What to take

• A towel
• A spare pair of underpants. You need one pair to wear in the hammam & a dry pair to put on afterwards. Please note that it is preferable that these are dark-coloured to guard against stains
• Warm clothes to put on when you leave
• Soap & shampoo if you wish, but the Moroccan alternatives are worth experiencing (see below)
• Ideally a mitt for exfoliation of dead skin- we can provide these for a small charge.

   

What to expect

Our own private hammam is the more environmentally friendly option because it’s heated largely by solar but if it’s colder weather we may need to use our gas back-up system. It takes a while to heat up so please give us plenty of warning. It seats 8 people comfortably.

The public hammam  Usually pretty busy with women of all ages and their children. It is a 10 minute walk to the hammam. One of our staff will walk you there.

The process You’ll be squeaky clean than after this! 

The basic tools are buckets of hot/warm/cool water, a scoop to pour water on yourself, soft soap (made from olive oil), rhassoul mud (excellent for removing dirt & grease from the skin & hair, a product unique to Morocco used in many spas worldwide these days), a scourer for the feet and a mitt used to remove dead skin from all other parts of the body.

It is also very much a social experience, particularly for women, for whom it is a rare escape from household chores.

Please take care! The floor may be slippery from the soap & rhassoul mud.

Optional extras

You can either pay for these or take them as part of your cultural experiences;-

• Henna-ing your hair Henna powder, made from the leaves of a locally grown shrub, is a wonderful conditioner for the hair (& skin). It also colours the hair, but this can be very subtle if less lemon juice is added & if the paste is not left on for long.
• Massage We recommend our masseuse rather than a hammam massage because it is not the sort we are used to – it’s quite strenuous & you will be lying on a thin mat on a hard floor. Most of you are likely to prefer a massage on a massage table in the comfort of our massage room at the Ecolodge.