Earlier this year, I had the (mis)fortune of experiencing a full body scrub at a public hammam (bathhouse) in Marrakesh. Hammam is very similar to the better known Turkish bath or Korean spa, in which one essentially gets naked, steamed and scrubbed to emerge with glowing soft skin. Whether in the Far East or the Middle East (or in this case, North Africa), this bathing ritual at a hammam is both a communal and common cultural experience. It’s not like going to an American or European spa, an occasional luxurious indulgence where one is pampered and soothed in privacy.
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What is is: bathhouse where one is vigorously exfoliated head to toe and between every skin fold.
Where is it: public in every town or hotels; bathing rooms can be beautifully tiled floor to domed ceiling.
Cost: depends on where you go and what services you get - 50 to 500 dirham. 9 dirham is $1.
Etiquette: bikini bottoms typical (especially for foreigners); be mindful of other bather not to stare, splash them or otherwise annoy them; pre-rinse before scrub; don’t waste water.
Changing room: like gym it’s communal, with or without lockers.
What to bring: minimal items with plastic bag, flip flops and towel; if doing self-service also bring mat, plastic stool, buckets, savon noir (more on it later) and scrub mitt, other personal toiletries.
Now for the actual bathing experience- the procedure:
- Pay at front desk and get ushered into women’s changing room.
- Undress and place personal items in plastic bag to hang on hooks surrounding the room.
- Move to the 1st warm room where your attendant will stake out a spot for you with a mat or a plastic stool and acclimate to the steam and pour on hot water collected in buckets from faucets lining the room.
kiis Move onto hot room - a critical step we missed- where your pores open and skin start to soften.- Slather with savon noir, a paste made out of black olives, all over and let it penetrate skin for 15 minutes. This is the unique ingredient in the Moroccan hammam experience. Savon Noir can be purchased at souqs and even supermarkets to recreate the experience back home.
- While either sitting on stool or lying on mat, be vigorously scrubbed with kiis (scrubbing mitt) until rows of black noodles of dead skin roll off and expose pink skin underneath. Don’t be shy where the mitt goes, because it will go everywhere from head to toe.
- Rinse with hot water.
- Optional massage.
- Hair wash.
- Slather body in argan oil.
- Return to changing room to relax or just get dressed and get out. Whole process takes about an hour.
SazyRock and I decided to go for the “authentic” experience and went to a public hammam patronized by locals and not a westernized (and in my opinion - “soft”) hotel hammam catering to tourists. Our riad made the appointment for us and we were escorted to a non-descriptive building amid the maze of Marrakesh medina. We paid our pre-set fee of 150 dirham each and went through the ritual described above.
I’m a veteran of Korean spas so I know the drill on how this body scrub thing works: I knew I would be naked in a room full of strangers while a stranger scrubbed me raw. What I did not expect was to be lying virtually naked (bikini bottom on) in a semi warm room (we were not taken to the hot room) on a dank tile floor being rolled around by an aggressive attendant while trying to keep my limbs from hitting other bathers and then sitting curled up - again on cold tile floor naked- waiting while my friend was getting her body scrub. It was akin to a scene out of Homeland where someone is being tortured!
Now, was it a memorable experience- yes. Would I do it again - yes but not there. Did we get fleeced- yes, I suspect our riad took a 100 dirham “finders fee” over the regular 50 fee. Was my skin baby bottom soft- yes.
Advice: research few places before selecting one (just don’t go on the word of your riad). You can have an ”authentic” experience without being traumatized with some due diligence.
Next week - Korean spa.
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