauna. "The sweat produced is different." True, but unfortunately not the way they would like you to think. Because the heat in the infrared sauna is lower and the heat is localized to the parts of your body closest to the heating panels, the sweat is less intense than in a traditional sauna. "The heat is different" This is partially true. Infrared saunas use infrared heat only from special radiant panels. A traditional sauna heats with infrared heat from the stove, the walls and even the water vapor in the air surrounding you. In addition, the heat of the air directly transfers heat to you. "The infrared sauna breaks up the water molecules that hold toxins in your skin" False! The heat of a sauna does not break up the water in your skin. It also doesn't break up the fat in your skin. What all hot baths do is send blood from your internal organs to your skin to help keep your body cool. This changes your circulation and can help move toxins in your blood stream past specialized organs in your skin that will eject toxins as part of your sweat. These toxins are mainly metabolic wastes, but can include some other environmental toxins. So, infrared sauna industry, you've made a big point of making claims which are nonsense, yet on closer inspection, turn out to be not that far from the truth after all. It would do us all a lot better if you came clean and purged your marketing material of this junk. We're all in this together. The more people who are aware of saunas and their legitimate benefits, will give you more potential customers. Sure some of them will choose to get a traditional sauna, but for those who don't, you've got a pretty decent product for them. Cheers, Chris    

Mention sauna and everyone knows what you are talking about. A sauna is that hot, wooden room that nearly every spa, hotel and gym has for its guests. The sauna is a meme in commercials for mundane things like car insurance, eyeglasses and food safety. Sauna is so common that it describes anything hot or that makes you sweat.

The hammam meanwhile is a novelty found only at luxury spas and a few obscure locations in the Middle East. Yet two centuries ago the hammam was common throughout the entire Ottoman Empire which nearly encircled the Mediterranean and extended well into the modern Arab world, while the sauna was almost unheard of. What happened to change this?

Dallas DeForest, an American PhD student in archaeology looks at the rise of the sauna and the decline of the hammam on his blog, Mediterranean Palimpsest.

The area known as Finland had been a territory of the Kingdom of Sweden since the 13th century. In the early 1800′s, the Russians conquered Finland and annexed it as a Russian state. By the mid-1800s, a nationalist movement began within Finland to restore its identity. The Finnish language was revived, books of Finnish folklore were published, and the sauna was adopted as a symbol of all things Finnish. Mr. DeForest explains how the sauna was the ideal symbol for Finland:

The sauna works here in totality. In the sauna all are equal and without rank. Nudity is a means of breaking down social barriers by removing all evidence of one’s rank. Finnish identity also means individualism, self-reliance and sometimes isolation. This ideal is expressed through a forest/nature discourse, in which the ideal is a cottage in the woods, next to a lake, with a sauna, and the requisite supplies to live. Here the Finn lives alongside and is integrated with rugged nature, even defined by it, as free and equal.

He notes that although the Finns adopted the sauna, its origins are not exclusively Finnish. Several other cultures had long traditions of bathing in a hot wooden cabin, like the Russian Banya. This did not matter to the Finns. They had something to rally around.

In the years since then, the ideal of the Finnish sauna, “made of natural materials only, wood, stones and water, and it smells of nature when the birch is released into the air, or the logs become well-used,” has been used by many to denounce the hot baths of other cultures with a stronger pedigree, and even modern conveniences like the electric stove and infrared heating.

The hammam took the other route. At the time the sauna was gaining popularity in Finland, 1350 miles (2160km) to the south, the hammam was the center of the culture at the time. Again, from Mr. DeForest:

Hammams performed a variety of functions in Ottoman society from the 16^th until the 19^th century. They catered to the basic hygienic needs of neighborhood residents, their first and most important function; Muslims performed ritual ablutions in them on Thursday evenings and Friday mornings before mosque; certain rites of passage occurred in their halls (connected to marriage, birth, conversion to Islam, etc.); and they were important public spaces in the Ottoman city, especially for women. Typically, a hammam was a central feature of the mahalle, which centered on the local mosque (or church), a small plaza, school, and bath. Usually some 100-150 wooden houses clustered around these public buildings, which were made of stone. Some hammams gave their name to entire neighborhoods, and by 1768 so many had been built that [the Sultan] forbid the construction of anymore, since they were consuming too much of the city’s water supply.

