The time I was naked for 3 hours, or, my first trip to the sauna

I am not generally a naked kind of person. If I don't have to change in a locker room, I won't. I've always had body image issues and being naked around other people doesn't really help them. Korea hasn't helped that particular problem in that everyone here is obsessed with beauty and being thin and girls in elementary school go on diets and it's encouraged. So you can probably understand why going to a Korean sauna was not on the top of my list of things I wanted to do. However, it is a huge part of Korean culture, so I decided I would do it at some point during my second year.

My friend Kyeong He has been wanting me to go for a long time and I finally told her I was mentally prepared. We put it in our calendars for June 11th before work. We messaged the few days before and she sent me all the details of what I would need to bring etc. She brought most of the supplies, but I was supposed to bring lotion, my razor (and deodorant, which she didn't mention because most Koreans don't wear it) and some shorts in case the uniform didn't fit (this was more my concern than hers).

I met her just after 10 a.m. and we went inside. The building is divided into 5 separate floors. There is a family sauna, a female sauna, a male sauna, a co-ed jimjilbang and a floor for employees. We decided to do both the sauna and the jimjilbang. The price for both of them was $8. They gave us locker keys, 2 small towels and a uniform consisting of a T-shirt and shorts. First we went to the sauna. In the outer room, you have a small shoe locker. Then, using the same key inside the bigger locker room, you have a clothes locker. You strip down to naked and walk into the sauna itself. This is my first sauna, but I think most have the same general feel - just bigger or smaller with maybe some extra stuff. The room is quite warm. Because we went early on a weekday, there weren't many people and they were mostly older ladies. This was strategic on my part. The first thing you do is go over to a bank of showers. There were probably 3 aisles of showers. They're different because they are waist high and you sit on little stools. They have push button on/off switches so the water stops after awhile. You also use two bowls - one looks like a dog food bowl and the other is like a big salad bowl. The smaller one is for all your stuff - soaps, shampoo etc. The larger one you fill with water to rinse off washcloths and occasionally, yourself.

This is the one we went to. Saunas/spas are all over Korea.

You sit down on the stool and wash your face and hair. Then you scrub yourself fairly well with a loofah or sponge. I think I shaved my legs at that point too, but I can't remember. Then you go to the tubs. Because it was my first time, Kyeong He gave me a tour before we went in. Remember, this whole time, we're nakey. First she showed me the saunas - there was a steam room and a dry sauna. A group of women were playing cards in the dry one. As soon as she opened the door to the steam room, I had two thoughts: nope! and my mom would love this. Then, there were 3 tub/pools. They were each a different temperature, including a cold pool. Last, on a sort of partially inclosed porch, was another tub. We started in a mid-temp pool, while I waited to get a scrub. Scrubs and massages are optional services that cost extra. But, I wanted the whole experience, plus I needed it. We sat in the tub for probably 15 minutes before the lady was ready for me.

The scrub lasts 40 minutes. The lady is "dressed" in underwear. She was probably in her 60s and wore leopard grannie panties and a black bra and head wrap. Kyeong He told her that I didn't speak Korean and asked her a couple of other questions. There is a rubber massage table and I started face up on the table and Kyeong He told me to relax and fall asleep. I laughed. First, she washed my face with 2 different creams and used a warm towel to wipe it off. She wrapped my hair and then she put this stuff like looked like pulp left over in a juicer and that I think (based on smell) was cucumber on my face. That's when the real scrub started. She used what felt like a brillo pad or steal wool and scrubbed the crap out of me. It hurt, but I got used to it pretty quickly and my skin felt tingly after. This lady went everywhere. She would hold down my boob while she scrubbed the other one. She flung my arms and legs (and head) around like a ragdoll. When she wanted me to turn, she'd smack me twice on the leg. You turn to each side, then lie face up again. She scrubbed everywhere - I told my friend that she saw more than my ob/gyn and I don't think I'm exaggerating that much. Before each turn, she'd throw a bucket full of warm water over my entire body. This felt much better than I thought it would. Then she wiped the gunk off my face and sprayed off the bed a bit and I turned onto my stomach so she could scrub my back. This also included a partial "massage" meaning she dug her elbow/forearm in my back. She also hit me a couple of times. Then I sat up and she hit me again. Last, I was on my back again and she spread this oil-like stuff, which I later found out was seaweed, all over me. Then I was done.

I met back up with Kyeong He at this point. She had sat in the tub a little longer, then scrubbed herself. Most people don't get scrubbed every time. Lots of married ladies go everyday after their husbands go to work. If they got scrubbed daily, they probably wouldn't have skin left. We sat back down at our showers, and drank ice coffees while we scrubbed again. This time, I used her pumice stone and mainly worked on my feet.

After a rinse, we went back to the locker rooms and put on our uniforms. We walked downstairs to the jimjilbang. I got a tour here too. First there is a large open room, where if you want to sleep, you just grab a blanket and take a nap on the floor. They also had some massage chairs (like from Brookstone) and you can pay $1 to use one. In that room, there is what looks like a huge kiln that you can go inside and sit in. I had contacts in, so we didn't go in there because it's bad for your eyes if you've got lenses in. On the far side is a restaurant and bathrooms. There were 4 other rooms to relax in - an air conditioned room, a crystal room, a salt room and a stone room.

Close up of the crystal room wall

Wall and ceiling of the crystal room

First we went into the crystal room. Nobody was in there and we sat in there for a bit while Kyeong He remember how to turn our towels into "lamb ears". Then we took pictures. After that, she ran our phones back upstairs while I waited. Then we went into the salt room. It's full of pinkish salt rocks and you just lie in the middle of them. We had brought cheap face masks beforehand and put those on while we laid down. There was nobody in there either so we chatted and relaxed for about 30-40 minutes. Then we went to the stone room and stayed in there for another 5-10 minutes so I could test it out.

Me with my lamb ears aka Princess Leia look. I'm in front of the oven/kiln thing.

Me and Kyeong He. If you couldn't figure it out, we're in the uniforms. Girls wear maroon and boys wear green.

After the jimjilbang, we went back upstairs to the sauna and went into another room, that was like a mini sauna. Kyeong He said she didn't know why they had that room, but no one was in there, so we might as well go in. We showered again - shampoo, conditioner, loofah, brushed our teeth and used little hand scrubbers to rescrub. This room also had a pool with bathtub-like luke-warm water. It was big enough to swim in (well 3 strokes) so I played in there for a bit. After the last scrubbing, we got our lotions and went to a big bench and lotioned, brushed our hair and put on make-up. Then we dressed, dumped our uniforms and towels into big laundry bins and went to the outer locker room to get shoes.

It had started raining while we were inside and neither of us had umbrellas. So we ran across the street to a kimbap place for a quick lunch before we both headed to work. I'm so glad that I went. I will most likely go again, although I don't love it the way some people do. I also think I will still time it carefully and go with older ladies/no people. Going during busier times would make me more self-conscious where today, while I wasn't proud of my body, I also didn't feel ashamed. And for me, that's a step in the right direction.