First and foremost I hope that you all enjoyed your holiday season. I know I was not feeling getting back into my morning routine AND it's cold because winter finally made a debut. I felt some type of way this week about that. (LOL) This has definitely been me these last few days!
Well back to why I'm posting... I went to the Korean Spa this past weekend and I wanted to share because some people truly LOVE bath houses and then for some it's a definite NO. It was my first time visiting one but I went with a friend and my sister-inlaws. My girlfriend is a definite die hard supporter and goes at least once per month. I must admit when I left there, I felt extremely relaxed but I didn't doubt that I would. After sitting in extreme heat off and on for four hours with no technology I think it would relax just about anyone so I wasn't surprised with my relaxation.
First let me explain for those who are unfamiliar with the concept what it is exactly. Simply put it's a bath house which contains multiple little rooms within this one location which mostly consist of different types of saunas. This particular spa has 24 karat gold room sauna, different salt room saunas, crystal room saunas, infrared room and a cold room which had frozen walls but wasn't really unbearably cold. It also had a steam sauna and multiple soaking baths which I'll explain further in a moment but let's discuss the saunas first. Most of the saunas suggest they relieve the following:
- Detoxify
- Anti-aging
- Skin purification and treatment to relieve skin problems such as eczema.
- Pain relief and healing properties
- Weight loss
- Improved circulation
- Lowers blood pressure
- And lastly relaxation
I do feel that my skin had a distinct glow afterwards but it was temporary and only remained for 2 days but still that's good enough for me. Anything that helps my skin is a win in my book. I really loved the cold room because switching from hot to cold really made a difference in my opinion and the cold room wasn't nearly as cold as I thought it would be considering I entered dripping with sweat. It was refreshing and cleared up my breathing. With the exception of the cold room I honestly feel as though the sauna and steam room in my gym is sufficient enough and that doesn't consume hours of my day. When we went to this spa, we were there for 4 hours and that is a long time but I found that people actually spend their entire day there. This was my 1st mind blowing experience there but read on as it gets better.
I couldn't understand how people can spend hours sweating but... hey. If you like it, I love it! I have kids and I'm busy but there were people there who brought their kids to tag along. I didn't understand this either. Me... I was ready to leave after the first hour but I wasn't alone and had to get my money's worth out of it. We had a Groupon for $25 entry fee. There were relaxation rooms with recliners so that you can take a nap and catch the news or the game and there were game tables. I can't sleep in a room full of strangers but my girlfriend felt the need for a quick power nap so I sat there waiting, catching up on emails and memes on Instagram. I had to go retrieve my cell phone from my locker because I was going through technology withdrawal by that time so I I looked forward to her nap time especially after seeing people on their Ipads.
There is also a mini food court there that served meals and smoothies and your wrist band is linked to your account so there is no need for actual cash until you check out which is convenient. As for the soaking baths, I didn't use them. I'm sorry but I couldn't get into a hot tube full of naked strangers. It was just weird for me. Boobies flapping around having small talk with strangers is odd so I passed on that one but I did make my way to the Mugwort room which I thought was pretty cool. To be honest I didn't know Mugwort was really a "thing" outside of Harry Potter but to my surprise there it was and my inner child was like "WHOA". Mind blowing experience #2 at this point! It actually looked similar to what you would expect at Hogwarts but a lot less dingy and at that point I was sold. The smell was amazing in that room and there were actual jars of herbs everywhere. I entered the room and there were women sitting in full body bags completely covered with the exception of their heads so I asked what they were doing and they were getting their VAGINA steamed!!! WTF was what initially went through my head because I'm like how and why??? I didn't partake at the time because I was scared and had to do my research but after researching I'm going back. Come to find out... this relieves menstrual complications, helps with fertility, balances hormones and detoxifies and it was only $20. It was officially labeled Artemisia (Hip Bath) and it's a Korean Spa practice. I found that it's on the up-rise in California with a few celebrities who swear by it but it's around $50 per session in California and here it was $20 bucks which is a bargain! That's some exotic shit if I've ever heard of it and may even be a complete waist of money but I'm going to try it at least once to say I did it. I've done far worse with $20 so why not? I'll follow up with another post after I've tried it but I had to share because it was all new to me. Have you ever tried any of the above? Let us know how you liked it or if you try it out now after reading this. I would love to hear about your experience.