In the 1800′s, the nationalism within the Ottoman Empire attacked the hammam. The Ataturk began a program of westernization: widening streets, building modern apartment buildings with bathrooms in the apartment, and a program of secularization. Each of these led to the demise of the hammam by removing the drivers that brought people there and demolishing many of the baths to make way for the construction projects. By 1939, fewer than 25 hammams remained in Istanbul. Today hammams are a novelty, mainly supported by foreign tourists.

You can read his full article “Nation Building and Baths: A Comparison between the Finnish Sauna and Ottoman Hammam” on his blog, which features several more articles on baths and bathing.

 

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Hammam Al-Basha in Israel, where the only bathers are made of bronze. Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] Mention sauna and everyone knows what you are talking about. A sauna is that hot, wooden room that nearly every spa, hotel and gym has for its guests. The sauna is a meme in commercials for mundane things like car insurance, eyeglasses and food safety. Sauna is so common that it describes anything hot or that makes you sweat. The hammam meanwhile is a novelty found only at luxury spas and a few obscure locations in the Middle East. Yet two centuries ago the hammam was common throughout the entire Ottoman Empire which nearly encircled the Mediterranean and extended well into the modern Arab world, while the sauna was almost unheard of. What happened to change this? Dallas DeForest, an American PhD student in archaeology looks at the rise of the sauna and the decline of the hammam on his blog, Mediterranean Palimpsest. The area known as Finland had been a territory of the Kingdom of Sweden since the 13th century. In the early 1800's, the Russians conquered Finland and annexed it as a Russian state. By the mid-1800s, a nationalist movement began within Finland to restore its identity. The Finnish language was revived, books of Finnish folklore were published, and the sauna was adopted as a symbol of all things Finnish. Mr. DeForest explains how the sauna was the ideal symbol for Finland: The sauna works here in totality. In the sauna all are equal and without rank. Nudity is a means of breaking down social barriers by removing all evidence of one’s rank. Finnish identity also means individualism, self-reliance and sometimes isolation. This ideal is expressed through a forest/nature discourse, in which the ideal is a cottage in the woods, next to a lake, with a sauna, and the requisite supplies to live. Here the Finn lives alongside and is integrated with rugged nature, even defined by it, as free and equal. He notes that although the Finns adopted the sauna, its origins are not exclusively Finnish. Several other cultures had long traditions of bathing in a hot wooden cabin, like the Russian Banya. This did not matter to the Finns. They had something to rally around. In the years since then, the ideal of the Finnish sauna, "made of natural materials only, wood, stones and water, and it smells of nature when the birch is released into the air, or the logs become well-used," has been used by many to denounce the hot baths of other cultures with a stronger pedigree, and even modern conveniences like the electric stove and infrared heating. The hammam took the other route. At the time the sauna was gaining popularity in Finland, 1350 miles (2160km) to the south, the hammam was the center of the culture at the time. Again, from Mr. DeForest: Hammams performed a variety of functions in Ottoman society from the 16th until the 19th century. They catered to the basic hygienic needs of neighborhood residents, their first and most important function; Muslims performed ritual ablutions in them on Thursday evenings and Friday mornings before mosque; certain rites of passage occurred in their halls (connected to marriage, birth, conversion to Islam, etc.); and they were important public spaces in the Ottoman city, especially for women. Typically, a hammam was a central feature of the mahalle, which centered on the local mosque (or church), a small plaza, school, and bath. Usually some 100-150 wooden houses clustered around these public buildings, which were made of stone. Some hammams gave their name to entire neighborhoods, and by 1768 so many had been built that [the Sultan] forbid the construction of anymore, since they were consuming too much of the city’s water supply. In the 1800's, the nationalism within the Ottoman Empire attacked the hammam. The Ataturk began a program of westernization: widening streets, building modern apartment buildings with bathrooms in the apartment, and a program of secularization. Each of these led to the demise of the hammam by removing the drivers that brought people there and demolishing many of the baths to make way for the construction projects. By 1939, fewer than 25 hammams remained in Istanbul. Today hammams are a novelty, mainly supported by foreign tourists. You can read his full article "Nation Building and Baths: A Comparison between the Finnish Sauna and Ottoman Hammam" on his blog, which features several more articles on baths and bathing.  

