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The bath cleans not only the body, but also the soul — it prevents burnout, helps to cope with stress, fatigue and, of course, gives a lot of pleasure. But it will bring the maximum benefit to those who will reconsider some conventional installations. What exactly — says a specialist in bathing practices.
1. The bath should be hot
It is this bath that is usually shown in films. It is hot to sit in it, hot to breathe and you want to get out as soon as possible. Such a hot bath will not do any good. On the contrary, it can even be harmful to health. Why?
When you set the temperature to 110-120 degrees with zero humidity, the skin turns on its protective functions at full capacity and does not let the heat inside. It seems to you that you have warmed up, but in reality all the heat remains on the periphery, and the joints, bones, muscles, tendons do not receive the necessary heat.
A soft bath is in the middle between a harmful dry sauna with high temperatures and a hot hammam with an exorbitant level of humidity. The right bath should be like a warm humid room — such small home subtropics. For example, the air temperature is 70 degrees and the humidity is 40%. Or 60 degrees +50%.
This will allow you to breathe healing steam, steam the body with brooms — zone by zone — giving water in small portions. The warming up of the body will begin to occur slowly, and it will not close from such a smooth soft heat.
2. Scenting stones is useful
Many lovers often sprinkle water on the stones with the addition of essential oils. This is absolutely impossible to do. If you want to flavor the steam room, you need to use only high-quality natural oils.
But even a good, individually selected essential oil should not be succumbed to stones. The stones are hot, and the oil immediately begins to smoke, forming carcinogenic substances that enter the lungs. It may be dangerous.
It is better to drop your favorite essential oil away from the stove, but only if we bathe alone, without the company of people who may not like this smell. And in a good place for essential oils — in the relaxation area or in the massage room.
To create the effect of aromatherapy in a steam room, it is much more useful to use dried bouquets of lavender, wormwood, mint, lemongrass, sweet clover, oregano or any other herb, as well as citrus peels.
In order to extract the aroma from herbs, it is enough to pour water on the stones and hold the bouquets over the resulting steam, and the crusts can be decomposed in the steam room. We will get the same essential oils dissolved in the air, in their natural concentration.
3. The best broom is birch
With the help of a broom, you can not only control steam, but also massage, which improves blood circulation and removes venous stasis. Also, brooms perfectly clean the stratum corneum of the skin, helping to open the pores, which means that they activate the thermoregulation of the body.
The most popular brooms are birch and oak, as well as eucalyptus, whose essential oils treat respiratory diseases. Birch brooms are universally loved, but bathing with them is most often not comfortable. Birch branches have sharp tips, so his blows are biting, they look like blows with rods. In addition, such a broom is not very convenient to control the steam. They are comfortable to cover your head.
And the most comfortable working brooms are oak
Their leaves are broad and they hide the ends of the branches. A broom is needed like a palm, like a fan — it controls the air flow well. Of the conifers, my favorite is fir. Its smell cannot be forgotten or confused with some other. It smells like strawberries and lemon. It is enough to put one such miracle on the top shelf, and the anti-stress effect will be provided for the whole day: the fir smell relaxes, heals, pleases.
Compared to fir, juniper is very prickly, it can dig deep into the skin if you inadvertently step on a needle.
4. Broom must be doused with boiling water
Fresh brooms can be used immediately — just moisten them under running water. To prepare a dry broom for work, it is better to lower it first for 10 minutes in cool water, and then for 30-40 minutes in warm water.
The water should never be too hot. After steaming the leaves with boiling water, you will get a «broom» tea: all the useful substances from the leaves will go into the water, and then the leaves themselves will quickly fly around. The optimal temperature for soaking the broom is the one that your hand can withstand.
If you soak brooms in a small basin or bucket, first put them in the water with the butt (handle) down for a few minutes: thick branches should get drunk so as not to draw moisture from the leaves during soaring.
The only brooms that are soaked in boiling water are fir and juniper.
By the way, if we use brooms — birch, oak, linden, fir — when steaming, then we don’t need to somehow additionally flavor the steam room: brooms give both aroma and benefit.
5. Bathing is prohibited during menstruation
Women often have the question of whether it is possible to go to the bath during menstruation. Contrary to popular belief, it is possible and necessary to go to the bathhouse these days, but only if the woman does not feel specifically unwell, profuse discharge, or weakness. On such days, a deeper cleansing of the body occurs, and menstruation most often passes faster and easier.
I emphasize that we are talking about a soft bath, which is akin to the usual small physical activity. You do not limit yourself to brisk walking or swimming in the pool if you feel good? But going to a hot bath at this time and endangering yourself is definitely not worth it.
Source: Maria Voevodina’s book “The Magic of a Soft Bath. A guide to the world of warmth for the whole family” (EKSMO, 2022)