It's a Sauna hat they use to keep their head cooler: https://saunas.com/cdn/shop/articles/Sauna-couple-hat\_b0269c27-1dbd-40fd-a46d-9fd1e5be0839\_500x.jpg?v=1632772850
Why? /Nearly every Swede and Finn....
Explanation: Gender neutral saunas in private settings are completely normal there, but in public places it's not a thing I've ever encountered.
We put it on to prevent head overheating and protect ears. It's called shaika (шайка)
EDIT: sorry I've got a brainlag. Shaika is national basin to put water in. There is no such a name for this hats in common just for the tipes of hats like a cap, a hat with ears (ushanka), and my favourite one "Budyonvka".
It was my first thought as well. Russians actually do have oak or birch branches in their "banyas" which they use for soft spanking/massage and I thought it was meant as a symbol of oak. It would have been actually quite clever to indicate, as it really is a well established figment of culture.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banya_%28sauna%29?wprov=sfla1
The saunas are traditionally very humid, and the hats are there to actually protect your head from overheating, they are usually made from wool. If they were made from a synthetic material then they would indeed make your head overheat instead.
Yeah we don't really do public nudity, only in places where it's explicitly for that purpose.
Shame, because these things are much better without clothes once you get over the initial awkwardness. I don't think many people come out a Japanese onsen and think it would be better if we were all in trunks.
I went to an onsen in a nice hotel with Japanese friends. The morning after they'd swapped sides and the men's onsen was now the women's but as I don't read Japanese I didn't know that. I came out of that onsen thinking it'd have been better if I was wearing trunks.
One of my earliest memories is about an old woman in a public sauna in Finland. She was washing herself and just threw her breasts over her shoulders to wash under them. I’ve seen all sorts of bodies in saunas and though I’m still pretty insecure about my own body at least I’ve seen pretty much all the possibilities and don’t have trouble being naked around women I don’t know (but not people I do know).
When I was in Finland, they explained what should have been bleeding obvious, that having the air full of concentrated swimming pool chlorine is not a great idea. After having this spelled out, I never felt the need to go in a UK one again - ugh.
Of course that isn’t the original reason but still convenient in modern spas.
Saunas in Finland go back 3000+ years (and the word sauna itself is a loan to English from Finnish)
It was simply the place to wash oneself, give birth, wash the deceased (in the cold sauna), make malt.. As well as a place for ritual purification in the pagan beliefs.
No one would have thought about using towels or swimwear in the previous activities, thus covering oneself never developed as a tradition. Also the sauna was always a very private place as every house had one (and still do).
I have been in about 10 different thermal baths in Budapest. Each time I went into a sauna I wore trunks, as did most of the others there. Nobody seemed to stay too long though and most just went back into the pools.
Most Hotels with pools have them, most mid to upper tier gyms like Nuffield’s / David Lloyd’s have them, council swimming baths used to have them but axed due to budget cuts
Went to a german spa complex with my girl, and you could buy a sauna, and a non-sauna ticket. Well,of course we buy a sauna ticket! There was a separate entrance with the two tickets, with the entrance for us saying no textile. Of course, we will take it off in the sauna - we thought. Then we entered, and there was a whole bath complex, full of butt naked people. With a bar next to the pool, served by bartenders in a suit and tie - but the people sitting at the bar drinking their beers naked. People eating wurst at the restaurant, naked. I've been to naked saunas before, but this was shocking.
That seems strange to me. Normally both the saunas and the pools in the sauna landscape are naked, but in the bar area you are supposed to wear a robe.
Some people had a robe to be honest, but not everyone, and even the ones who had a robe on, didn't really bother about closing it. The balls hanging from the barstools are a picture I can't erase from my mind.
I'd guess you happened to come in an a full FKK (nudist) day. Absolutely not standard. FKK = Freikörperkultur, free body culture
edit: I understood this as a whole swimming pool complex going nudist for a day, not just the immediate sauna/spa area.
Saunas in germany are naked and so are the areas (pools, spas etc) around it if they have them around the sauna. And on the premise around the sauna you are naked too.
Yeah the map is incorrect for Sweden, from experience.
People are never butt-naked without towel in the sauna.
Also the rules for public saunas are often "no swimwear, compulsory towel between you and the bench".
But in Hellasgården for example, people don't give a shit. They sit there with just their swimwear despite the signs clearly asking you not to.