If you know the Muppets, you know the song “Mahna mahna.” It was the first act of the first episode of the Muppet Show in 1976 and closes out the 2011 movie The Muppets. But did you know that “Mahna mahna” got its start in the sauna?

“Mah Nà Mah Nà” was written by Italian composer Piero Umiliani. It made its debut in a the pseudo documentary “Svezia, inferno e paradiso” (Sweden: Heaven and Hell) in a scene called “The Polar Bare Club” featuring a dozen or so Swedish women who walk through the snow into a traditional sauna, where we then see them clad in a towel. You can see the safe for work version at YouTube, or a longer and not-so-safe version at DailyMotion.

We leave you with Victor Nureyev and Miss Piggy singing “Baby It’s Cold Outside” in a steam room.

If you know the Muppets, you know the song "Mahna mahna." It was the first act of the first episode of the Muppet Show in 1976 and closes out the 2011 movie The Muppets. But did you know that "Mahna mahna" got its start in the sauna? "Mah Nà Mah Nà" was written by Italian composer Piero Umiliani. It made its debut in a the pseudo documentary "Svezia, inferno e paradiso" (Sweden: Heaven and Hell) in a scene called "The Polar Bare Club" featuring a dozen or so Swedish women who walk through the snow into a traditional sauna, where we then see them clad in a towel. You can see the safe for work version at YouTube, or a longer and not-so-safe version at DailyMotion. We leave you with Victor Nureyev and Miss Piggy singing "Baby It's Cold Outside" in a steam room. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARUM0-jtjIg

A reader wrote us this question:

Dear SaunaScape:

I’m going to a resort with some friends this weekend. In the spa area, they have a sauna. I’ve never used one before. There is one in my gym locker room and I don’t use it because it intimidates me. I don’t want to make a sauna faux-pas.

What is the etiquette for using a public sauna or a steam room like this?

Thank you,

Jordan

Jordan:

You shouldn’t get anxious about the sauna. It is a place to relax and do what is comfortable. Yes, it is a new experience for a lot of people, but as long as you remember the golden rule – Do unto others as you would have them do unto you – you’ll be just fine.

If you are looking for some more specific rules, here is our top ten list of the most important etiquette rules consider when using a public sauna or steam bath:

10. Close the door.

Nothing upsets me more than when I am getting a good sweat on and someone else gets up to leave and does not close the door behind them. Nearly as bad is when someone is on their way in, and stops to chat with someone else while holding the door open.

When the sauna door is open, it does not take long for the heat to spill out of the sauna. It’s even worse in a steam room. If your gym or resort was stingy while sizing their sauna heater, it may take ten minutes or more for the sauna to recover from the door being open for just a minute.

If you are going in or out, please do it quickly, and make sure the door closes firmly behind you.

9. Sit on a towel.

Nothing is worse than walking into a sauna and having to find a spot to sit among the sweaty body prints others have left on the sauna bench. Saunas are not hot enough to kill germs, and in a high-use area like a public sauna, there may be a sealant or a protective barrier of gunk that neutralizes the disinfecting properties of wood.

Bring a towel in the sauna or steam room that is large enough to make a barrier between your body and the benches. If you’re sitting upright, a hand towel is big enough. If you’re going to lay down, you probably need a beach towel. It will protect you from what others have left behind, and keep you from leaving things behind.

Make sure you have a second towel that you leave outside the sauna to dry off with afterwards. You won’t want to use a sauna towel, and you can’t use a steam room towel to dry off after you’re done.

8. The sauna is not a clothes dryer.

There is a person at my gym who believes that the sauna is his personal clothes dryer. He does cardio, then goes for a swim. He brings in his sweaty clothes, wet bathing suit and towel and hangs them on the railing around the sauna stove to dry while he showers. Please, whatever you do, don’t do this.

7. Silence is golden.

I use the sauna as my place for relaxation and introspection. If you are going to talk, please do it quietly. Of course, if it is your own sauna, or you have the sauna to yourself, you can yak it up if you want. Just respect that in a public place, other people may want quiet.

