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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Is this normal sauna behaviour?

43 replies

squirmysauna · 21/03/2025 12:08

I joined a lovely small gym at the start of the year and it has a nice 'wellness' area with a Sauna and a Steam room available to use. I have been using the sauna once or twice a week since joining and quickly got used to just how unphased people are by nudity here (not in the UK) but today I admittedly got a little squirmy about ones woman's behaviour and I'm wondering if this is normal/not the hygiene problem I think it is.

She entered the Sauna just after me, took out a dry brush and proceeded to dry brush her entire body for the entire 10 minutes I was in there. She was sitting on a towel as per the rules but I mean every inch was being brushed, legs lifted onto the bench etc.

I am not an uber hygiene freak but the thought of someone else's dead skin being brushed off all over a communal sauna didn't sit right with me.

My AIBU is should I mention it to the management, there are signs all over the area with rules such as sitting on a towel, no outdoor shoes in the area, no shaving in the showers etc. perhaps they should add no scrubbing yourself with a dry brush in the sauna.

OP posts:
sprigatito · 21/03/2025 12:10

This is pure nightmare fuel for me, but then I wouldn’t have been in there in the first place. It sounds beyond disgusting.

FidosMum84 · 21/03/2025 16:15

Let’s hope you don’t have older hairy men shaving in a sauna like I’ve seen before. That’s even more grim!

Parrotscoop · 21/03/2025 16:16

Ibhavw seen women using a body scrub in the sauna before, but like you I've no idea if that's "normal".

Walkintheforest · 21/03/2025 16:27

Where are you? Surely it depends on the country you are in whether it's normal. I'd say perfectly normal in Finland, for instance. People like to get rid of old "dead" skin in the sauna. I personally just like to scratch it off with my fingers, probably more civilised to use a brush! Would be polite to rinse the seat with water afterwards, though.

YouveGotAFastCar · 21/03/2025 17:04

Did she rinse the chair when she left? I’ve seen this a few times in Austria and nobody seemed bothered.

I saw a woman file her feet on the train to London once, too, that made me feel far more sick 🤢

Iknowaboutpopular · 21/03/2025 17:08

FidosMum84 · 21/03/2025 16:15

Let’s hope you don’t have older hairy men shaving in a sauna like I’ve seen before. That’s even more grim!

I've had this in the gym I go to! Absolutely grim and immediately complained.
The manager agreed it was a no no so they put up signs saying, "Please don't do that" and the filthy bugger continued!!

JMSA · 21/03/2025 17:11

I’d hate this. Selfish behaviour, in my view.

LlynTegid · 21/03/2025 17:11

Assuming your skill in the local language is sufficient to do so, I think you should have challenged this there and then. Speaking to the spa management should be the option now.

PuppyMonkey · 21/03/2025 17:17

Nude saunas.The horror at all of it frankly. Shudder.

Getitwright · 21/03/2025 17:29

Saunas and steam rooms have been around for a very long time. The Romans used to carry special little beauty tools called strigils for scraping dirt and oil off their bodies in a sauna. It’s actually what saunas are about, opening the pores, getting rid of impurities. You sit on your own towel.

Saunas won’t be for everyone, for various reasons. I frankly would be more upset about someone “watching” me and whatever I was doing.

Mumsntfan1 · 21/03/2025 17:30

I've never seen this in Germany but could be normal in other countries.

Getitwright · 21/03/2025 17:35

more details on dry brushing

Getitwright · 21/03/2025 17:36

Sorry I cannot get the link to work

Squirrelblanket · 21/03/2025 17:41

My husband used to work in a gym with a sauna and steam room and they used to have loads of issues with women colouring their hair in it! One time I went in there and a lady covered herself with squeezy honey and laid flat out on one of the benches. 😂

Echobowels · 21/03/2025 17:47

YouveGotAFastCar · 21/03/2025 17:04

Did she rinse the chair when she left? I’ve seen this a few times in Austria and nobody seemed bothered.

I saw a woman file her feet on the train to London once, too, that made me feel far more sick 🤢

On the train?! Oh my fucking god, that's grim! 🤮

Doingmybestbut · 21/03/2025 17:51

Ew.

AllProperTeaIsTheft · 21/03/2025 18:00

Meh. Wouldn't bother me particularly. You know there are tiny bits of people's dead skin everywhere and that dust is partly dead skin, right?

Iamthemoom · 21/03/2025 18:03

Is the gym in north London? Good few years back but there used to be a woman who did this every single time I visited the sauna. It was like she was always in there! I’m with you, it’s gross and totally inappropriate in a public sauna. Definitely report to the gym and hope they have a quiet word or put up a sign!

MyGardenHasGreatTits · 21/03/2025 18:04

As others have said, if she rinsed down after I wouldn’t have a problem. I’ve practically had my epidermis loofer’d off in a Turkish sauna before.

Natsku · 21/03/2025 18:15

Scraping the dead skin off is normal in sauna (feel sooo much cleaner after!) but that's what you do in your own private sauna, not in a public sauna.

AllProperTeaIsTheft · 21/03/2025 19:48

Iamthemoom · 21/03/2025 18:03

Is the gym in north London? Good few years back but there used to be a woman who did this every single time I visited the sauna. It was like she was always in there! I’m with you, it’s gross and totally inappropriate in a public sauna. Definitely report to the gym and hope they have a quiet word or put up a sign!

No, it says in the OP that it's not in the UK.

Original poster
squirmysauna · 22/03/2025 06:01

Seems like mixed opinions, I left before her so no idea if she rinsed down the bench after.
Seems I could be getting a lot worse the sauna is women only and always seems very clean and everyone sits/lies down on a towel so clearly much more civilised than some of the ones described here 😂

also I wasn’t watching her as in staring, the sauna is very small technically 4 people but 2 is plenty she sat directly opposite me for this performance, there wasn’t really anywhere else to look. I actually closed my eyes for most of the 10 minutes but could hear her brushing and moving around and saw what was going on each time I opened them to check the timer.

OP posts:
wisbech · 22/03/2025 06:22

seems fine to me

FjordPrefect · 22/03/2025 07:51

Walkintheforest · 21/03/2025 16:27

Where are you? Surely it depends on the country you are in whether it's normal. I'd say perfectly normal in Finland, for instance. People like to get rid of old "dead" skin in the sauna. I personally just like to scratch it off with my fingers, probably more civilised to use a brush! Would be polite to rinse the seat with water afterwards, though.

This would not be ok in any Finnish public sauna I've been in!

Natsku · 22/03/2025 07:55

FjordPrefect · 22/03/2025 07:51

This would not be ok in any Finnish public sauna I've been in!

Show quote history

Yeah I'm in Finland and if you did this in a public sauna you'd get comments for sure. If there's an old lady in, you'd get told to stop (they are the enforcers of the rules - a friend got told off by one for wearing her swimming costume in the shower, as you have to shower naked)