[Dr. Howard]

(08-06-2013 03:13 PM)The Great Basilisk Wrote:  

I guess i could give you guys a mini datasheet on Finnish saunas...

Saunas located everywhere in Finland; apartments, summer cottages(i've never been to one that doesn't have a sauna), gyms, swimming pools, even on boats and trailers.

Typical summer cottage sauna:
-No running water, water is taken from the lake and put in a container that is part of the sauna stove, which will then heat it.
-No electricity. It's pretty dark in there. Stove is heated with logs.
-Is nearby a lake; if it's an old one you can jump straight to the lake from the sauna, newer are built 25(or more) meters from the shore.

I have been to so many like this that i have lost count.

Sauna protocol:
-No clothes
-No towels
-Drinking in Sauna is ok("sauna beer")
-Mixed gender saunas are ok(and more likely as the evening or drinking goes on), but often you either go with your own gender or couples go together.
-It's not a sexual environment by default, but obviously when naked males and females mix together in a single room, things might change once you go outside.
-You are a pussy if you don't sit at the top bench
-Close the fucking door

Hilarious to see the finlanders all over this thread. The finnish sauna rules can all be had in Thunder bay, Canada (due to all of the finnish immigrants) something like 1/3 of all of the homes in the cities have saunas built in them and there is even a public/rent-a sauna.

I'll second the contrast option, either as snow or water. One of the places I stayed at for work had a sauna built by the lake and after a sauna and a swim I have never slept so good in my life, nor has my skin been so good.

One thing that has been missed, and maybe a finlander can answer is what the hell the birch branches are for? I don't know if they are for fanning or just whipping other people?