6. If it’s in a locker room, it’s OK to got naked.

It seems like  Tobias Fünke wrote most sauna etiquette guides. Most begin with a rant against seeing other people’s naked bodies in locker rooms. I’m going to rant the other way: It’s a locker room. You’re supposed to change clothes in there, which means you need to get naked in there. Until the early 1970′s, many high school and YMCA swimming pools throughout the US and Canada expected men to swim naked. Now, proper decorum says we aren’t supposed to show our bodies to anyone.  This ad  is indecent (but not this one).

They call it a sauna bath for a reason. You wouldn’t complain about people being naked in the shower, would you? So if the sauna is in an area where you can be naked, then go naked in the sauna! It’s more hygienic and better for you too.

By the way, a sweat suit or a sauna suit is never appropriate attire for the sauna. If you don’t want to get naked, see our post on what to wear in the sauna.

5. Keep your hands and eyes to yourself.

I may sauna naked, or with very little clothing. That does not mean that I amshowing off for anyone else. The Finns have a saying, “behave in a sauna like you would in church.” I’ve been in a number of saunas and seen some things that definitely aren’t church-like.

My attitude is, that if someone is coming on to someone else in the sauna, it isn’t hot enough. I go looking for the thermostat to turn up the heat. In a proper sauna, you can’t think about anything except “can I stay in here another minute?”

4. Leave your electronics outside.

The sauna isn’t good for your electronics, but electronics also aren’t good for the sauna. The heat and humidity (yes, even if it’s a dry sauna) in the sauna will damage your phone, iPod or other gizmo. The etiquette problem is nearly every device has a camera these days. I don’t know if you are just browsing through your music collection or if you’re taking photos of me. I’d rather not have to ask. The other problem is your music. Yes, you’re listening to it on earphones, but if it is quiet in the sauna, I’m probably going to hear most of it. And really, if that phone call is so important, why are you taking it in the sauna?

Use your gizmo while you’re working out, but leave it in your locker when you take a sauna.

3. No spitting on the rocks.

I’ve seen this happen before. I shouldn’t have to write it. Just don’t do it.

2. Shower before you sauna.

Reading through other sauna etiquette posts on the internet, it is amazing how many people see nudity as dirty, but don’t see dirt as dirty. I’ve seen it at my gym too: people remove their sweaty workout clothes to reveal a sweaty swimsuit underneath and head straight for the sauna. Or someone comes right out of the pool and heads straight into the sauna.

If you’ve been swimming, there is chlorine on your body that will volatilize in the sauna and can irritate everyone’s eyes and lungs who shares the sauna with you. If you have been out in public, your perfume or some other smell you picked up throughout your day will become stronger and more pungent in the sauna.

Be considerate to the others who use the sauna with you: Take a shower first. If you’re wearing a swimsuit or some other clothing in the sauna, take it off while you shower.

Don’t forget to take at least a quick rinse off after you sauna before you get into the pool.

1. Remember to ask first before you do anything that affects me.

This is a public sauna, and I’m going to share it with you. I may like what you want to do, like splashing water on the rocks, or using that secret trick that sends the heater into overdrive. I may not care about others, like if you prepare some secret skin rub that you’re going to use or if you’re going to exercise in the sauna. Or, I may not want to stay, and may ask you to wait until I leave before you start.

This is a public place. I have as much right to enjoy the sauna the way I want to as you do. If they conflict, let’s talk about it and find a way we both can live with. Everyone will be better off that way.

Keep in mind, these are the general rules for a public sauna. If you are lucky enough to have your own, you can make your own rules. If you are a guest in someone else’s sauna, then you should ask them what their rules are before making assumptions.

Good Luck!

What is your opinion of sauna etiquette in your gym’s locker room? Take our poll and let us know!

