Let's compare bathing practices.

But why do people bathe? To rid our body of dirt and pollutants, you may say. Right. However, it also serves other functions. For example, to celebrate, such as when people run through fountains following the winning of some game. We also do it as a form of socializing. Think of children at a pool. They have a blast playing in the water, but they also engage in social interactions with other children and adults. It is also part of ceremonial rites in many cultures - Baptism, for instance.

However, our focus here is on bathing as a form of therapy, the type aimed at helping our battered physical body, psyche and and soul.

Bathing emporiums became quite fashionable as early as the third century, and although the Greeks and the Romans discovered the benefits of this activity around the same time, each civilization had its own approach to it.

For example, the Greeks believed that only women should soak their entire body in water, and that men should do so only after a day's work or before conducting business. The Romans believed that bathing kept them healthy, and they are credited with being the first people to use different colored plasters to treat specific ailments.

Bathing lost its popularity in the late XVI century. Would you believe that dirt was thought to protect from germs?! And that body odor was a turn-on?! To cover up especially nasty odors, people used perfumes, powders, or resorted to snuff to clear the nostrils! But let's move on to more agreeable material, shall we?

Well, before continuing, thought I'd share this bit with you... Do you know that the term "B.O." (standing for "bad odor" or "body odor") was first coined by the Lever Brothers in the 1890s? It was part of a marketing plan for their new soap creation, the Lifebuoy soap, which was sold as an antiseptic product.

Steam or sweat baths are common in many countries (who has never heard of the Finnish saunas?), and they all share similar attributes. The Russians call it "banya"; in Turkey it is "hamam" (also spelled "hammam"); in North America we have the Native "sweat lodge". Whatever you choose to call it, sweat bath proponents cite a host of benefits, including mental alertness, increased body cells oxygenation, improved blood circulation, etc. The Russian "banya" is a steam bath similar to the Finnish sauna. It is not as hot as Finland's saunas, but the banya's lower temperature is compensated by pouring additional water over the hot stones, causing an increase in humidity and steam.

In the "parilka" (steam room) there are benches, a birchwood-filled stove to generate heat; beside the stove sits a pail of water, which is periodically poured over the hot stones. Most Russian banyas are composed of three rooms. There is the entrance room where you hang your clothes on pegs; the washing room, equipped with both cold and very hot water; and the actual steam chamber. Additional items available in the steam room include felt hats to protect the hair, and thick pads for you to sit on. It wouldn't be very comfortable to expose your buttocks to that hot, dry wood bench!

Following the first sweat, the bathers usually cool off outdoors, or go for a dip in the lake or river. They then return to the banya for another sweat (my mother says, "For another round of turture!"). The process of going from the steam to the cool dip in the lake or breezy outdoors is repeated five or six times.

The Turkish bath is called "hamam", and it's a variation of the steam bath. This type of bath was especially popular in Victorian times.

The hamam experience involves: (1) relaxing in the warm room. The warm room is heated by a constant flow of hot, dry air which allows bathers to perspire. (2) Moving to a warmer room, called "the hot room"; here the bather splashes the body with cold water. (3) Undergoing a full-body wash and massage. (4) Retiring to a cooling room for some relaxation.

Japan has many variations of the bath. If you engage in the Japanese style of bathing, remember that the bath is not the place where you scrub and clean your body. You should rinse yourself first in the shower. Then you enter the bath proper which contains a collection of bath salts. No soap or bubbles involved here! Soak in this bath for approxiamtely fifteen minutes, then proceed to the cleansing stage by getting out of the tub and into the shower. Once you're well scrubbed, go back to the tub, and soak there for another fifteen minutes or so. Finish the entire process with a cold shower.

The holiday to celebrate the end of monsoon season in the Bhutan region is called "Blessed Rainy Day". It is on this day that all natural waters in the country are considered sanctifying. People are urged to take a bath in these waters for the purpose of cleaning themselves of defilements and bad deeds. Schools, institutions, and government offices are closed on Blessed Rainy Day.

As you can see, many cultures around the world take bathing quite seriously. But in North America we tend to prefer showers. Why? Most people are quick point out that showers take less time than baths (what's your hurry?). They also claim that showers are a cleaner way to rid the body of dirt.

Well, if you have a particularly "dirty" profession, then by all means step into the shower, but don't scrub till your skin is raw.

Did you spend time rolling in dirt? To the shower, please. Again, don't strip your skin of its outer layers! And remember that... Showers are much harsher than baths.

While in the shower, we tend to rub too vigorously, robbing the skin of its natural oils.

Ideally,a bath should follow a quick shower. This quick shower will rid your skin of excess dirt, but do give the bath a chance! Unlike the bath, a shower is not therapeutic.

We view the cleansing process as another daily chore that needs to be checked off our list, something that must be accomplished quickly!

Unfortunately, many of us view taking the bath as a time luxury. We invest a ton of money remodeling our bathrooms, contributing to this multi-million dollar industry. We love to see luxurious baths. And yet we feel we cannot enjoy that luxury? What's the point?

We really need to change our perspective. We're doing ourselves a disservice

There must be quite a few things that a hot bath won't cure, but I don't know many of them.

(Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar).


Bathing or showering?