We live in a time of rushing. We rush through our meals. Rush to work. Rush to pick up the kids, but we never rush to the bathroom to have a soak and slow down. Our society worships speed and multitasking to the point we do it everywhere out of habit.
I witnessed men eating breakfast while they shave and women driving and applying make up while stuck in traffic, wincing while the mascara brush gets close to their eyes. Everyone’s always busy. The typical shower suffices while baths are reserved for spa days or romantic interludes.
This makes me a sad panda. Baths are wonderful and should be a ritual as much as possible.
I want to talk about the hard knock school of Eastern Asian bath circuits [especially Japanese Bath Houses (銭湯) and Korean Bath Houses (찜질방)], an inexpensive and delightful way to keep one youthful looking and feeling. Man, I love my soak time!
I always wondered why Japanese and Korean women always looked so young even when they hit their 40s’ and 50s’. True, some of it is genetic, but most of it is their religious rituals of communal baths, sauna/steam rotation, contrast hydrotherapy, massage and body scrubs. If you ever seen gloves like these, you know what I’m talking about.
My first experience, and eternal love affair, with the Jjimjilbang result from curiosity in 2006 in Los Angeles. I lived near the famous Olympic Spa and was always curious. I mean, it was a non- descript building that always had a line of vibrant, smooth old ladies at 8 am in the morning. They were always equipped with their towels flung professionally over their shoulders, bags heavy with toiletries and changes of clothes, but their demeanor is what got me the most.
They were the happiest people Iever saw in Los Angeles, and when I say happy I mean it. They were calm and relaxed and I wanted in on that. So one glorious payday, I took the day off, haphazardly threw in what I thought I needed in my duffle and moseyed up the block and proceeded to be terrified as soon as I stepped into the locker room. Naked. Naked everywhere. Despite my fear, Olympic, along with countless others, gave me a reality check about the importance of a good spa day as well as the sacredness of bath time, and the stupidity of being afraid to be nude.
A Whole Nude You
Most Westerners are turned off by Eastern communal bath houses before it’s full, front nudity. No bathing suits. No subtext. Just your gorgeous assets and a towel. This causes freakout and understandably so. People, especially women, are bombarded with images of thin models, fitness models and high powered celebrities sprinkled liberally with Photoshop fairy dust. Marketing makes sure we feel bad. Why would you buy their creams, glazes and potions if you were secure in your beauty and body? Well, the Korean bath house, or Japanese one if you can find them, cures you of that.
I remember going in my first time. I was insecure of my big hips and booty in comparison to the tiny, giggly Korean teenagers running around. I nervously sat in a warm pool and was debating on leaving when a beautiful Korean woman shimmied near me and smiled. She asked if I was new and then broke down the regulars around me. And believe me, the entire spa was damn near full of regulars, white, black latina and Asian.
She pointed to the women who had scars from hysterectomy, cancer survivors missing one, or both breasts, women who had lost massive amounts of weight and, while looking good in their clothes, had layers and layers of sagging skin. She then looked expectantly towards the door and pointed to an exotic dancer who just arrived.
Now we’re talking about Jenna Jameson level beauty, boobs and body. When she took off her towel, her body was a an atlas of scars, divots and pock marks from years of plastic surgery and sickly purple bruises from the nightly pole dancing routines. She was a double psychology major who proudly decided NOT to work in her field due to the politics, and lack of freedom, to her schedule. These were women the magazines casually forgot. These were the faces of reality and it was beautiful, unique and approachable.
The Fountain of Youth is a Scrub Away
Before my bath house experience, I remember going to Sephore like stores and asked by staff what I used on my skin. I’m not a make up person, so when I told them water and St. Ive’s Apricot scrub, I was immediately scolded. ‘The walnut shells are too harsh and will give you micro scars! You should use mico beads since they take the skin but don’t damage the pores!’ I took their advice and tried some of the microbead cleanser recommended. Not to name names, but they were effective garbage. My face always felt like it had a thin layer of shimmering gunk on it.
