Three years ago when my boss was planning a trip to Turkey, she went on and on about wanting to get a traditional Turkish bath. Because I have zero originality as a person, I put the same thing on my itinerary when I went there myself two years ago—except neither of us actually got around to it. Neither would you, if you’d been sucked into the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul like we both did.
A Turkish bath, for those who don’t have worldly superiors to explain such things to them, generally consists of a 10 to 15-minute steaming session in a hararet or hot room, followed by a full body scrub by a trained attendant using a keses or a Turkish scrubbing mitt. Some hammams offer full body massages before the exfoliating treatment, which is then followed by a foam cleanse. You finish off by spending some time in the soğukluk or the cooling down room to get your body temperature back to normal.
While the steaming and scrubbing can be intense for some, I figured the new year calls for a new layer of skin! (That’s a thing, right?) Fortunately, Discovery Primea Makati offers an authentic Turkish hammam experience in the Terazi Spa.
Preparation
Before you are led to Terazi Spa’s one and only hammam, you are asked to hydrate in the waiting area where you are served water and a life-changing glass of fresh tamarind juice. If you would like a massage to go with your hammam, the spa recommends booking it before the treatment, so that your skin won’t be sensitive to the masseuse’s touch. Also, if you’re planning to workout, they recommend getting it in the day before so that you’re neither exhausted nor dehydrated. Also, the hammam is not recommended for guests with hypertension (as your heart rate can double during the treatment), heart disease, skin ailments, asthma, or if they recently underwent surgery.
Inside the hammam, which is made entirely of imported European marble, you have access to a private bathroom where you can change out of your clothes and into a cloth wrap provided by the spa. Up to two people can be accommodated inside the hammam, but be prepared to have rather intimate knowledge of each other (if you don’t already) should you decide to go through this together.
If you’re a woman and you just came from an important meeting or function, I recommend bringing your own makeup remover as the spa doesn’t provide any. (You’ll want to get it all off because you don’t want your makeup blocking your pores during the steaming sesh.)
Wearing the disposable paper underwear provided by the spa is optional, though many patrons opt to go fully nude underneath their wraps. Later, I understood why.
The steam session
Inside the hammam, my therapist informed me that we would begin with a 10-minute steaming session. The hammam can reach temperatures of 85 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit, though they usually keep it at 85 for inexperienced clients.
I sat in my marble corner beside an already overflowing marble sink filled with water, though the faucet kept trickling at a steady pace. I later figured that the steady dribble of the water served to distract me from being completely alone with my thoughts, which is a scary prospect for some. (Obviously, you are not allowed to bring your smartphone inside the hammam so you can scroll through Instagram while steaming. The steam will destroy it from the inside.)
Mid-steam, my therapist handed me a cool glass of water infused with lemons. To this day, I can’t quite describe the kind of unique pleasure of drinking a cold, iced glass of citrus water—with cold air blasting in my face each time I exhaled—while the rest of my body was enveloped in warm, damp, eucalyptus-infused steam. Is there a Turkish word for that life-affirming feeling?
The scrub
After steaming, I was laid out face down on a giant slab of heated marble with a little pillow to cushion my lady lumps in the front. Though I boast a moderate size, I can imagine this being a tad uncomfortable for women who are more…let’s say “blessed.”
My therapist removed my cloth wrap and gently laid it on top of me. She took out her keses, which was brought out for my exclusive use, and began to scrub. As she worked her way from my feet to my backside, I noticed that she skipped out on scrubbing my cheeks entirely because they were covered in disposable underwear. I realized that this meant I was not getting the full hammam treatment, and made motions to stand up, so I could take it off in the bathroom.
She told me to relax and after a bit of shimmying on my part, she removed my underwear in the utmost most professional manner. Seriously, she was such a pro that it was barely a struggle to get it off, considering I was lying face down in a pool of my own sweat and dead skin, underneath a damp cloth wrap. (I have trouble getting my bikini bottoms off at the end of an eventful day at the beach, so props.)
After scrubbing my entire back area—from my toes to my fingertips—she took a towel and began dunking it, artfully, in a basin full of foam made with organic castile soap, which is very moisturizing for skin. Once she gathered enough foam, she covered my entire body with it, which again, sent me to a unique place in nirvana where people get to bathe their entire bodies in champagne foam. Not even the best bubble bath you’ve had compares. She worked the lather into my skin with a gentle massage, then rinsed it off.
I was asked to flip over where she repeated the entire procedure in the front of my body. (Spoiler: The valley between your breasts are exfoliated, as well as the side-boob area, but the delicate areolas are left well alone.)
The cool-down
When the last of the foam had been rinsed and dried off my body, my therapist went to the bathroom and turned on the shower for me, blasting ice-cold water. The change in temperate wasn’t a shock at all; it was rather refreshing, and I was encouraged to shower for at least five minutes.
Once outside in the waiting room, I was handed another glass of cold water to rehydrate.
The verdict
The hammam has only been open for about four months, and it’s currently the only one available in Metro Manila. If you’re curious, I highly recommend it, especially if you’ve no plans of going to Turkey anytime soon. Though the spa staff take many precautions, it’s not as intense as other treatments I’ve tried.
For those who are apprehensive about the steaming part, let me assure you that I’ve spent more intense sweating sessions inside a sauna where I began to question my very being. If you’re no stranger to the sauna or steam room, you’ll be fine.
Also, the scrubbing itself is very gentle. I’ve experienced full body scrubs where I literally saw balls of my skin covering the sides of my plastic-covered massage bed—I was exfoliated so well, my elbows and knees were a shade lighter. Expect a milder version of this with the hammam; the shedding is commensurate to the amount of dead skin you’re packing. Since I dry brush almost every day, I didn’t have a lot of skin to shed. Still, my skin was quite soft after.
Terazi Spa at Discovery Primea. 6749 Ayala Avenue, Makati City. For inquiries and reservations, visit their official website.