Part 1: Anyone for a naked sauna?

1998: I am British and I don’t do naked.

My first experience of a German sauna was in 1998 while on a group skiing trip in the alps. I went along with my fellow British friend in our swimsuits. Clutching our towels, we opened the sauna door and walked in. “Keine Badeanzüge in der Sauna – Textilfrei,” (no bathing suits – textile-free) came a voice from within. Of course we had heard that German saunas are naked, but I suppose we still had a vague British hope that we would be able to “choose” whether we went in naked or not.  No, it was strip off or get lost. We giggled, turned red (and not from the heat of the sauna) and made a run for it. At that point in time the thought of being squeezed into a small hot room of nudity with the rest of my ski class including my ski instructor was too much to bear. The trick is not to look, my German friend said. Nobody looks. Yeah right. How could I possibly look my ski instructor in the eyes with a straight face on the ski slopes the following day after that? A German sauna is all about health and relaxation, my friend said. It’s not sexy (no, definitely not); there are all kinds of body shapes and sizes, male and female in the sauna. It’s just bodies at the end of the day; naked bodies = normal. I was not convinced. It took me years to pluck up the courage to go again. And this time not in the alps and not with my skiing class, but with my boyfriend in a sauna far from home and full of people we had never met before and would, hopefully, never meet again.

2012: I am a German sauna convert – a veteran to the whole experience.

Well, almost.

I go to my mum’s spa club in Scotland and laugh almost condescendingly at those who go to the sauna and steam rooms in their bathing suits and don’t shower down the surface they were sitting on afterwards – how unhygienic! Do they not know that it is unhealthy to block the skin? The idea is to allow the toxins and sweat to release from your body. Put a bathing suit on and all you do is overheat.

However, I say almost, because I do still draw the line at a sauna experience with my in-laws, friends and in particular, work colleagues. Yes – at my company, we have two sauna rooms and whereas usually the sessions are mixed, you can sign up for a female or male only session. Sign up? Yes. There is an intranet page where you can actually reserve your place in the sauna and declare your intention of going to the sauna on a particular day at a particular time to anyone in the company who cares to look. Why on earth would you risk meeting someone you work with directly or worse still, your boss, in the sauna? I’ve even heard of colleagues going on team building trips and then spending the evening in the sauna together. The mere thought horrifies me.

How should one sauna? Obviously this is up to you; but it is said that in order to maximize the benefits, you should stay in the sauna for 12-15 minutes a session. You can then take a cold shower, relax on a lounger and then repeat the process as you please. There are of course also certain rules that should be obeyed to avoid the scorn of the sauna-ing Germans. For example, be sure to enter or leave the sauna quickly and not to leave the door open for long. Put your towel down on the wood and do not allow your skin to touch it – not even your feet (skin oils are bad for the wood apparently). Also, try to avoid entering a sauna during an “Aufguss” – infusion – these are scented oils in buckets of water that are poured over the coals giving extra heat to the sauna.

So, do as the Germans do and leave your modesty (and all of your clothes) behind in the changing rooms. Once you get used to it, you will never look back. There is nothing better than a naked German sauna – particularly during a cold, German winter.