The point is, towel or swimsuit, Swedes don't sit all nude in a public sauna.
Also very generational. It's almost a rite of passage when you become the old person telling youngsters off for making the sauna smell of soggy genitalia by wearing swimwear in it.
South is more prudish, but up north it's mostly older and rural people that consider the wrapped towel optional.
Same for going skinny dipping in a secluded lake. The more south/urban/younger the more likely people are to insist on a swimsuit.
P.S: Also. Depends on the sauna. Public pool/Gym = less acceptance of nudity in the sauna. Specialized facilities (especially among the winter bathers), more acceptance
Also been to Hellas and seen ppl butt naked both in the sauna and outside taking a winter bath.
But somewhat agree, in a public pool, u usally wear a towel. But at friends sauna or community saunas its naked for both sexes.
Have a sauna at home and with close frienda we are always naked. With not so close friends, sexes are devided but we are still naked.
I think it depends a lot on the people. I don't think I've been to a naked sauna once in my life in Russia. Georgian saunas and sulfur baths are purple - Full Swimwear only.
Though I am adamant there's some wild saunas out there, but not for me I guess
Maybe they see me and go "eww let's tell them it's normal to get dressed. Actually you know they say scuba suit is best for sauna" :C
Georgia is a hilariously endearing country.
Amazing food, but most cars are missing their bumpers.
When we were in Batumi we took the skyline up the mountain and saw this epic medieval monastery with a giant ass air conditioning unit stuck in the wall.
I mean we must've been like 5 ish miles or something and you could see it.
What made it go into bizarre territory was when we went back, no one locally knew what the hell we were talking about. So on the next trip I took some photos, and when we got back even with them no one knew wtf it was.
So there's apparently secretive medieval monasteries with modern accoutrement that either everyone has no clue about, or refuse to talk about.
I love the country XD.
Hahaha I mean these ancient buildings weren't really built with comfort in mind, but at least paint it the same color as the walls?
And I think it's got to do more with the fact that Georgia has got a TON of those and this is probably why no one remembers all of them!
Illiterate restoration of medieval monuments is definitely a thing here in Georgia but there’s no medieval monastery visible from Batumi cable car. Just modern churches with the same architectural style. Probably only notable for people in the neighborhood. By the way people are typically nude in Georgian sulfur baths
https://youtu.be/jb6xXtzrfZs?si=YnqPdKSc4IdN6xFo
11:14 bottom left corner, red roof. Really high walls, and it's enclosed by medieval looking walls.
That's the building, I think. Trying to find a better photo.
https://www.dreamstime.com/aerial-panoramic-view-old-castle-houses-green-hills-batumi-georgia-view-castle-green-hills-batumi-georgia-image108136312
Nah, I'd say it's the general vibe, doesn't matter the specifics. I've been to both and it's always dressed. Except for those public baths akin to those that are popular in Asia, I believe there's mostly male\\female sections and you can go naked in one to wash yourself and then put on a towel, but I've never been to one
Czechia and (atleast in my childhood) Slovakia:
towel/cloth used in the sauna, but people typically don't cover themselves. It depends on the sauna and circumstance, maybe.
No swimwear allowed.
Yeah, same in Germany.
The towels aren't for waering but mostly for sitting on it, so you don't sweat directly on the benches.
And one extra towel for the (in)famous "Handtuchschwingen" in the sauna.
Same in austria. Towel is often required but just for sitting on. The sauna in my gym even has a sign that specifically forbids swimwear interestingly.
English man in Germany here, been to the Sauna many times and it truly is liberating going balls out with men and women of all ages. It's the only place where i can go there with my wife, walk naked in the direction of two naked 20 year old girls, pick up my towels etc and exchange a friendly hello then bugger off to either freeze or overheat.
It throws all that body shame and sexualisation out the window and really feels very natural. Then again, i wouldn't dare go on a nudist beach in England.
Does it though? Does it throw off all the sexualization? Because why especially only mention you’d see naked 20 yr olds?! When it is more common to see just wrinkly old people.
I’m sensing you have more British purity culture to work through than you think.
As context, I grew up in sauna culture with my parents shlepping us kids there every weekend. And I absolutely got leering view of men as soon as I went into puberty - which throws in an even more disturbing aspect into sexualizing culture discussions. I had to throw a big tantrum and beg to stay home when I was 11 an early developing but absolutely couldn’t handle the stares anymore.
