Traditional Moroccan hammam has already become synonymous with good time and quality body care, although it has become known in the West not so long ago. A relaxing and cleansing steaming procedure, exfoliation of dead skin, and a final special massage ultimately give the effect of a newly born person. Due to its therapeutic effect, the hammam has become actively used in the West as a preventive and therapeutic procedure.
Traditional Hammam in Morocco
Who happened to visit Morocco knows that the traditional Moroccan hammam is completely different from spa treatments in modern salons. And the difference starts from the moment you get there. Hamam is a common bath where many, often completely unfamiliar men or women “steam” together.
In Morocco, you will not find mixed baths - there are three options: either only for women or only for men, or men are allowed on some days of the week, women on others, or the hammam allows representatives of one sex at one hour day, and representatives of another - on others. In addition, in the East it is not just a bath - here people communicate andrest.
This is especially true for women - in the past, many of them left the house very rarely, and the Moroccan care in the hammam was an opportunity not only to clean up the body, but also to see friends and relatives, chat and gossip. Yes, and just corny to take a break from the home environment.
Moroccan hammam treatment
Visit here begins with payment at the entrance. After that, a person enters the locker room - a room where all visitors can change into a bathing suit and leave their clothes. Further, the Moroccan hammam, in most cases, is arranged like this - a cold room, after it is warm, after it is hot. They are interconnected by small passages or a corridor, in the rooms themselves, taps emerge from the walls, from which water flows.
Traditionally, procedures begin with a warm room - here the visitor gets used to the temperature, washes, and returns here after staying in a hot room to finish cleansing. The dressing room and the cold room are often combined in one room, and here you can not only change clothes, but also drink tea, getting used to the usual temperature again.
Moroccan hammam and Berber body treatments include black olive soap, peeling with a special glove casserole, massage with argan oil.
Massage and peeling can be done to each other by friends, or you can pay for the work of a bath attendant - for a very reasonable fee, many hammams provide the opportunitymassage and peeling by the efforts of attendants and attendants.
Customs and rules
First of all, the Moroccan hammam is accessible to everyone, so there are usually many people of the same sex there. If you happened to go to such a place (and did not try oriental exoticism in a European spa), you should keep in mind some customs and traditions, the non-observance of which can upset and offend Moroccans.
First of all, this is to save water - it should be used carefully, as much as necessary, avoiding splashing around the bush. The second is the observance of decency. In the men's hammam, you can be dressed in swimming trunks or something similar. You should also change clothes by wrapping your hips in a towel or hiding behind it. Full nudity, even when changing clothes, is considered offensive and should not be done.
However, in the women's baths, the situation is different: in many of them you can wear a swimsuit or underwear, but there are also those where women undress completely - here you should focus on Moroccans. Of course, a European woman can stay in her swimsuit or underwear even if the local women are naked, but don't take everything off if others haven't.
Spa analogues in Europe
The European version of the Moroccan spa-hammam is often one room, most often serving as a warm one, or a Turkish steam cabin designed for one person is hidden under this name. High-class hotels and salons, of course, offer a "full cycle", adapted to European tastes, but including all the traditional treatments and even more.
Such an “improved” hammam costs, of course, also much more, but this is compensated by increased comfort, exclusively by “your” company and additional procedures to choose from.
