Glossary
Terms that show up in venues, guides and listings. Each one with the meaning we use here.
- Bathhouse
- A social space where the bath is the program: heat, cold, rest and company in the same place, with a long stay.
- Public bath
- A collective space dedicated to bathing. Not a spa, not a gym with a sauna, and not a one-hour session with an ice tub.
- Löyly
- The steam that rises when water meets the hot stones. It is also the name for the sensation of that steam.
- Aufguss
- A German ritual in rounds: someone pours scented water on the stones and moves the hot air with a towel.
- Banya
- The Russian bathhouse: heat that is more humid than a Finnish sauna, with the venik as the mark of the ritual.
- Venik
- The bundle of branches used in the banya, soaked before it touches the body.
- Parilka
- The steam room of the banya, where heat and humidity both run high.
- Hammam
- A saturated steam bath, usually in stone or marble, with a scrub and soap. Cooler than a dry sauna.
- Onsen
- The Japanese thermal spring bath. The hot mineral water is the centre; you wash outside the tub before getting in.
- Sentō
- A neighbourhood bathhouse in Japan, with heated water that need not be thermal. Same etiquette as the onsen: wash before you soak.
- Jjimjilbang
- A Korean complex with several rooms at different temperatures, a common area, and in many cases 24-hour service.
- Hot springs
- The water is the program: a mineral spring, a hot spring or a circuit of heated pools, with long stays. In Japan the closest relative is the onsen. Not a spa (treatment) and not a bathhouse (heat, cold and company at the centre).
- Contrast therapy
- Alternating heat and cold in cycles, resting in between.
- Plunge
- The cold water tub taken after the heat.
- Recovery
- The recovery club: sauna and ice sold as a protocol for training, sleep and performance rather than as a bath. Usually attached to a gym.
- Contrast studio
- One sauna, one ice tub, booked by the hour. It is the small format opening fastest, and the one that most often calls itself a bathhouse without a wet area or anywhere to stay.
- Spa
- The treatment is the program: massage, aesthetics, a guided ritual. Sauna and steam are amenities, not the reason for the visit.