Korean Spas: How to Jjimjilbang
What Are They?
Have you heard of Korean spas and wondered about their etiquette?
Korean spas or jjimjilbang encompass a rejuvenating immersion inclusive to a range of saunas. Saunas have long been considered to have healing properties in sweating, to help eliminate toxins and promote cardiovascular function. And for many Koreans as well as Korean Americans it’s a ritualistic self-care intrinsic to routine.
Korean spas are often multi-level on the literal, large establishments that include baths, showers, steam saunas, dry saunas, specialty saunas, heated floors with mats to sleep or rest, a restaurant, a roster of specific massage treatments, and a beauty store.
So how to traverse these places? What’s the etiquette if you’ve never been?
Korean spas are central to the jjimjilbang which is the main area, a handful of different types of traditional Korean sauna rooms. This includes a clay sauna filled with tinier-than-marble clay balls that you lay in. There is a Himalayan rock salt room with walls covered in salt and gravel made of the same. There is a jade sauna. There is a room over 200 degrees. There is an ice room. The saunas all have specific functions for detoxification and you will leave feeling purged. Usually, signs will have English explanations of their purposes as well.
I’ve heard people ask or balk confused as to how to go about the jjimjilbang and here I outline a how-to, the Korean way.
Order of Operations (How To)
Entrance
Entrance is usually around $30 which includes a full 24 hours. At entrance, you’ll be given a bracelet with a locker number on it which also functions as a credit card to purchase food from the restaurant. Towels are given, disposable slippers, and a t-shirt. Shorts and robes are chosen independently per your size once in the locker room.
Locker Room
Once in the locker room, you’ll find your locker number via bracelet number, change out of your street clothes, and go covered in your towel to the bathhouse. There, you shower to prepare for the saunas and also can soak in the hot baths available in numerous warm temperatures. Many Koreans opt to get a scrub in this area which means a Korean will use a scratchy washcloth to brush off all of your dead skin for a half an hour, this is an added price in addition to entrance.
Showering/Soaking
After showering or soaking, you return to the locker and change into the uniform which is oversized shorts, a T, and slippers. Undergarments are suggested only in that you’ll sweat through things profusely.
Then you go to the jjimjilbang which is the co-ed main area with all of the specialty saunas, heated floors for lounging on, and usually the restaurant or food court area.
Jjimjilbang (sauna rooms)
I like to start at a medium-temperature sauna, or the rock salt one since it’s the easiest to start sweating in. The ice room is to end the sauna experience and effectively close your pores, but you can go immerse for a minute or two if need be. No drink or food is permitted in the saunas however, people frequently bring their smartphones in.
Other Treatments
You can opt for additional treatments like the scrub or an array of massages, manicure, wrap etc. at the front desk. There will be a time for when the treatment is and an employee will call out your locker number to notify you, or you’ll be told at the counter to go to the massage area at the given time.
Food
In terms of food, I’ve seen people take breaks in between sauna rooms to eat at the restaurant, usually in robes over sweated clothing. The food is ordered like any canteen style, and it’s often good traditional Korean. However, families sometimes bring food along and I’ve seen people snacking, eating out of their own brought from home goods which is not taboo to do, a sort of spa BYOF.
Some Korean spas have more interactive components like a swimming pool, arcade area, or additional eateries. However, the main draw of the Korean spa is always the sauna rooms.
R&R
There are also usually sleep areas in both the co-ed main area as well as the sex-separate areas where you can rest, work, or socialize. TVs blare Korean shows or news, sometimes even in the saunas themselves. Mats are available to lie on the floor which is how people spend time in the common area.
Showering/Departure
Once you’ve had your share of sweating or treatments, you return to the locker area, dispose of the slippers, and place the uniform in the hampers. You then bring your towel and shower once again, most showers have individual shampoo, conditioner, and soap dispensers, and some even have disposable toothbrushes and toothpaste to really amp up the refreshing leave.
The locker rooms have hair dryers, and stations to re-assemble yourself. If I’m going out post sauna immersion I often bring my toiletries from home, I’ve seen women tote their entire shower caddy to the bathroom as well.
Upon exiting, at the counter, you check out and give your locker number bracelet back to the staff. If you’ve eaten, you pay the charges there before exiting, feeling renewed.
What to Know
It’s a children-friendly environment, and a lot of families go multi-generationally.
Wifi works throughout the levels and it’s also a space conducive to being on a phone or laptop.
While food is charged to your wristband, items in the beauty store are purchasable via card. The curated skincare picks in the beauty stores are often very effective Korean skincare items of the moment.
*Safety tip
Take advantage of the water dispersed throughout, it’s always important to rehydrate with sauna immersions…!
It’s best to bring some cash along as there is often valet or for tipping for additional services.
Bottom line
The jjimjilbang experience is a special sauna immersion and feels holistically detoxifying. For a 24-hour immersion and all that’s there, it’s wonderful, almost like a miniature vacation, a one-day sauna-themed all-inclusive resort.
Find them in major cities stateside and Korea of course.
