A Helpful Scrub

“This afternoon, I went to the hammam with Mariem and her mother. The hammam is a traditional Arab public bath and everyone here goes there once a week. We have to go with our soap, shampoo and exfoliating glove. There are hammams for women and others for men. Obviously, it’s not mixed, you’ll understand why. 

I was really happy to be the guest of Mariem and her mother, because I did not know the rites and I needed to be guided. Once naked, I entered the warm room where I started to wash myself with black soap from olive oil. After this first step, I rinsed with buckets of hot water. Then you have to rub your body vigorously with an exfoliating glove and at that moment, all the women help each other naturally, without any embarrassment! The mother rubbed my whole body. I felt that she was doing it with kindness. Then she applied clay on my hair and then my whole body. 

It was fabulous to live this experience, without talking to each other too much, but being part of them, of all those women who were there. After two hours of soaping, rinsing, rubbing, I came out cleaner than clean! I felt like I had lost weight.”