 

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Photo of the Kotiharju Public Sauna in Helsinki. Image by Sami Oinonen via Flickr"][/caption] A reader wrote us this question: Dear SaunaScape: I'm going to a resort with some friends this weekend. In the spa area, they have a sauna. I've never used one before. There is one in my gym locker room and I don't use it because it intimidates me. I don't want to make a sauna faux-pas. What is the etiquette for using a public sauna or a steam room like this? Thank you, Jordan Jordan: You shouldn't get anxious about the sauna. It is a place to relax and do what is comfortable. Yes, it is a new experience for a lot of people, but as long as you remember the golden rule – Do unto others as you would have them do unto you – you'll be just fine. If you are looking for some more specific rules, here is our top ten list of the most important etiquette rules consider when using a public sauna or steam bath: 10. Close the door. Nothing upsets me more than when I am getting a good sweat on and someone else gets up to leave and does not close the door behind them. Nearly as bad is when someone is on their way in, and stops to chat with someone else while holding the door open. When the sauna door is open, it does not take long for the heat to spill out of the sauna. It's even worse in a steam room. If your gym or resort was stingy while sizing their sauna heater, it may take ten minutes or more for the sauna to recover from the door being open for just a minute. If you are going in or out, please do it quickly, and make sure the door closes firmly behind you. 9. Sit on a towel. Nothing is worse than walking into a sauna and having to find a spot to sit among the sweaty body prints others have left on the sauna bench. Saunas are not hot enough to kill germs, and in a high-use area like a public sauna, there may be a sealant or a protective barrier of gunk that neutralizes the disinfecting properties of wood. Bring a towel in the sauna or steam room that is large enough to make a barrier between your body and the benches. If you're sitting upright, a hand towel is big enough. If you're going to lay down, you probably need a beach towel. It will protect you from what others have left behind, and keep you from leaving things behind. Make sure you have a second towel that you leave outside the sauna to dry off with afterwards. You won't want to use a sauna towel, and you can't use a steam room towel to dry off after you're done. 8. The sauna is not a clothes dryer. There is a person at my gym who believes that the sauna is his personal clothes dryer. He does cardio, then goes for a swim. He brings in his sweaty clothes, wet bathing suit and towel and hangs them on the railing around the sauna stove to dry while he showers. Please, whatever you do, don't do this. 7. Silence is golden. I use the sauna as my place for relaxation and introspection. If you are going to talk, please do it quietly. Of course, if it is your own sauna, or you have the sauna to yourself, you can yak it up if you want. Just respect that in a public place, other people may want quiet. 6. If it's in a locker room, it's OK to got naked. It seems like  Tobias Fünke wrote most sauna etiquette guides. Most begin with a rant against seeing other people's naked bodies in locker rooms. I'm going to rant the other way: It's a locker room. You're supposed to change clothes in there, which means you need to get naked in there. Until the early 1970's, many high school and YMCA swimming pools throughout the US and Canada expected men to swim naked. Now, proper decorum says we aren't supposed to show our bodies to anyone.  This ad  is indecent (but not this one). They call it a sauna bath for a reason. You wouldn't complain about people being naked in the shower, would you? So if the sauna is in an area where you can be naked, then go naked in the sauna! It's more hygienic and better for you too. By the way, a sweat suit or a sauna suit is never appropriate attire for the sauna. If you don't want to get naked, see our post on what to wear in the sauna. 5. Keep your hands and eyes to yourself. I may sauna naked, or with very little clothing. That does not mean that I amshowing off for anyone else. The Finns have a saying, "behave in a sauna like you would in church." I've been in a number of saunas and seen some things that definitely aren't church-like. My attitude is, that if someone is coming on to someone else in the sauna, it isn't hot enough. I go looking for the thermostat to turn up the heat. In a proper sauna, you can't think about anything except "can I stay in here another minute?" 4. Leave your electronics outside. The sauna isn't good for your electronics, but electronics also aren't good for the sauna. The heat and humidity (yes, even if it's a dry sauna) in the sauna will damage your phone, iPod or other gizmo. The etiquette problem is nearly every device has a camera these days. I don't know if you are just browsing through your music collection or if you're taking photos of me. I'd rather not have to ask. The other problem is your music. Yes, you're listening to it on earphones, but if it is quiet in the sauna, I'm probably going to hear most of it. And really, if that phone call is so important, why are you taking it in the sauna? Use your gizmo while you're working out, but leave it in your locker when you take a sauna. 3. No spitting on the rocks. I've seen this happen before. I shouldn't have to write it. Just don't do it. 2. Shower before you sauna. Reading through other sauna etiquette posts on the internet, it is amazing how many people see nudity as dirty, but don't see dirt as dirty. I've seen it at my gym too: people remove their sweaty workout clothes to reveal a sweaty swimsuit underneath and head straight for the sauna. Or someone comes right out of the pool and heads straight into the sauna. If you've been swimming, there is chlorine on your body that will volatilize in the sauna and can irritate everyone's eyes and lungs who shares the sauna with you. If you have been out in public, your perfume or some other smell you picked up throughout your day will become stronger and more pungent in the sauna. Be considerate to the others who use the sauna with you: Take a shower first. If you're wearing a swimsuit or some other clothing in the sauna, take it off while you shower. Don't forget to take at least a quick rinse off after you sauna before you get into the pool. 1. Remember to ask first before you do anything that affects me. This is a public sauna, and I'm going to share it with you. I may like what you want to do, like splashing water on the rocks, or using that secret trick that sends the heater into overdrive. I may not care about others, like if you prepare some secret skin rub that you're going to use or if you're going to exercise in the sauna. Or, I may not want to stay, and may ask you to wait until I leave before you start. This is a public place. I have as much right to enjoy the sauna the way I want to as you do. If they conflict, let's talk about it and find a way we both can live with. Everyone will be better off that way. Keep in mind, these are the general rules for a public sauna. If you are lucky enough to have your own, you can make your own rules. If you are a guest in someone else's sauna, then you should ask them what their rules are before making assumptions. Good Luck! What is your opinion of sauna etiquette in your gym's locker room? Take our poll and let us know! What would you wear in a locker room sauna? Public OpinionView Results  