Then I was introduced to the body scrub and my eyes opened forever. The body scrub is simple, effective and I won’t lie, painful to those new to it. You are asked to soak for 20 to 30 minutes in a warm or hot whirlpool tub. After, a very strong woman will lie you down on a water proof massage tables, dump warm water on you, soap up one, or two, brillo like red gloves and start scrubbing you head to toe. Then you see it; little ropes of black stuff all over your body. You are mortified. You feel it between your toes, your fingers, the crooks of your elbows and even your face. Koreans call it ‘때’ (tdae/ ‘thdeh’). It is all the dead skin, dirt and oils that your soap, towel and weak sauce loofah misses. It’s horrible and it drives you crazy to think despite all the showers, the absolute cleanliness you put your self through every day is not enough. My first scrub was a nightmare; I felt like Swamp Thing’s second cousin.
Then the water is splashed on you again, and your Maiden of Scrubbery directs you to shower that garbage off and sit in the dry sauna or steam room to open your pores. Now, one may think that this rigorous exercise would be detrimental to your skin, but actually this is one of the secrets that keep our Asian sisters so beautiful and youthful looking.
- Remove the layer of dirt and oil that clogs pores causes wrinkles, acne, etc
- Bring circulation to the skin, giving it a youthful glow
- Open your pores, allowing sweat to naturally clean clogged gunk
- Keep you baby soft for weeks, if not a month.
Am I a dermatologist? Nope, but I am 35. Body scrubs are amazing.
I’m Coo-Coo for Contrast Therapy
So you’ve soaked, you’ve scrubbed and you’ve sweat. Now what? What could possibly be any better?
Contrast Hydrotherapy, baby. Hyped up by Tim Ferris and leagues of annoying Crossfitters, contrast therapy is back in style with new, sexy digs. This practice is as old as time, dating back to Egypt, Persia and Greece as well as Asia. It’s fairly simple: Immerse one self in very warm water for a few minutes then dunk in very cold water for a few seconds. Repeat. If you ever go to your local gym’s swimming pool and seeing the older folks dunking in and out of the lap pool and hot tub, this is exactly what they are doing. A lot of the older timers poo-poo at fitness fanatics using contrast therapy, but I think it’s cool that younger people have it on their radar.
Contrast Hydrotherapy is amazing for your body. It heals muscle tissue and helps arthritis, it improves circulation, it gives you a boost no energy drink can give and it gives your skin and ruddy youthfulness due to the increased blood flow forced through the body. The women in the bath houses do this all the time and they are as youthful as their daughters and grand daughters. Contrast therapy is the icing on the cake after a relaxing day of spaing. If you want to try it at home, finish off your hot shower with a 5 second cold one; build up your cold ‘after shower’ time to 30 seconds on the daily. You’ll thank me for it.
So How Do I Start?
So you’re not ready for nudie-ness yet. That’s cool. Eastern spas take a lot of people out of their comfort zone and a little bit of ramp time might be needed. If you’d like a quasi experience at home, or just want a better exfoliating experience, try the exfoliating bath line from Supracor. They are hypo allergenic, light weight and last an amazingly long time. You can purchase them through Amazon. Also, I stay away from microbead products. Not only are they needlessly expensive, they are of the devil.
So Where Do I Go?
Oh man, you’re ready to take the leap? That’s awesome. Before you do, I’d like to stress something important: Korean Bath houses are one of the most effective and inexpensive weapons you could have in your well being arsenal. A typical 3 hour session, including facial and massage will run you 110 – 150 bucks depending on where you go. In contrast, if you want to have unlimited soak time without all the bells and whistles, that can range between 10 – 20 bucks for the WHOLE DAY. If you become a spa rat like me, you can even purchase discounted plans for a lower price. Compare that to your typical mani/pedi facial price and see the difference. Despite being women driven, some spas are co-ed, so men can get the flavor of luxury as well! If they don’t dig the soak and scrub routine, there are usually trained sport masseuses around.
Here are a few of the place I’ve visited and personally enjoyed between Los Angeles and Seattle proper:
Los Angeles: Seattle:
Daengki Spa Bella Luna Spa & Sauna
[Coed!] 17420 Hwy 99
4245 W 3rd St Lynnwood, WA 98037
Los Angeles, CA 90020
Hankook Sauna & Spa Olympus Spa
3121 W Olympic Blvd 3815 196th St SW
Los Angeles, CA 90006 Ste 160
Koreatown Lynnwood, WA 98036
Wi Spa [Coed!]
2700 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90057
Westlake
Wilshire Spa
3442 Wilshire Blvd
Ste 100
Los Angeles, CA 90010
Koreatown, Wilshire Center
Olympic Spa
3915 W Olympic Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90019
Koreatown
