Finally it’s time to share my
sauna experience.
It’s been a few weeks since I’ve
been there and I was hoping I could try it one more time before posting here, but I
already have my opinion about it.
It feels good!
I didn’t develop the Finnish
passion for the sauna (yet), but it’s definitely something I would like to do more
often.
The first minutes weren’t so good,
though. I couldn’t breathe with all the hot steam coming from the rocks.
And for me the difference between
a pleasant sauna experience and a hot humidity nightmare is the frequency
people inside the sauna throw water on the hot rocks. Believe me, it feels
horrible to breathe with that 100°C steam surrounding you.
If you want to learn more about
the Finnish sauna, this page has a good and short explanation about löyly.
There are different types of
saunas and the place I went has one of the few public smoke saunas (savusauna)
in Finland. Directly from Wikipedia, the smoke sauna is “one of the earliest
forms of the sauna. It is simply a room containing a pile of rocks, but without
a chimney. A fire is lit directly under the rocks and after a while the fire is
extinguished. The heat retained in the rocks, and the earlier fire, becomes the
main source for heating the sauna.”
 |
| Savusauna at Cafè Kuusijärvi |
For sauna enthusiasts, this
traditional type of sauna should be a different experience than regular electric
sauna, but for me, sauna amateur, it felt very similar (I also went to the
regular sauna in the same place). The only difference was that the savusauna
was unisex and people wear swimsuits. So I preferred that one, since for me
the idea of being naked with strangers, sweating in a dark room is still a bit
awkward.
For more information about the
place, Cafè Kuusijärvi, here is their webpage. I strongly recommend the
experience if you’ve never tried it. And in this place you can also try avanto,
or ice swimming. (I didn’t)
 |
| Avanto - picture from http://www.helsinginkanoottiklubi.fi/ |
And Enjoy the Sauna!
:)
“The first minutes weren’t so good, though.” – I definitely know that feeling, Simone. A sauna can be too much for the uninitiated. I remember the first time I entered the sauna room, I felt a bit uncomfortable because of the heat. But when I got the hang of it, I became at ease. I learned that when it comes to sauna, the heat is your friend.
ReplyDeleteBest,
Neil
That's true, Neil...
DeleteI'm still adapting to the heat, and I feel more comfortable in mild sauna.
But I know that for most people a 60°C-80°C sauna can be "too cold". At least for my Finnish friends
:)
I’ve also seen a sauna where they drop hot stones in a pool of water to generate steam, but I guess it’s pretty much the same thing, only in reverse.
ReplyDeleteIt’s too bad you weren’t able to try the ice bath. Did you at least take a cold shower when you got out of the sauna? Taking one right after helps close up the pores and lock in the heat you achieved from staying in the steam. It’s actually a good way to counter cold weather.
Lucy