I was in a hotel a few weeks ago, and they had one of those magnifying mirrors in the bathroom. As I was brushing my teeth, I got a glimpse of a close-up view of my nose. Gross! I’m not typically a vain person, but I changed my morning plans and headed out to the nearest drugstore to buy a box of nose strips so I wouldn’t offend the client I was about to visit.

Once your eyes open to what your nose looks like at 10x magnification, you can’t ignore it anymore. I noticed that the strips would clean the blackheads out of my nose for a couple of days, but pretty soon, it would be back to its same yucky appearance. Sure the nose strips worked, but they are expensive, and leave a glue-like residue on your nose. There has to be a better way I thought.

There is. The sauna is the best exercise for your skin. If you use it correctly, you can sauna away your blackheads, pimples and other skin blemishes.

Using a sauna to clear your acne

To get started, you need a sauna. If you don’t have one at your gym or spa, you can find a public one in our database, or search for a hotel sauna if you’ll be traveling. Any type of sauna will work for this: A conventional Finnish-style sauna, an infrared sauna, or even a steam room or steam sauna all work well. It just needs to get your body hot enough to sweat.

To do this, you need:

• A bathing suit (or less if you’re comfortable), because you’re going to get wet;
• Two towels: one to sit on in the sauna, and one to dry off with;
• A brush, loofah, or rough cloth to exfoliate your skin; and
• Your preferred soap or facial cleanser.

To begin, take a hot shower and wash your acne problem area with your soap or cleanser. Make sure to rinse all the soap off well when you finish. Many cleansers can leave a residue that can promote acne. After your shower, dry yourself off.

Now head into the sauna. Lay your towel on the bench and relax. If you want, splash some water on the rocks to increase the sensation of heat. Wait until your body starts sweating.

If you’ve never used the sauna before, you may feel a some of moisture on your forehead just after you enter. This is most likely condensation and not sweat. Depending on the heat of the sauna, it may take 5-10 minutes before your body starts really sweating. You will know when, because sweat will be pouring out of every square inch of your skin.

Now that your sweat is flowing, take your exfoliating device of choice, and gently rub at the surface skin of all your problem areas. All that sweat will mobilize your sebum and mobilize all the dirt, dead skin and other contaminants that might be in your skin. When you are done exfoliating, stay in the sauna for another minute or two and let your sweat continue to do its magic.

