Go Morocco Forums

Abdel

A hammam (a type of steam bath) is a fun and relaxing experience, although it does have its own (sometimes unwritten) rules of etiquette.



Before your Hammam

Men and Women take their Hammam separately. They will either be in different rooms, or available for different times of the day.

You should take normal bathing items with you: soap, shampoo, razor, brush, scrubbing mitt and towel. Put them in a bag that you will hand over at the counter.

You will need dark underwear while in the Hammam, and a dry pair to change into afterwards.

The public hammams cost about 5 dirhams for entrance, and you should also tip a few dirhams to the person who looks after your bag (About Moroccan currency).

Once in the Hammam you will collect hot and cold water in buckets (which are available at the Hammam, or you can take your own in case they are in short supply). You can then mix the buckets for temperature and pour them over yourself as you wash. A water scoop (a bowl) is helpful for this.
Hammam procedure

Pay your entrance fee, you will be given a ticket.

Find a space in the dressing area for yourself and undress down to your underpants. Remove your equipment from your bag, except for the towel, and replace with your clothing. Hand the bag to the counter staff with your ticket and a tip. The staff will remember you and return the bag after the hammam.

If you didn't bring your own buckets, take a few from the pile. It is normal to wash them out well when you reach the hot water.

Inside the Hammam find a space against the wall, the temperature will vary in the rooms depending on how far you are from the hot water; the area around the hot water can get crowded. The floors are sloped to drain the water so stay uphill in a well drained area.

Keep your space by setting your belongings out around you, take your buckets to the water tanks and scoop up hot water into one, and cold into the other, return back to your area.
In the Hammam

Exactly how you enjoy your time in the Hammam is your personal preference, the basic technique includes

1. Rinse with clear hot water
2. Wait while the heat softens your skin and you sweat.
3. Using the rough mitt scrub away the dead skin using hard pressure. No soap is required, and do not rinse until the skin is coming off. If you are alone, you can ask someone to scrub your back, but do ask them to not rub too hard (say 'shuya') if you are not used to it.
4. Once you have scrubbed, wash with the soap.
5. Wash your hair and, if required, shave
6. Rinse again

An employee of the Hammam may offer to scrub you, in return for a few dirhams. Be aware that this may be more 'extreme' than you are used to, particularly for the men.
After the Hammam

Empty your buckets and return to the dressing room and collect your clothing. Dry off and get dressed - it is appropriate to cover yourself with your towel while changing your underwear.

Abdel

Its funny how I got to understand that the majority of tourists that travel to Morocco wish to go inside traditional Hammams, but somehow, they are afraid and end up skipping that part. So here I want to demystify the whole sense of Hammam being a dangerous thing to do. Hammam is basically a house, where you will clean yourself with steam and black soap rub.

In Marrakesh the common price for a quality hammam is around 5 euros while if you want the real thing with proper conditions and professional diploma staff you have to expect to pay around 30 to 50 euros, but i have to say this is worth every single euro you pay. Why, well, its hard to tell cos I don’t even like it that much, but my reasons are due to the steam I just can’t handle. I don’t like steamed rooms like hammams or sauna or even Russian bania.

Somehow people love it and enjoy it very much. I guess that if I could actually handle the hot steam without getting itches all over my body, I would like it too.

So, if you wish to know the process of how you should act inside a hammam, or what exactly you have to do while inside, here a small article from a Hammam in Marrakesh that explains step by step what happens:

“A Morning at the Hammam”, taken from Dar Tamara Hammam in Marrakech Website :

hammam hamam marrakech

In the Hammam

You benefit from the steam bath

Scented soft black soap

Traditional body peeling

After …

Chosen service (ghassoul, henné..)

At last …

A relieving head to toe massage.

All the area of the Hammam is a private zone and you profit from our private ambiance. The decorated fountain and the chill-out room will leave you to rest and dream about life, to read or to share the secrets of Moroccan women with you hostess.

If you wish to know a bit more check out the website:

Hammam Marrakech, Massage Marrakech, Bains Orientaux Marrakech Maroc

This is another very good article I found about Hammam, taken from Wikipedia:

The Turkish hammam (also Turkish bath or hamam) is the Middle Eastern variant of a steam bath, which can be categorized as a wet relative of the sauna. They had played an important role in cultures of the Middle-East, serving as places of social gathering, ritual cleansing and as architectural structures, institutions, and (later) elements with special customs attached to them. Europeans learned about the Hammam via contacts with Turkey hence the European name for it: “Turkish” hammam.

In Western Europe, the Turkish bath as a method of cleansing the body and relaxation was particularly popular during the Victorian era. The process involved in taking a Turkish bath is similar to that of a sauna, but is more closely related to the bathing practices of the Romans.

Taking a Turkish bath firstly involves relaxing in a room (known as the warm room) that is heated by a continuous flow of hot dry air allowing the bather to perspire freely. Bathers may then move to an ever hotter room (known as the hot room) before plunging themselves into a cold pool. After performing a full body wash and receiving a massage, bathers finally retire to the cooling-room for a period of relaxation.

In Turkey, the advent of modern plumbing systems, showers, and bathtubs in homes caused the importance of hammams to fade in recent times.

The word “hammam” simply means “bathroom” or “toilet” in many dialects of vernacular Arabic.

I took this article about Hammam from:

Turkish bath - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

lahcenrizani

I agree with you Abdel. Public hammam as it is known here in Morocco or turkich bath as commonly known is an experience that shouldn't anyone visiting Morocco miss,coz it's a wonderful place to have a shower. it may seem strange and scaring for foreign poeple but i beleive that anyone goes there once will go again and again. let's take as an example Moroccan people living in othere countries, the first thing that they do once they visit Morocco is going to a hammam

Abdel

I love it, a hot Hammam then when you relax after, it feels so good especially if you do it the traditional way, you take your time after and snack on fresh oranges!

__________________
cuisine marocaine