To not want to be naked in sauna

[lollypoppy123]

I’m going to a fancy hotel in Germany with an amazing spa but I’ve just found out the spa is textile free which means no clothes whatsoever allowed. I’m really uncomfortable with this as I’ve had a mastectomy and my reconstruction is pretty ugly. Even without that, I’d feel weird being naked with strangers.

Usually you can have a towel around you. You have to sit in one in the sauna/steam room anyway.

No, but some on here are trying to tell others what to feel.

In the sauna you can wrap a towel around you. In the steam room you are naked and hose down your seat after use. A towel would be drenched. Also you can't see much in a steam room.

I don't know if you've been somewhere like this before, OP, especially post mastectomy, but I find that in an environment where everyone is naked and there's a brunch of different shapes and sizes, my own hangups just seem like part of the general things that are 'wrong' with all our bodies and my own insecurities diminish significantly. It all just feels normal in a way that doesn't make sense when you're used to other environments.

@lollypoppy123 I would suggest you ignore all the “bodies are disgusting!!” and “don’t be such n unevolved prude!!” posts and just read the posts like this which describe what it feels like, plus those with specific practical info on German spas.

I didn’t “grow up” in a naked country but have family who did (in surprising places sometimes) and have worked/lived for periods in naked countries. Single sex naked/towel only baths are very common world wide.

I suggest try to keep an open mind as I’ve known many women (and probably men) for whom the experience was positive and confidence building rather than uncomfortable. When I was at my lowest ebb body wise, after prolonged illness (and four DC) I was surprised to find that single sex spas/saunas/onsens were very helpful. Start with a towel if that is more comfortable but once you relax and it feels less strange its easy not to bother with the towel. More importantly you soon start to feel much better about your body and its scars and damage and yourself.

For me its strictly a single sex thing - I’m obviously not evolved enough for mixed naked saunas - but I would encourage you to try as the confidence boost can help overall body confidence long after you have left the baths.

I like your attitude! I hope I would do the same if in this situation - when in Rome!
FWIW I once booked a couple’s spa treatment with my best friend as it was better value than booking separately without fully realising it meant we would both be naked in the room at some points (walking from the massage table to the shower cubicle etc) and we just looked away / pretended everything was normal, and quickly you just forget about the nakedness.

Spas in Germany you can wear a towel, normally. Just nothing underneath the towel.

I'm struggling to find any hostility in the other posters writing, they have put their point of view forward - its not hostile to have a different opinion

Nobody is telling anyone what to feel either.

No, it's not. But personally I think there's been more than a touch of derision on the part of some of those on this thread who are pro-nudity, towards those who would rather cover up. I have been finding it a bit hostile personally.

Disagree.

Well if it's not hostile why are you calling the posters writing hostile? - as that is how it's coming across. There are other posts suggesting the human body is disgusting, so there is a certain prejudice to people who are ok with nudity as saying something is disgusting is in someways saying its wrong - just as is the suggestion that men in the naked sauna are prevs

No offence taken. If anyone mentions lacrosse you can safely assume it's a private school - in England anyway.

We all hated it. You would definitely have got bruised shins btw.

Not hostile? I literally ended my reply by saying I was finding it a bit hostile... scratches head

Any posts saying nudity is disgusting are nothing to do with me, it isn't what I think.

You started your thread with “ no it’s not” ?

You misread my post. I was agreeing with you that 'it's not hostile to have a different opinion', because it isn't. Speaking to people with derision for having a different opinion is what I'm finding hostile, not the opinions themselves.

Actually the negative comments began criticising nakedness, and folk responded accordingly.

Who is telling you what to feel?

No-one is being hostile to those who prefer to cover up. It's the sense that somehow those nations for whom nudity is normal are somehow disgusting, unhygienic, yuk and various other words that have been used, that isn't OK.. If you don't want to strip, that isOK but other nations are fine with it.

Not by me. My first response literally said 'It's great to be comfortable with one's body but it is just as acceptable to prefer people to cover up.' I followed up with 'it does irk me when those who are relaxed about nudity don't seem to want to allow those of us who'd rather keep our private parts private to have our preference without being labelled prudes. IMO being private about nudity is just as normal as being relaxed about it, there are logical reasons for each perspective.'

See? Balance. Where I did start to feel irked is when comments like 'Much healthier attitude than silly British prudism', 'Brits are prudes' (from your good self), 'easily shocked', 'silly' started to creep into the mix. There's hostility there, no point claiming otherwise. And before you say it, yes, there's been ammo hurled from the other side too and some unacceptable comments made. But not by me.

See my response to GehenSieWeiter just now

Everyone wears a towel generally for wandering around between the showers and the sauna and so on, worn like a sarong, which you then sit on - to protect the timber once inside the sauna. It’s very easy to identify where you are going to sit, walk boldly in, quickly and discreetly undo the towel and park yourself on it.

I would suggest something like an additional extra, light Turkish towel, thin cotton, the same size, draped casually around your neck / over your shoulders.
(is what I regularly do).

(As a Brit, I’ve been subject to 50 years (of intensive 😂) training in sauna etiquette by the Germans. If anyone gives you grief, just feel free to reciprocate!)

(I would say it was worse as a 20 year old female Brit in full lycra, in a German sauna full of men - and everyone laughing openly at me).

It’s amazing how just a light sarong, casually slung over the shoulders can discreetly cover a lot.

Much healthier attitude than silly British prudism', 'Brits are prudes'(from your good self),

was BarbarasRhabarberba post, not GehenSieweiter

I didn't say it was 'by you'.

Excellent points.

If you don’t want to be naked in a German sauna, don’t go. Simple.