Once you finish in the sauna, or if the heat gets to be too much for you, head back to the showers. Start with a warm shower and rinse your skin clean. When you have done that, turn the shower to as cold as is comfortable, and stand under it until you feel like the deluge of sweating has stopped. Don’t use soap or other cleansers.

When you are done, towel dry again and take a break until you have stopped sweating. Take a drink, go for a walk, just sit and relax or even go for a swim if there is a pool available. Your body needs to recover from your first sauna round.

Once you feel like you are back to normal, head back into the sauna again. You should start sweating more quickly this time. Again, once your whole body sweat starts, exfoliate that problem area another time, sweat it out and shower off to cool down. When you are showering, resist the temptation to use soap. If you typically put on lotion after a shower, resist that temptation too. You will find that after a sauna, all of your skin’s natural oils have done the job for you.

When you look at your problem area in the mirror, you will find that your skin is more clear than ever before. A sauna session like this at least twice a week will keep your skin clear for a lot less money than some of those fancy cleansers will.

Your skin: close up

To understand how a sauna removes acne, it helps to take a closer look at your skin. There are two major types of glands in your skin that secrete substances to help it: Sweat glands and sebaceous glands.

Sebaceous glands surround your hair follicles and secrete a waxy substance, called sebum, onto the surface of your skin. Sebum is unlike any other substance your body secretes, and all of its purposes are still not well understood by the medical community. Sebum helps protect your skin by moisturizing it and providing nutrients directly to the surface skin cells. It also helps repel water from your skin when you are cold, but also keeps your sweat from rolling off when you are hot. Some even believe it has antibacterial properties that protect your skin from disease.

The problems come when your sebaceous glands get blocked. There are many things that can block them: dead skin, cosmetics, bacteria, even a poor diet. If the blockage is at the surface of your skin, you get a blackhead. If the blockage is underneath, you get a whitehead, pimple or a boil.

The Sauna and Sebum

When you heat up your skin with a sauna, it does several things for you that can help get rid of your acne. Raising the temperature makes sebum more fluid causing it to flow. Also, when you start sweating, the sweat released softens your skin and mixes with the sebum to make it more fluid.

When you exfoliate your skin in the sauna, the sebum helps lubricate whatever device you are using, making it easier to get rid off all that stuff your skin doesn’t want on it, while your sweat mobilizes it and carries it away.

Some risks:

A few words of warning before you try this treatment:

If you are on a prescription medication, talk to your doctor before you go in the sauna. The heat of the sauna can cause your medicine to be absorbed more quickly than normal, potentially giving you a short-term overdose. Some medications affect your body’s response to heat, putting you at risk of overheating while in the sauna.

While you are in the sauna, listen to your body. If you feel lightheaded or nauseous, leave at once and get yourself into a cool shower to lower your body temperature. When you do go to leave the sauna, stand up slowly to reduce the risk of fainting.

