The Hamam // الحمام

Oh, do I have a story for you. 

Today, I went to the infamous hamam. They told us about it during orientation, and it was definitely a memorable experience. 

The Hamam was created back in the times when people didn't have showers in their homes. They would go to the hamam with their friends and get clean for the week. It's a public bath house. 

Hamams are still open to this day. Some are private, like a spa. Some are more traditional, and public. I went to the latter. I'm glad I did, because I feel like this allowed me to have the full hamam experience. 

During orientation, they told us that most Moroccans go to the hamam once a week. They told us it was a sauna where you don't wear anything and strangers scrub the dead skin off of you. Yes, that is exactly what it is. 

My host mom and host sister don't like the hamam, so I went with some of the other American girls and one of their host moms. We all went in, but kept our bottoms on. I knew going in that those bottoms we're going to get destroyed. I was right. 

So we got to the hamam. It's only women. Only women employees and customers, for obvious reasons. The waiting area looks like a large, communal bathroom. We all thought that was the hamam. Nope, but that's where you strip. So you leave your clothes, money, and whatever in the waiting room, you can get a cubby, but we had someone wait with our stuff. 

Once you enter the actual hamam, the heat hits you right away. The hamam is built as a series of three tiled open rooms. They're probably like saunas, but I've never been in one so I don't know how accurate the description is. The rooms are bare, no benches, chairs or anything. We went to the second room. The heat rises through all three rooms. 

The employees helped the host mother lay out mats and seats for us. I sat on a mat and try my best to feel at ease. There was one lady to "wash" each of us. 

So I sat on one of the mats and out of nowhere, with no preparation, the lady started rubbing me with henna. When I was in the spice shop in Fes, the salesman told us the uses for henna, but I forgot them. It's good for your skin. I think it's the same as the henna that you use for temporary tattoos, but I'm not positive. It's probably just similar. 

After rubbing henna all over, and I mean all over, the lady started scooping water from a bucket to rinse it off. The henna was everywhere, including my face, and I was just being splashed with water. When they started to reach the bottom of the bucket, they just dump the rest on you and get more. 

At this point, it was still a little weird. I didn't know what was happening, strangers were touching me, and the henna did not smell good, but I was fine. I was distracted from the discomfort by the absurdity of it all. Here I was, a 17-year-old girl getting washed like a baby. 

After the henna, they use an exfoliating glove (one you provide) to get all the dead skin off your body. It sounds painful, but you're sweating so much, your skin is soft and it actually feels really good. The lady positioned me on my back, on my side, on my stomach, etc to get me where she needed me. 

For whatever reason, I was under the impression they just scrubbed your arms and legs, but they scrub everywhere. You'd think the fact I was wearing underwear would stop them, but it did not. The scrubbing actually felt amazing, especially on my back. It wasn't weird like I thought it would be. 

After that, they rinsed me with the same process as before (straight up dumping water on me). Then they washed my hair with shampoo and my body with soap. After a couple more rinses, I was good. Thirsty, but good. 

It was basically a long shower in which I had to do nothing. I expected it to be weird, it was at first, but then I got over it. Yes, I was surrounded by topless strangers, but it really didn't matter. 

I'm very lucky to have had the experience. It was really cheap. Anything spa related in America is expensive, but this whole thing was $13. My skin is smooth, and I feel like a new person. 

Going to the hamam made me grateful to have other Americans to experience this with. I know a lot of people who would be weird about it, but we were all along for the ride. 

I also realized how normal the human body is. We all spend so much time and money trying to make everything look a certain way, but we all have bodies and they're all different but beautiful. Life is only as weird as you make it. 

I loved the hamam. I don't know why so many people hate it. It's amazing and I would definitely do it again. I might do it again. 

I don't have any pictures, for obvious reasons. I hope you enjoyed this. I know I did. 

Learn something today. 

Corie.