Pure health. Honest. Been married for 10 years :-)
The first one hung outside the mixed sauna in my gym (Fitness First) in London and was clearly for the benefit of the numerous Europeans working in the City of London.
"Attention! At all times , bathing costumes are to be worn in the Wellness Area"
and the translation of the sign that hang outside the mixed wellness area of my fitness studio Elixia in Munich
"Attention! At no time are bathing costumes to be worn in the Wellness Area"
The dodgy sentence structure is my fault to highlight the difference in the signs, but this was pretty much what they said.
Saunas are definitely good for the immune system if used properly. You can spend some time in a Wellness Area if you relax between Saunas. This is best if they have access to the outside.
@ Nicky
Going in a sauna if you have a cold in my experience is a bad idea. Never gets rid of it, rather just makes it worse. Go in when you are healthy to boost your immune system to stop you getting colds.
The British are definitely prudish when it comes to saunas. Firstly, if there is a swimming area I would rather not have someone bring in a load of chlorine from the pool with them for me to breath so naked makes sense.
If I find myself in a sauna with a hot young girl in there I am a lot less likely to be checking her out than if I were to see her well dressed on the street or in a bar. Saunas are clinical rather than erotic. They are also damn hot. People are usually too busy relaxing / meditating to be eyeing up the opposite (or same) sex. The way to be conspicious and have people stare at you in a european sauna is to walk in with your swimsuit or bikini on. I would feel more uneasy like that than I would naked.
I guess I don't get what the big deal is. It's just a body after all.
Go on give em a treat
Aw come on Shove, you have a great body, jeez I'd be willing to bare it all too if I wouldn't put guys like Richdog off.
I'm not mortified by the sight of old people's naked bodies, but I'm disconcerted by some middleaged or youngish guy displaying it all obviously, more spreadeagled than a self-respecting eagle, hoping you'd check him out and you can't help but eye him briefly and hate yourself for it.
I agree it seems 'unprofessional' going around nude with your clients. Same feeling with friends, colleagues and acquaintances. With strangers, it's no skin off my nose.
Personally I don't care much for either, with or without nudity.
What I can't understand (and somebody mentioned it in an early post) is the hygiene issue with wearing a swimming costume. This is the reason I have been given by regular sauna users that it isn't hygienic to go into a sauna wearing a bikini or swimming trunks, etc.
How can this be more hygienic than sitting on the same bit of seat that someone has already sat down before with a less than spotless botty? Sounds a bit bleugh, I know, but this thought alone makes me sneak a towel in there and sit on that.
At one hotel there was a group of middle-aged gentlemen who positioned their chairs to look directly at the sauna door and started ordering drinks
Austrians are the worst for sauna etiquette. Bending over in front of you and lying legs open seem to be the norm.
The Zuger Badi's had a hygiene crackdown last summer for mainly young lads that would wear their swim shorts all day under their clothes and then jump in the pool/lake, dry-off and continue wearing their swim shorts. Little kids without nappies were also asked to get one on quick smart or leave.
Did they expect you to admire their crack or kick their butt, I wonder?
One thing i find quite odd and others have touched on this is the sauna at a work place, i used to get free access to my husbands work place gym and decided to go in the sauna after a swim the first time i went, i soon realised my mistake when i was sat there in my bathing costume (on a towel) and a woman walked in naked - i quickly exited and didn't go in again, but I don't work there so no embarrassing issues but do people really sit hot sweaty and naked beside their work colleagues?? I really would not want a work mate to see my starkers or see them starkers - and I don't think they'd want to see me starkers either....
Nicky