Some types of acne do not respond well to a sauna treatment. For instance, if your acne is cystic, this regimen can complicate things. Keep an open mind, and if things don’t work the way you expect them to, speak to a medical professional.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Image by RachelHermosillo via Flickr"][/caption] I was in a hotel a few weeks ago, and they had one of those magnifying mirrors in the bathroom. As I was brushing my teeth, I got a glimpse of a close-up view of my nose. Gross! I'm not typically a vain person, but I changed my morning plans and headed out to the nearest drugstore to buy a box of nose strips so I wouldn't offend the client I was about to visit. Once your eyes open to what your nose looks like at 10x magnification, you can't ignore it anymore. I noticed that the strips would clean the blackheads out of my nose for a couple of days, but pretty soon, it would be back to its same yucky appearance. Sure the nose strips worked, but they are expensive, and leave a glue-like residue on your nose. There has to be a better way I thought. There is. The sauna is the best exercise for your skin. If you use it correctly, you can sauna away your blackheads, pimples and other skin blemishes. Using a sauna to clear your acne To get started, you need a sauna. If you don't have one at your gym or spa, you can find a public one in our database, or search for a hotel sauna if you'll be traveling. Any type of sauna will work for this: A conventional Finnish-style sauna, an infrared sauna, or even a steam room or steam sauna all work well. It just needs to get your body hot enough to sweat. To do this, you need: A bathing suit (or less if you're comfortable), because you're going to get wet; Two towels: one to sit on in the sauna, and one to dry off with; A brush, loofah, or rough cloth to exfoliate your skin; and Your preferred soap or facial cleanser. To begin, take a hot shower and wash your acne problem area with your soap or cleanser. Make sure to rinse all the soap off well when you finish. Many cleansers can leave a residue that can promote acne. After your shower, dry yourself off. Now head into the sauna. Lay your towel on the bench and relax. If you want, splash some water on the rocks to increase the sensation of heat. Wait until your body starts sweating. If you've never used the sauna before, you may feel a some of moisture on your forehead just after you enter. This is most likely condensation and not sweat. Depending on the heat of the sauna, it may take 5-10 minutes before your body starts really sweating. You will know when, because sweat will be pouring out of every square inch of your skin. Now that your sweat is flowing, take your exfoliating device of choice, and gently rub at the surface skin of all your problem areas. All that sweat will mobilize your sebum and mobilize all the dirt, dead skin and other contaminants that might be in your skin. When you are done exfoliating, stay in the sauna for another minute or two and let your sweat continue to do its magic. Once you finish in the sauna, or if the heat gets to be too much for you, head back to the showers. Start with a warm shower and rinse your skin clean. When you have done that, turn the shower to as cold as is comfortable, and stand under it until you feel like the deluge of sweating has stopped. Don't use soap or other cleansers. When you are done, towel dry again and take a break until you have stopped sweating. Take a drink, go for a walk, just sit and relax or even go for a swim if there is a pool available. Your body needs to recover from your first sauna round. Once you feel like you are back to normal, head back into the sauna again. You should start sweating more quickly this time. Again, once your whole body sweat starts, exfoliate that problem area another time, sweat it out and shower off to cool down. When you are showering, resist the temptation to use soap. If you typically put on lotion after a shower, resist that temptation too. You will find that after a sauna, all of your skin's natural oils have done the job for you. When you look at your problem area in the mirror, you will find that your skin is more clear than ever before. A sauna session like this at least twice a week will keep your skin clear for a lot less money than some of those fancy cleansers will. Your skin: close up To understand how a sauna removes acne, it helps to take a closer look at your skin. There are two major types of glands in your skin that secrete substances to help it: Sweat glands and sebaceous glands. Sebaceous glands surround your hair follicles and secrete a waxy substance, called sebum, onto the surface of your skin. Sebum is unlike any other substance your body secretes, and all of its purposes are still not well understood by the medical community. Sebum helps protect your skin by moisturizing it and providing nutrients directly to the surface skin cells. It also helps repel water from your skin when you are cold, but also keeps your sweat from rolling off when you are hot. Some even believe it has antibacterial properties that protect your skin from disease. The problems come when your sebaceous glands get blocked. There are many things that can block them: dead skin, cosmetics, bacteria, even a poor diet. If the blockage is at the surface of your skin, you get a blackhead. If the blockage is underneath, you get a whitehead, pimple or a boil. The Sauna and Sebum When you heat up your skin with a sauna, it does several things for you that can help get rid of your acne. Raising the temperature makes sebum more fluid causing it to flow. Also, when you start sweating, the sweat released softens your skin and mixes with the sebum to make it more fluid. When you exfoliate your skin in the sauna, the sebum helps lubricate whatever device you are using, making it easier to get rid off all that stuff your skin doesn't want on it, while your sweat mobilizes it and carries it away. Some risks: A few words of warning before you try this treatment: If you are on a prescription medication, talk to your doctor before you go in the sauna. The heat of the sauna can cause your medicine to be absorbed more quickly than normal, potentially giving you a short-term overdose. Some medications affect your body's response to heat, putting you at risk of overheating while in the sauna. While you are in the sauna, listen to your body. If you feel lightheaded or nauseous, leave at once and get yourself into a cool shower to lower your body temperature. When you do go to leave the sauna, stand up slowly to reduce the risk of fainting. Some types of acne do not respond well to a sauna treatment. For instance, if your acne is cystic, this regimen can complicate things. Keep an open mind, and if things don't work the way you expect them to, speak to a medical professional.