Hammam rituals

                                          


    Called also the Maurs bath or Turkish bath , Hammam is a ritual coming from the greco-romano era. However, it became an Arabo-muslim practice since  the arrival of the andalous and ottomans to  Morocco.

 
       This is a 14 th century Hammam in South Spain, Andalousia (Ronda).

  Islam is very keen on body hygiene, so back in the times when a visitor arrives , tree thing were by the entrance door of the city /village that are important to the  visitor comfort, accommodation, hammam and a mosque.

  The guest will begin with bathing, a protocol to protect the hosts from  germs picked along traveling, in the meanwhile to prepare for a prayer,  followed by food and accommodation to rest.

  Hammam is  3  rooms   from low temperature to the highest all the way inside , causing steams
wich is good for sweating.

   
  Now, we have Hammam in every neighborhood as it became more of a social gathering . Mine is behind my house walking distance,  i would invite my girlfriends for pajama party at my place afterwords :)

  It' s a quality time moment with myself an other, while busy washing/ scrubbing, i would be thinking of next article to present to you or next travel destination i would love to go to, when i go with mother, she would scrub my back and give me some advice on how to grow my hear faster , when with my BFF s, we girl talk obviously ;)

  Traditional Hammam rituals are divided to 4 parts: 

Phase 1: Go to the hot room for max 20 min to moisturize the skin with the steam, sweating is good for you as it activate the lymph system and kick out the unwanted cells. Apply black soap all over the body let it on for 10 min, apply moisturizing hear masque if you have dry hear, wash  the black soap and begin scrubbing the skin, this operation is repeated as much as dead skin still coming out.  You will keep the hear masque on till phase 2 and don' t forget to scrub the face  only with hands because of sensitivity of the facial skin. 

                                          

Phase 2:  shampoo time, make sure the hear is well cleaned from the mask. You might apply a nourishing hear and face masque , clean extra grease all over the body with natural soap and  feet scrubbing to obtain a baby foot sensation. 

                                                   

                                                  

Phase 3:  After washing the extra grease from the body, you may either cover all the body  with a clay called Guassoul ( photo bellow) and rest a little then wash with water mixed with hydrolats/infused plants, or skip the clay if no time and just make sure every part of the body is well washed.
                                                    

                                                   

  

  Phase4:Roll yourself in towel, dry out and apply a moisturizer cream to each part of the body to keep  soft the rest of the week. 

  These rituals take around 2 h  and half in total.

   If you come from a country where hamams don' t exist you can set one in your bathroom, make sure it is very warm and steamy with some technics, such as closing any air leak, filling the bath with very hot water, if you have a portable heater that could help too, make sure it is far from water thought......

   I will be providing extra tips for each phase to enjoy more of it, i like to take my time during this rituals and explore nature's gifts to my body and mind, some might be  impatient but i really advice to take it easy, relax and live the present moment, you are practicing self love at that point; so you will be rewarded.

   I am also going to share recipes of different kind of homemade  masques and  i will dedicate an article about the virtues of each ingredient i am using.

   If you need a Hammam set for your home containing all the basics like black soap, body and feet scrubbers, natural soap with natural ingredients, some hydrolats and more , u can contact me by email on the top page right and i will be happy to arrange a personal set for you.