Hammam means "spreader of warmth". It is the word given to the sensual bathing retreat that evolved over thousand of years and traces its roots back to the Roman Thermae. Circling time and place, these traditions can still be experienced in many natural hot springs of Turkey, Tunisia, Spain, and Morocco,and have now found a home in our present day HAMMAM.
Firstly, visitors pay for hammam at the entry, change their clothes in the checkroom. After taking hammam visitors may rest in the checkroom and only then change and leave. All main procedures take place in the three separate areas: cool, warm and steaming hot room.
Warm room
This is a preparatory stage. Here, you get your body accustomed to the heat in the hammam. In this room you should fill two large buckets one with cold and another with warm water. You use some of the water to clean the space on the floor for you to sit on. Then you wash a first time, but just superficially, to get rid of the basic dirt on your skin and in your hair.
Hot room
The hot room has enough heat to allow your pores open wide and your body sweat out. Sweating your body brings all hidden dirt out and perfectly cleans your skin. There are no time limits concerning stay in this room. It depends on your tolerance for heat. You can use the water in your buckets to refresh from time to time. The local people leave their buckets in the warm room.
Warm room
In this room you wash. Here you soap in completely, using the water from one bucket in the process. Somebody may offer to wash your back for you. This is a courtesy, don't misinterpret it for anything else.
Only after you wash your skin and hair, you use the water from the second bucket to rinse the soap and dirt off your body. Having washed, you carefully empty the remaining water from your buckets along the walls of the warm room.
Cold room
Cold room is used to get your body used to the normal temperature. In this room many hammams have communal showers to rinse the last remaining dirt and sweat off your body. This room also contain benches for visitors to relax for a while before changing and going out.
Getting a massage
Sometimes hammams have staff who can massage you. The more upscale hammams use scented oils for massage. This staff can also wash you if you ask. In the more basic, public hammams, a fellow bather may offer to massage you. There's nothing strange in such an offer. It's a very kind gesture, usually without financial motives, although returning the favor is somewhat expected. Although, a massage can be quite painful, in professional’s hands, after massage you'll feel as new. Getting a massage is always an option, never compulsory.
Taking Hammam you shouldn’t:
- Waste water
For example, in Morocco water is scarce and splashing it around in large quantities is considered imprudent and rude. Use only as much water as you need to wash and rinse.
- Strip completely naked
Stripping completely naked is considered offensive in a hammam.
Hammams are not only for hygiene, but it is also a very important social establishment. In eastern culture women rarely leave their houses except for a visit to the hammam. So, people meet in hammams, where they chat, discussing the latest news and gossip.
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