Assuming you at any point visit Morocco (or Barcelona besides) partaking in a hammam is a fundamental traveler experience, yet for the rookie the words hammam, gommage and rhassoul could leave you confounded and apprehensive as you venture into the customary showers.
Be that as it may, in any event, for the accomplished guest, the tkissila, a mind boggling secret gymnastic back rub gave over through families and rehearsed in just a limited handful spots on the planet, takes the hammam experience to another level.
Here, I take you through the various phases of the customary experience, and uncover the mysteries of the tkissila for the more daring spa guests.
Hammam
I have been confounded by this depiction, as it is normally portrayed as a Turkish steam shower. Our inn in Barcelona for instance was portrayed as having a hammam, which was really a sauna and a steam room. Try not to misunderstand me, they were incredible, yet not what I anticipated.
In Morocco and Barcelona our hammam was a hot room, with a water source, so it was somewhere close to a sauna and a steam room. The hammam in Barcelona likewise had an extremely hot steam room, a dive pool, downpour showers and Arabian water bowls and sinks, with the goal that you could unwind and revive yourself.
In the Palais Rhoul in Marrakech you really lie on the floor to allow the warmth to ascend through the mat into your body.
Hammams are truly charming - particularly when it's cold outside - however you do need to make sure to drink heaps of water - most will give you jugs of water to take in on the off chance that you like - or bring your own.
Some hammams are blended, requiring swimwear, and others are single sex where you can go bare - yet consistently look from the beginning - some single sex ones actually require swimwear.
If all else fails ask precisely what the subtleties are - don't be humiliated, they all appear to be changed!
Customary Gommage
In a real sense a shedding (in French), in conventional hammams this implies that somebody will initially wash you, typically with savon noir (dark cleanser) - which is an excellent custom and afterward utilize a gommage or scouring glove to scour all the dead skin off your body.
At the point when we went to a hammam in Agadir, Morocco, we imagined that there would scarcely be any dry skin left - following 3 days on the sea shore. Additionally we were somewhat stressed by a portion of the tales from individuals who had attempted hammams somewhere else - so we requested a gommage doucement - a delicate cleaning.
She cleaned so hard it was really on the edge of being excruciating, which I thought somewhat pointless, until she scoured my lower arm and I saw rolls of dead skin sloughing off. It earned me out and I thought how grimy the Moroccans should think we are - they do this one time per week!
Albeit in certain spots you can keep on your two-piece and additionally paper pants, truly I say why? Following 2 minutes I didn't know whether she was cleaning my boobs or my back. Discussing which, it is awesome back peeling I have ever. I regularly get an irritated fix between my shoulder bones - she just cleaned it directly off - leaving it smooth and delicate.
For the following not many days I couldn't resist the urge to run my hands over my skin. Also, I kept scouring at home with a glove I purchased in Agadir - seeing the dead skin really falling off on the glove! Tragically it self-destructed - so I am currently keeping watch for a genuine gommage glove in the UK - however no karma up until this point!
I have heard that gommage isn't appropriate for individuals with touchy skin - however I have extremely delicate skin and I love it and feel it just does my skin great.
A customary gommage will leave your skin so smooth you will not have the option to quit stroking it.
Rhassoul
Rhassoul is a kind of restorative mud. What's more, a rhassoul treatment is essentially when, normally after a gommage, you are covered in rhassoul mud, left to "prepare" for some time in a hammam, and afterward washed down.
It very well may be somewhat hot, and in case it is your first time in a hammam I would really suggest you give this a miss - maybe move toward it, as a ton of medicines in one go can get dried out you - in the event that you haven't plastered sufficient water or essentially due to the detox impacts of the back rub.
I've partaken in the treatment yet haven't actually seen a very remarkable explicit impact - however it smells incredible.
Tkissila
Tkissila (additionally some of the time composed as Teksilla, Teskssila and Tkssila) is an antiquated type of Moroccan back rub, which I comprehend is presently just drilled by two siblings, relatives of a long queue of experts, in Marrakech.
A hybrid of a back rub and the sort of control you may get from a physiotherapist, the way that it is done on a warmed floor implies that muscles are now loose and it is a lot simpler.
I encountered this at the Palais Rhoul in Marrakech. At the point when you enter the genuine hammam, you will not discover extravagant, vivid mosaics or to be sure a steam room or warmed seats to sit on.
In the event that you choose to select only a back rub, as my sister did, then, at that point, you can go stripped, as the masseur is female, yet, on the off chance that you settle on the customary tkissila (articulated as in tuxedo - tuxila), then, at that point, kindly ensure you wear your swimsuit (and ensure it's a tough one!)
My masseur and his sibling are bosses of the specialty of Tkissila, relatives of a long queue of experts and this is one of just two spots I comprehend you can have this treatment (his sibling works nearby at the more costly spa).
So... first I was lead by the woman in control to a basic earthy colored cell and requested to sit on what resembled a yoga mat on the floor.
It probably won't be everybody's favorite thing in the world to have huge cans of warm water tossed over them, however gave you keep your mouth shut it's fairly similar to being in a pleasant warm cascade.
She snatched the dark cleanser with eucalyptus effectively soaped me up and left me lying on the floor.
I was somewhat baffled. No steam, no rich seat, no astounding mosaics, simply some unpretentious, cool lights. It didn't seem like the best spa on the planet. It took me some time to understand that the warmth in the room was really coming up through the floor and resting, my body was gradually beginning to unwind.
That is the point at which my masseur came in. Following a couple of long stretches of concealing from neck to lower leg I had been somewhat mindful of my exposed legs at lunch. Out of nowhere I was in a little earthy colored cell with a Moroccan man in only some washing shorts (and I was in my two-piece!) But it didn't really feel abnormal when he slipped on his Palais Rhoul gommage glove and began to scour me everywhere.
Not at all like my involvement with Agadir a couple of years prior this scouring wasn't harsh in any way, however I could see the rolls of dead skin sloughing off. As per my masseur, the modest gloves (around 20 dh - £1.50) I'd purchased in the market were futile, his sort of glove was greatly improved quality (around 50 dh - £4) and peeled all the dead, grimy skin without harming by any stretch of the imagination. (He gave me it toward the end as well.)
After the gommage, he got serious. It's entertaining, last year I saw a physio who had controlled my spine and there were minutes when, even completely dressed, I had an exceptionally off-kilter outlook on having my foot on a person's shoulder while he tested my sanity the other way. I really felt very alright with it this time around. In any event, when I was lying face down and he was pulling my hips noticeable all around. There were clicks, a touch of snugness, yet not much or even truly awkward, in spite of the fact that I figure I did at times take in or out in some unacceptable spots.