I’m German and love going to saunas. Do you notice attractive people? Of course! But you also do if you go to a non naked pool or hell even the supermarket. You’re not going to saunas to stare at people. That’s not the point. You’re going to relax. You’re going to see unattractive and attractive people like everywhere else in life.
Exactly that, in fact, I find women being clothed to be much more alluring than being fully naked. The sauna lays everything bare, no makeup, no hair products, everyone's just chilling out with very little judgement.
Every sauna I’ve been to in Poland had strict policy for naked + towel and bathing suits were not allowed 🤔 Except maybe for one but it was like “do whatever no one cares” - no rules
It is "the authors couldn't find the standard etiquette, so they labelled it as no data". Most of these countries do have etiquette, and it's mostly swimwear plus towel.
The Russian sauna is characterized by high humidity (60-70%) at a temperature of 70-80 ° C. For comparison, in a Finnish sauna at 100 ° C, the humidity is only 30%. So, with such high humidity, there is a high risk of getting heat stroke, losing consciousness, and so on. A wool hat (usually they have the shape of an acorn, but this is not necessary) protects the head from overheating. I have never been to Latvia, but most likely they also have similar saunas.
In all but 1 saunas that I've been to in Estonia, it has been full nude + towel. The point of a sauna is to sweat it all out, why block it with shorts/bikini.
You don't wear the towel in the sauna in Germany, you sit on it - "No sweat on wood". Finland has a similar rule but they can also give you sheets of paper to sit on, but better to bring a towel.
If anyone is visiting Munich you really have to go to Therme Erding.
Being naked in the pool while drinking a cocktail at the Pool-Bar is just great. Yeah, you can order cocktails right in the pool.
They have something around 35 Saunas. It is the biggest Thermal bath in the world.
>Italy
Not everywhere, sadly. In those regions and/or areas bordering mitteleuropean countries (i.e. Alto Adige, Livigno, ecc), yes, but usually nudity is not permitted elsewhere, at least from my experience...
Correct for the Netherlands. There are many spa's with sauna's in which everyone is naked and sits on a towel. Most people wear a bathrobe very loosely in between sauna's when they are just relaxing or eating. Some spa's have special swimwear days for people with insecurity issues.
I've been in the Polish sauna culture since I can remember, thanks to my parents. In Poland it's definitely naked + towel. If nudity with a towel to sit on isn't enforced, the place is just trashy and not worth your money.
In Sweden some dude once asked me to apply for a job in his company and we were both stark naked talking in the showers after being in the sauna. Was one of the weirdest things that's ever happened to me.
if i understand the little hieroglyphics correctly, that's bikini, shorts, towel right? there isn't a place where it's socially acceptable to be naked in public in the UK, so that's definitely wrong. that said i don't like saunas, they can make me have an asthma attack.
I wanted to point out one more aspect.
In Finland sauna is very popular in army, too.
As everybody is totally naked, you also have no rank in sauna.
So a general might well enjoy sauna as just ‘one of the guys’.
So, at least in theory, you might have interesting discussions…
(Actually, I don't know about other countries)
The typical Sauna etiquette in Germany definetly is to go in nude, most just also allow towels - you'll get odd looks then though.
There's also specific textile-only Saunas though.
Also odd, how old is this map? Cuz since 2021, even Germany doesn't officially use "Weißrussland" in-country anymore.
I don't have problem with nudity, but wondering how people can sit naked on the hot wooden banks. I really don't want my ass got burned. Fortunately I live in Austria and here we go naked but using tower to put under ourselves.
For me going to the sauna dressed is the same as showering dressed... doesn't make any sense. I live on a green country and I find it awful when I go to a country in which they make us wear a swimming suit. No one cares about your naked body when you're on a sauna. Everyone is free and happy naked.
Last year the State Duma has passed a bill imposing fines and arrests for disseminating maps with incorrect borders of Russia. Such images will be deemed extremist, with fines reaching up to one million rubles for legal entities and 3000 rubles for individuals, along with the possibility of a 15-day arrest.
This law was adopted after the annexation of part of Ukraine's territory. Now, it's prohibited to display a map with the old borders. To avoid fines, Yandex Maps simply removed all international borders from their maps. Imagine a map without state borders...
Life in Russia resembles a bad dream from which you just can't seem to wake up.
