- cross-posted to:
- map_enthusiasts@sopuli.xyz
For most mixed-gender public saunas in Finland though, bathing clothes are mandatory and nudity is prohibited. Also, nobody cares that much what you are wearing
and you can wear your swimsuit to a single gender sauna, too, if it makes you feel comfortable.This is quite opposite to Germany, where regular sauna goers might very well tell you that clothes are prohibited and that they “pose a hygiene problem”. I even heard people saying stuff like “This is a Finnish sauna, you don’t wear clothes here!” in a German mixed gender sauna. Well, the opposite is true for a mixed gender sauna in Finland 🤷🏼.
Edit: My experience is limited, so I guess I was wrong about wearing bathsuits to single-gender saunas. Thanks for pointing that out @kadotux@lemmings.world !
A swimsuit is quite common in Norway. Basically you ask yourself the question “am I going to make anyone uncomfortable”. If it’s single gender and people are not extremely shy, you generally go with only a towel, but nobody is really going to care. If you’re a gender mixed group of friends that don’t know each other that well, you might prefer putting on a swimsuit in order to make sure people feel comfortable and included.
From my experience the Swedes are the same.
This is based on private saunas with friends. In public mixed gender saunas I don’t think I’ve seen anyone go naked, but I’m sure certain Finnish tourists would and nobody would mind.
Can confirm the german part: In my gym there recently was an outrage because a Muslim member went to the Sauna with bathing clothes multiple times, which in the end resulted in his contract being terminated. Being naked in the sauna is almost the law here (but in the end nobody cares if you wear your towel or put it below you. Just remember: No sweat on wood!)
Jaa mitähän ihmettä? I’ve been to many public saunas in Finland and almost all of them, if not all, prohibit the use of swimsuit/-pants. At least the ones that are in public pools/swimming halls. And the reasoning being as you said, hygiene.
Edit: whoops my bad, you were talking about mixed gender Saunas. You might be correct after all
Hygiene and chlorine
In my experience, the U.K. doesn’t do nudity in saunas - or anywhere else.
My experience is that the UK is about as prudish as the USA.
Feel free to scrape your sagging scrotum along the floor, or hell bend over at the worst possible moment and show us all your grey squirrel roadkill anus, but for the love of the gods please put a towel down before you go sit on stuff.
People who don’t put a towel down should be shot.
Agreed. I don’t need the sweat infused into the wood and me sitting on top.
There may be rules to shower beforehand but some will forget to choose to ignore it.
What is the allowed yellow icon? Beanie and diapers?
Sauna hat.
https://finnmarksauna.com/en-us/blogs/sauna-news/sauna-hats-why-you-should-wear-one
So I was half right. Sounds like an Onion story.
What about the diapers? I was joking initially but now all bets are off.
Signed,
“Uncultured” AussieA sauna hat is great if you’re bald. Even if or especially if you like a scorching hot sauna.
The map doesn’t say you may wear a hat, it says you must wear a hat and otherwise be naked (apart from the diapers or whatever is).
No, the map says “Sauna-Dresscode für Europa.”
Am talking about Russia and Latvia.
Your Denmark doesn’t have a dresscode according to this. I suppose even a gimp mask would be OK.
I doubt that the hat is mandatory in Russia or Latvia, but it makes more sense there, because they run high temperatures.
No, there’s no official dresscode on this in Denmark, however each place usually show their rules on signs. There’s no rule against a gimp mask, but it might conflict with other rules.
The entire chart is actually a bit misleading, because the Finnish sauna is completely different from the German. The way they’re used aren’t comparable.
In Denmark it was first imported from Finland in the 1970s where people built saunas at home. Most of these are gone by now, because it’s a waste of space in a family house if the family don’t use it. The public pools usually have Finnish saunas, but at too low temperature. Wellness places try to make it better with higher temperatures but at the same time they’ve introduced a lot of the German rituals instead of the Finnish. More recently it has become popular to have winter bathing clubs. They usually buy Canadian barrel saunas. So that’s why the danish sauna situation is a cultural clusterfuck.
So your scalp is more private than your privates? Fascinating
it’s mainly Russia so I guess it’s a gallon of moonshine
In Czech Republic & Slovakia it is usually a towel to sit on & being naked. Optionally you can wrap yourself in a larger towel or something like that. Most people respect it, but I did experience one woman being told to not wear swimming suit or leave the sauna area.
How is it in Denmark? I’ve seen beautiful saunas there, where you just jump to the sea to cool down. I NEED TO KNOW!
In Finland people are told to not wear swimsuits to sauna not because you absolutely have to be naked but because if you’ve been in a chlorinated pool the chemicals vaporize in the sauna and are harmful to breathe.
Why isn’t Estonia covered? Saunas are like a rule here, like I haven’t lived in a place that doesn’t have a sauna in a 5km range and like every house has a sauna, even my last 3 work places had saunas. The rule here is naked with friends and family and cover all the naughty bits with strangers and coworkers.
I agree that Estonian sauna culture deserves respect. As for naughty bits covering, is there any difference between genders of friends and family and coworkers, or is one gender per sauna session the implication?
Depends on the crowd. Public saunas are usually gender segregated but for private ones it depends on who is comfortable with what but a mixed crowd is not uncommon from my experience.
Polen was machst du?
Wenn man allgemein so schaut, also auch in die Kommentare hier, scheinen die anderen Europäer ganz schön prüde zu sein.
Zu viel Ammi Propaganda gesehen.
In hungary from my experience you only wear the towel and no clothes. In some places they even tell you that its mandatory to take it off.
Weird, my experience in Hungary was the opposite. No one nude and I think people would have been really weirded out. This was my experience from several thermal baths in the country, although always mixed gender. Maybe if there’s single gender days it may be different.
That’s so weird. How can you be naked in front of strangers?
By not wearing any cloths.
Everyone’s seen it, everyone’s done it, what’s to hide?
Wouldn’t it be even more weird to be the only one wearing clothes?
If your culture has taught you to “hide your shame”, you probably can’t.
If your culture has taught you that being nude is nothing to be ashamed of, it’s as simple as breathing.
I was raised by the latter one and I cannot understand the first at all.
As the Irish comedian Dave Allen, talking about Adam and Eve, once said: “That’s what happens when you eat apples.”
Everyone has seen naked people before.
Sorry for the downvotes. To be able to be naked in front of strangers you need to be able to appreciate yourself, your body and your sexuality and you must be able to give yourself a feeling of security. If any of these points are lacking – as with most people – clothing will help you to compensate this lack.
Weird and counterintuitive as it might be, being naked not in front of, but together with strangers is a good way to bolster self-esteem. It can be very wholesome to experience firsthand that your body is 100 % avarage and are not body shamed despite of nudity.
What a strange question
In the Netherlands towels are optional in single gender saunas, or at least you have to bring one to sit on but you don’t have to cover your self. That’s my experience with men’s saunas though. Not sure how it works in women only saunas.
In the late 16^th century, a German pastor, Salomon Schweigger, accompanied the ambassador of the HRE to Istanbul and wrote an ectensive report about his visit.
One of his examples of (perceived by him) moral superiority of Germans over Turkish culture was, that in Türkiye public baths were single gender with obligatory clothing “to avoid sexual arousal”, while back in Germany men and women were happily sharing the same bath butt naked without being sexual aroused.
So – German Freikörperkultur is far older than it’s name.
Did I miss something, did Iceland secede from Europe?
Nah. It melted.
Sorry…
In countries shaded with light blue, there are no uniform rules.
purple rules