How to Do Hammam at Home?

A hammam spa day does more than just cleanse your body, it creates an atmosphere of tranquillity that can enhance your physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. To help you achieve nirvana, we’ve put together tips and recommendations so you can have your very own hammam spa day at home!

What Is Hammam? 

First of all, there are two types of hammam styles, Moroccan and Turkish hammam. Both of these hammam styles follow similar rituals that have deep roots in ancient bathing traditions. Both involve sweating, deep cleansing, scrubbing, and massage to stimulate the immune system, renew the skin, and invigorate the senses. These classic and fundamental hammam elements are widely acknowledged to support wellness and self-care goals.

Why Have Hammam At Home? 

A wonderful reason to have a hammam spa at home is for self-care. There can be a lot of stress in a daily routine; work concerns, family drama, relationship problems… The number one thing you can do to alleviate day-to-day tension is to take time for self-care. A regular self-care practice generates positive feelings, which help to alleviate anxiety, depression, and stress; it helps you to maintain a healthy relationship with yourself, so you can pass on those good feelings to others in your life.

Here are several examples of self-care almost anyone can follow at home:

• Take a break from social media
• Eat healthy foods
• Exercise 
• Practice mindfulness
• Write a list of things you are grateful for  
• Have a spa day at home 

Hammam Health & Wellness Benefits

The great thing about having a hammam spa experience at home is you can customise it to address specific skincare concerns. For instance, hammam treatments are excellent for skin exfoliation, making it smoother and younger looking. Steaming is also great for deep cleansing and detoxifying the skin, which can help clear up acne, as well as improve skin quality due to increased blood circulation. Here are several other mind and body benefits you can experience with a hammam at home. 

• Glowing skin 
• Better skin hydration 
• Clear complexion
• Reduce stress and anxiety 
• Boost immunity 
• Improve sleep 

Here’s our full list of hammam spa treatment benefits to get you motivated!  

Ways You Can Have Hammam At Home

Now that you’re inspired to try hammam, we’re going to get you on your way to creating your own self-care spa day at home. There are about four to five fundamental hammam elements you should aim to recreate; they involve steam and heat, scrubbing and exfoliation, skin washing, face or body mask, and lastly, massage and moisturising. 

Hammam Heat 

Steam and heat is integral to the hammam experience. At home you can recreate the Turkish and Moroccan hammam environment in your bathroom. Begin with running hot water in the shower or bathtub with the door shut to trap steam in the room. Wrap yourself in a towel and get comfortable on the tub edge or on a stool for about ten to twenty minutes, and let the heat and steam relax you as it opens up your skin’s pores.

Turkish hammam spa treatments most always start with steam, as it prepares the skin for deep cleansing and exfoliation. It also relaxes the body and mind. This is an ideal time to reflect and meditate on the good things in your life; make a list of things you are grateful for in your head while taking deep breaths of steam. When you are done, shower or hose down your body with warm water to rinse away any sweat and toxins released from the body. 

Hammam Style Skin Scrubbing

Both Moroccan and Turkish hammams are well known for the vigorous scrubs their spa attendants give. As you are at home, you will need to scrub yourself (or enlist a partner to help you out with the hard to reach bits!). The steam will facilitate opening the pores and softening old surface skin ready to come off — at this stage using a special exfoliating glove or mitt is required.

For the most authentic at home experience you may want to have some traditional hammam treatment tools on hand. For example, during the scrubbing stage of a hammam spa treatment, special skin exfoliating mitts are used called kese and kassa. Kese is made from natural fibres, and kassa is often made of durable polyester or manmade materials.

You can Google where to buy these types of mitts in your neighbourhood (they are a good investment as they can be reused), or order them online. Many drugstores carry scrubbing mitts or gloves, so those will also do in a pinch. If you can’t find an exfoliating glove you can substitute a body scrub with skin-safe abrasive ingredients, like sugar or salt. Using a wet mitt or glove (and additional water if necessary), scrub your body from head to toe, then rinse your body again with warm water.   

Turkish Bubbles, Moroccan Masks

At this stage in your at home hammam experience, you will want to clean and purify your skin, as exfoliating the skin brings to the surface grim that has been clogging your pores along with dead skin cells. You have a couple of options here: you can try to recreate a Turkish bubble wash, or apply a Moroccan body mask. 

In a Turkish hammam treatment a light foamy bubble wash called köpük is typically used to cleanse the body. As you are at home, you can use a foaming shower wash or have a bubble bath to recreate this part of the treatment. The aim is the same, to wash and cleanse the skin. 

For purifying the body, Moroccan hammams typically use thick black soap called savon beldi. Another distinctive Moroccan spa treatment is the application of rhassoul clay all over the body. The natural mineral clay originates from Morocco’s Atlas Mountains. Like savon beldi, rhassoul clay further exfoliates and purifies the skin. You can probably order these two items online, or find them in a specialty shop. However, you can improvise and just use your favourite body soap. You should be able to find a few different types of body or clay masks at a beauty supply store if so inclined. The main thing at this stage is to wash away exfoliated skin.  

It’s helpful to know all the specific items and products used during a hammam treatment — we’ve got that covered here. 

Time To Unwind: Massage & Moisturise 

This last stage of your home hammam treatment involves relaxing your muscles, moisturising, hydration and rest. Recreating the massage part of the hammam experience might prove a little challenging (it helps if your significant other is around to help with that!), but there are ways to modify it. The goal is to relax your muscles, so some gentle stretches can help, or yoga moves like child’s pose and savasana. You’ll want to use your favourite body moisturiser or skin oil to keep that fresh layer of skin soft and supple. Now is also the time to wrap up in your robe or most cosy blanket, and sip some herbal tea or homemade cucumber water to rehydrate. 

That’s it! You did it! Your first (and not your last) hammam at home experience. After hammam, your skin will feel extra clean and soft, your mind will be at ease, and you’ll feel refreshed and happy. 

Experience Moroccan and Turkish Hammam at Este Spa & Hammam in Birmingham

Este Medical Group to open the biggest and most luxurious hammam spa in Birmingham, UK. We invite you to experience the real thing at our new hammam spa when we open!  

More Este Spa & Hammam traditional luxury spa updates coming soon.