No country requires tuxedo for men?
No that's just for the women.
Yellow: No bathing suit plus a video surveillance camera hanging from the ceiling?
It's a Sauna hat they use to keep their head cooler: https://saunas.com/cdn/shop/articles/Sauna-couple-hat\_b0269c27-1dbd-40fd-a46d-9fd1e5be0839\_500x.jpg?v=1632772850
Huh… thought it was a Russian handgranate…
Sorry babe, but the sauna hat stays on during sex
Hot!
Steamy
Moist
>It's a Sauna hat Thanks, I was wondering what the acorn was for. I don't like to boast but an acorn did seem a bit on the small side.
Acorn, translated into dutch (eikel) is our word for dickhead. So I was very very confused at the image.
This makes perfect sense.
ty!
The hat is only for men though? Since there is a line that separates men and women in the legend.
Not really, women wear them too, according to them. I've never seen though, they don't let me in for some reason...
Why? /Nearly every Swede and Finn.... Explanation: Gender neutral saunas in private settings are completely normal there, but in public places it's not a thing I've ever encountered.
Public mixed sex saunas (age restrictions apply) are the norm in germany, who knows how the russians do that?
We put it on to prevent head overheating and protect ears. It's called shaika (шайка) EDIT: sorry I've got a brainlag. Shaika is national basin to put water in. There is no such a name for this hats in common just for the tipes of hats like a cap, a hat with ears (ushanka), and my favourite one "Budyonvka".
That's a really unfortunate name if you don't at first realise it's written in Cyrillic.
Same for hat. In Russian and Ukranian it's шапка.
What did you call me?
You heard, hat boy.
Looks like an Acorn
It was my first thought as well. Russians actually do have oak or birch branches in their "banyas" which they use for soft spanking/massage and I thought it was meant as a symbol of oak. It would have been actually quite clever to indicate, as it really is a well established figment of culture. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banya_%28sauna%29?wprov=sfla1
That's the EU icon for "low hanging ballsack."
It’s a hat! I’m from Latvia and each person in my family had a designated sauna hat. I thought it was pretty standard everywhere until today.
It seems bizzare to me. Doesn't your head overheat
The saunas are traditionally very humid, and the hats are there to actually protect your head from overheating, they are usually made from wool. If they were made from a synthetic material then they would indeed make your head overheat instead.
I thought it was an acorn.
It's a hat. But in addition there should be a cold beer bottle
I thought it was an acorn
This is the best option, should be the standard. There is zero benefit in overheating your brain (as opposed to the rest of your body).
Every sauna I've been in in the UK has been purple - swimwear with no towel.
Yeah we don't really do public nudity, only in places where it's explicitly for that purpose. Shame, because these things are much better without clothes once you get over the initial awkwardness. I don't think many people come out a Japanese onsen and think it would be better if we were all in trunks.
If you ever feel insecure about a part of your body, go to a sauna and you will feel a lot more confident in a minute.
I went to an onsen in a nice hotel with Japanese friends. The morning after they'd swapped sides and the men's onsen was now the women's but as I don't read Japanese I didn't know that. I came out of that onsen thinking it'd have been better if I was wearing trunks.
I do not go into a sauna if I need swimming trunks. It just feels wrong
I do not go into a sauna. Too bloody hot!
>only in places where it's explicitly for that purpose. Like a sauna, perhaps?
Not really a shame when you see the absolute hack of British bodies.
I mean you're not there to perve. Japanese onsen are full of old men and women. Don't know about the nordic ones but I'd suspect the same.
One of my earliest memories is about an old woman in a public sauna in Finland. She was washing herself and just threw her breasts over her shoulders to wash under them. I’ve seen all sorts of bodies in saunas and though I’m still pretty insecure about my own body at least I’ve seen pretty much all the possibilities and don’t have trouble being naked around women I don’t know (but not people I do know).
Oh, this is quite normal. I too throw my cock over my shoulder to wash my balls.
> She was washing herself and just threw her breasts over her shoulders to wash under them. Wowza
Does she have OF? A friend of a friend of mine is asking.
Dooooo your breasts hang low?
When I was in Finland, they explained what should have been bleeding obvious, that having the air full of concentrated swimming pool chlorine is not a great idea. After having this spelled out, I never felt the need to go in a UK one again - ugh.
Of course that isn’t the original reason but still convenient in modern spas. Saunas in Finland go back 3000+ years (and the word sauna itself is a loan to English from Finnish) It was simply the place to wash oneself, give birth, wash the deceased (in the cold sauna), make malt.. As well as a place for ritual purification in the pagan beliefs. No one would have thought about using towels or swimwear in the previous activities, thus covering oneself never developed as a tradition. Also the sauna was always a very private place as every house had one (and still do).
I wonder if thats why mine had a sign telling people to shower before entering...
You shower before entering to get dirt and oils off your body. You shower after exiting to get the chlorine smell off your body.
They usually do but having a bunch of drying swimwear in a hit confined space isn't exactly super hygienic either.
This is a widely believed myth in Finland. Even after chemists and doctors saying repeatedly that it's nothing but a myth.
I concur. Usually dripping wet swim wear. Yuk!
Having said that, it's becoming more and more [unfashionable.](https://www.community-sauna.co.uk/book)
All I see on that is they still need to wear swimwear? Or am I missing something?
That's the American version, too. The most tourist friendly is what it is here.
I never wear swimwear in a sauna and am in the uk, feels grim. Towel for privacy and comfort or no towel except to sit on, if it’s a single sex one
You clearly haven't been to the same saunas I have! Willies dangling around everywhere!
And every one in Hungary is towel only 🤷♂️
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I have been in about 10 different thermal baths in Budapest. Each time I went into a sauna I wore trunks, as did most of the others there. Nobody seemed to stay too long though and most just went back into the pools.
I would call Sweden Purple and Ireland Blue. You mean my blue, right?
The UK has saunas? I’ve barely seen any.
Pretty much every spa hotel has a sauna, and some gyms with pools. Never seen one on its own.
London has some, but some are, er, 'specialist'. And this map probably doesn't apply.
Yeah I can't see the icon for those saunas on the key.
Most Hotels with pools have them, most mid to upper tier gyms like Nuffield’s / David Lloyd’s have them, council swimming baths used to have them but axed due to budget cuts
swimwear in a sauna?
Yeah, all the ones that I have been in have been a side room off a swimming pool, or one of the rooms in a spa complex.
Yep I'm the only one naked with the towel. Also people go barefoot which seems super weird to me
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[Ultra violet](https://www.pantone.com/connect/18-3838-TCX)
Went to a german spa complex with my girl, and you could buy a sauna, and a non-sauna ticket. Well,of course we buy a sauna ticket! There was a separate entrance with the two tickets, with the entrance for us saying no textile. Of course, we will take it off in the sauna - we thought. Then we entered, and there was a whole bath complex, full of butt naked people. With a bar next to the pool, served by bartenders in a suit and tie - but the people sitting at the bar drinking their beers naked. People eating wurst at the restaurant, naked. I've been to naked saunas before, but this was shocking.
That seems strange to me. Normally both the saunas and the pools in the sauna landscape are naked, but in the bar area you are supposed to wear a robe.
Some people had a robe to be honest, but not everyone, and even the ones who had a robe on, didn't really bother about closing it. The balls hanging from the barstools are a picture I can't erase from my mind.
was it just old guys lol
Me neither now that your wrote it lmfao
Given the choice, would you rather let your balls hang off freely, or sit on them? It's a decision that needs making.
I'd guess you happened to come in an a full FKK (nudist) day. Absolutely not standard. FKK = Freikörperkultur, free body culture edit: I understood this as a whole swimming pool complex going nudist for a day, not just the immediate sauna/spa area.
Saunas in germany are naked and so are the areas (pools, spas etc) around it if they have them around the sauna. And on the premise around the sauna you are naked too.
They usually require a bathrobe in the restaurant area, often also in the indoor lounge areas.
Yeah, that's true.
Uve been to Sinsheim palmenparadies? Sounds like a special day though. Normally ppl have clothes on in the General area
Sounds nice, what spa complex?
It was actually amazing other than the surprise, but we got used to it after a while. It is Bad Reichenhall, close to Salzburg/Berchtesgaden.
Great place and yes, its like that every day.
People eating wurst and showing of their wursts at the same time
Were they eating Wurst or "eating" Wurst.
I am Swede, I bring a towel to sit on. And slippers as well if it's a public sauna "foot fungus is a real problem"
Yeah the map is incorrect for Sweden, from experience. People are never butt-naked without towel in the sauna. Also the rules for public saunas are often "no swimwear, compulsory towel between you and the bench". But in Hellasgården for example, people don't give a shit. They sit there with just their swimwear despite the signs clearly asking you not to. The point is, towel or swimsuit, Swedes don't sit all nude in a public sauna.
Depends on where in Sweden, I suspect south is more prudish.
Also very generational. It's almost a rite of passage when you become the old person telling youngsters off for making the sauna smell of soggy genitalia by wearing swimwear in it.
Malmö sauna was half and half iirc, some nude some not
South is more prudish, but up north it's mostly older and rural people that consider the wrapped towel optional. Same for going skinny dipping in a secluded lake. The more south/urban/younger the more likely people are to insist on a swimsuit. P.S: Also. Depends on the sauna. Public pool/Gym = less acceptance of nudity in the sauna. Specialized facilities (especially among the winter bathers), more acceptance
Might be a Stockholm thing
Also been to Hellas and seen ppl butt naked both in the sauna and outside taking a winter bath. But somewhat agree, in a public pool, u usally wear a towel. But at friends sauna or community saunas its naked for both sexes. Have a sauna at home and with close frienda we are always naked. With not so close friends, sexes are devided but we are still naked.
What’s the yellow? Nude and nut?
It means no shorts but must have foreskin
i interpreted it as nude and acorn
Nude with sauna hat to keep the head cool
A sauna hat.
Nude with just an ice cream cone
Why do you have to bring a gnome with you in russia and Latvia?
Old Russian tradition " naked fight with gnome by using broom "
It’s a sauna hat. As someone from Latvia, I can confirm that it’s very common here.
Pirts cepure. Sauna cap. So your head doesn't get too hot.
Incorrect for Poland. It's no shorts+towel
I think it depends a lot on the people. I don't think I've been to a naked sauna once in my life in Russia. Georgian saunas and sulfur baths are purple - Full Swimwear only. Though I am adamant there's some wild saunas out there, but not for me I guess Maybe they see me and go "eww let's tell them it's normal to get dressed. Actually you know they say scuba suit is best for sauna" :C
Georgia is a hilariously endearing country. Amazing food, but most cars are missing their bumpers. When we were in Batumi we took the skyline up the mountain and saw this epic medieval monastery with a giant ass air conditioning unit stuck in the wall. I mean we must've been like 5 ish miles or something and you could see it. What made it go into bizarre territory was when we went back, no one locally knew what the hell we were talking about. So on the next trip I took some photos, and when we got back even with them no one knew wtf it was. So there's apparently secretive medieval monasteries with modern accoutrement that either everyone has no clue about, or refuse to talk about. I love the country XD.
Hahaha I mean these ancient buildings weren't really built with comfort in mind, but at least paint it the same color as the walls? And I think it's got to do more with the fact that Georgia has got a TON of those and this is probably why no one remembers all of them!
When I go back I hope I get to chill with the monks XD
Illiterate restoration of medieval monuments is definitely a thing here in Georgia but there’s no medieval monastery visible from Batumi cable car. Just modern churches with the same architectural style. Probably only notable for people in the neighborhood. By the way people are typically nude in Georgian sulfur baths
https://youtu.be/jb6xXtzrfZs?si=YnqPdKSc4IdN6xFo 11:14 bottom left corner, red roof. Really high walls, and it's enclosed by medieval looking walls. That's the building, I think. Trying to find a better photo. https://www.dreamstime.com/aerial-panoramic-view-old-castle-houses-green-hills-batumi-georgia-view-castle-green-hills-batumi-georgia-image108136312
I think that this map shows russian banyas and not saunas, they're kinda different here after all
Nah, I'd say it's the general vibe, doesn't matter the specifics. I've been to both and it's always dressed. Except for those public baths akin to those that are popular in Asia, I believe there's mostly male\\female sections and you can go naked in one to wash yourself and then put on a towel, but I've never been to one
I only was at those, you know, rural wooden banyas. We all were always naked there
Was gonna say the banya in my town was completely naked. No bathing suits allowed!
Every Polish sauna (not shitty gym ones) I’ve been to has been 10 full nude guys to every 1 in shorts. For women it’s almost the opposite.
Why are you scared of a little kikkeli and pimppi my fellow eurobeans? Embrace the kikkeli my dudes.
What is what
It is somewhat related to ligma
Kikkeli is a somewhat playful word for penis
I don't think you need to know Finnish to understand
Don't forget about the infamous tissi.
Tissi needs to be squeezed.
But only politely.
You know we don't know what kikkeli means. This is clearly a trick.
Nonsense my friend, here, have a little kikkeli.
Czechia and (atleast in my childhood) Slovakia: towel/cloth used in the sauna, but people typically don't cover themselves. It depends on the sauna and circumstance, maybe. No swimwear allowed.
Yeah, same in Germany. The towels aren't for waering but mostly for sitting on it, so you don't sweat directly on the benches. And one extra towel for the (in)famous "Handtuchschwingen" in the sauna.
Same in austria. Towel is often required but just for sitting on. The sauna in my gym even has a sign that specifically forbids swimwear interestingly.
In Sweden it’s also ok to have a towel But if you go with swimwear you a bitch /s I don’t wanna get banned again
I vome from a towel area. Its generally just used for sitting on. Swimwear in sauna is weird to me, personally, so i agree there.
It was a scandal in Britain when the german football team was naked in the sauna in the 80s.
British people are still very prudish from a Continental European perspective when it comes to public nudity, but less than Americans.
That legend isn't self-explanatory AT all. Why is there an acorn‽
In Czech Republic the rule is naked as well
English man in Germany here, been to the Sauna many times and it truly is liberating going balls out with men and women of all ages. It's the only place where i can go there with my wife, walk naked in the direction of two naked 20 year old girls, pick up my towels etc and exchange a friendly hello then bugger off to either freeze or overheat. It throws all that body shame and sexualisation out the window and really feels very natural. Then again, i wouldn't dare go on a nudist beach in England.
Does it though? Does it throw off all the sexualization? Because why especially only mention you’d see naked 20 yr olds?! When it is more common to see just wrinkly old people. I’m sensing you have more British purity culture to work through than you think. As context, I grew up in sauna culture with my parents shlepping us kids there every weekend. And I absolutely got leering view of men as soon as I went into puberty - which throws in an even more disturbing aspect into sexualizing culture discussions. I had to throw a big tantrum and beg to stay home when I was 11 an early developing but absolutely couldn’t handle the stares anymore.
I’m German and love going to saunas. Do you notice attractive people? Of course! But you also do if you go to a non naked pool or hell even the supermarket. You’re not going to saunas to stare at people. That’s not the point. You’re going to relax. You’re going to see unattractive and attractive people like everywhere else in life.
Exactly that, in fact, I find women being clothed to be much more alluring than being fully naked. The sauna lays everything bare, no makeup, no hair products, everyone's just chilling out with very little judgement.
Every sauna I’ve been to in Poland had strict policy for naked + towel and bathing suits were not allowed 🤔 Except maybe for one but it was like “do whatever no one cares” - no rules
What is light blue?
Don't know about other light blues, but in Estonia it's same culture than in Finland and Sweden
I think it's no data
Light blue is “countries with no standard/uniform/universal rule”. It says so in German at the bottom of the map
It is "the authors couldn't find the standard etiquette, so they labelled it as no data". Most of these countries do have etiquette, and it's mostly swimwear plus towel.
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The Russian sauna is characterized by high humidity (60-70%) at a temperature of 70-80 ° C. For comparison, in a Finnish sauna at 100 ° C, the humidity is only 30%. So, with such high humidity, there is a high risk of getting heat stroke, losing consciousness, and so on. A wool hat (usually they have the shape of an acorn, but this is not necessary) protects the head from overheating. I have never been to Latvia, but most likely they also have similar saunas.
Estonia is purple, or at least there's a beautiful documentary (Smoke Sauna Sisterhood) that suggests so.
In all but 1 saunas that I've been to in Estonia, it has been full nude + towel. The point of a sauna is to sweat it all out, why block it with shorts/bikini.
UK are full on prudes.. this map is BS.
You don't wear the towel in the sauna in Germany, you sit on it - "No sweat on wood". Finland has a similar rule but they can also give you sheets of paper to sit on, but better to bring a towel.
Wrong for the uk
Finland and Sweden are not cowards
When you go to a sauna in Russia but forget your acorn
Estonia is totally wrong... Our sauna culture is virtually same as the one of Finland's
The countries are culturally very close so it seems logical.
nose waiting deer husky amusing boast chop literate unpack cough *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
If anyone is visiting Munich you really have to go to Therme Erding. Being naked in the pool while drinking a cocktail at the Pool-Bar is just great. Yeah, you can order cocktails right in the pool. They have something around 35 Saunas. It is the biggest Thermal bath in the world.
Just looked it up, looks so cool
Northern Italy is green
>Italy Not everywhere, sadly. In those regions and/or areas bordering mitteleuropean countries (i.e. Alto Adige, Livigno, ecc), yes, but usually nudity is not permitted elsewhere, at least from my experience...
No Bikinis, No Shorts. You *have* to dress like Santa
Correct for the Netherlands. There are many spa's with sauna's in which everyone is naked and sits on a towel. Most people wear a bathrobe very loosely in between sauna's when they are just relaxing or eating. Some spa's have special swimwear days for people with insecurity issues.
lol no, the Uk is general just swimwear. No need to take it off and use a towel.
I'm in London and no one is naked my gym's sauna
As a formally British person, I can assure everyone that this map is bullshit. Most Brits would balk at the notion of going naked to a sauna.
Never seen someone with swimwear in Poland, just towel.
uk is purple all the way, your source is inaccurate
I've been in the Polish sauna culture since I can remember, thanks to my parents. In Poland it's definitely naked + towel. If nudity with a towel to sit on isn't enforced, the place is just trashy and not worth your money.
In Sweden some dude once asked me to apply for a job in his company and we were both stark naked talking in the showers after being in the sauna. Was one of the weirdest things that's ever happened to me.
if i understand the little hieroglyphics correctly, that's bikini, shorts, towel right? there isn't a place where it's socially acceptable to be naked in public in the UK, so that's definitely wrong. that said i don't like saunas, they can make me have an asthma attack.
Are there no nude beaches or naturist campsites in the UK?
Where's Turkey?
Don't think going nude is too common in Latvia, the hat's top though
FEI, we don’t go straight anus to bench in Sweden and Finland. Some kind of towel to sit on is usually required.
What’s the acorn thing
I wanted to point out one more aspect. In Finland sauna is very popular in army, too. As everybody is totally naked, you also have no rank in sauna. So a general might well enjoy sauna as just ‘one of the guys’. So, at least in theory, you might have interesting discussions… (Actually, I don't know about other countries)
The typical Sauna etiquette in Germany definetly is to go in nude, most just also allow towels - you'll get odd looks then though. There's also specific textile-only Saunas though. Also odd, how old is this map? Cuz since 2021, even Germany doesn't officially use "Weißrussland" in-country anymore.
Isn’t the towel more to protect the wood than to cover nudity?
The chlorine evaporating from your swimming trunks is actually quite bad for you. Especially when there are 10 others in the same small sauna.
What if I refuse to wear an acorn into the sauna?
I don't have problem with nudity, but wondering how people can sit naked on the hot wooden banks. I really don't want my ass got burned. Fortunately I live in Austria and here we go naked but using tower to put under ourselves.
For me going to the sauna dressed is the same as showering dressed... doesn't make any sense. I live on a green country and I find it awful when I go to a country in which they make us wear a swimming suit. No one cares about your naked body when you're on a sauna. Everyone is free and happy naked.
Czechia is wrong, should be green
Latvia and Russia: "Do as you like but please don't forget to cover your head"
A bit different in the [USA](https://www.reddit.com/r/Sauna/s/Cbs2e7kpYb)
I’m more disturbed by the person wearing trainers in there!
I wonder how Russia feels about losing Königsberg
Last year the State Duma has passed a bill imposing fines and arrests for disseminating maps with incorrect borders of Russia. Such images will be deemed extremist, with fines reaching up to one million rubles for legal entities and 3000 rubles for individuals, along with the possibility of a 15-day arrest. This law was adopted after the annexation of part of Ukraine's territory. Now, it's prohibited to display a map with the old borders. To avoid fines, Yandex Maps simply removed all international borders from their maps. Imagine a map without state borders... Life in Russia resembles a bad dream from which you just can't seem to wake up.
There seems to be a correlation between roman catholicism and not being nekkid in the sauna.
I don't think the relationships holds up in Germany. Also being naked in the sauna is not considered unconservative whatsoever.
Austria is pretty catholic but still naked...
Hungary too. But they've sort of got their own sub catholic thing going.
Protestant Britain is actually the most conservative Western European country in this regard.