The Clean Rinse

Whether at a health club sauna, hotel sauna, backyard sauna, cabin sauna it’s important to completely cycle your sauna rounds. We have praised the virtues of three sauna rounds, yet a sauna round isn’t complete without a clean rinse and a proper cool down.

Optimally, a clean rinse is achieved via jumping into a cold lake. Yet practically, not every sauna sits by pristine rustic shores with waves lapping and loons calling. So, an outdoor shower hooked up to a garden hose works great, especially as one is not able to temper the cold water. If at a health club or sauna with a proper shower, resist the temptation to reach for the hot water handle. Cold water is great for your pores, blood flow, and ultimately feels great.

A simple 5 gallon bucket with fresh cold water, and a plastic container (from a grocery store deli or Chinese restaurant-without the noodles) are all you need for a clean rinse. As a rule of thumb, cold water rinse as if you were going to towel off and go on a dinner date: get the sweat off and chill out.

A clean rinse after EVERY round:

• Flushes out open pores on your skin – ridding toxins, sweat, dirt.
• Contracts muscles, mind, body – accentuating the benefits explained in the rubber band theory.
• Stimulates euphoria – endorphin rush akin to intense exercise (yoga, running, biking).
• Bonus: A three round, three clean rinse sauna: no post sauna shower needed, no soap, no messing around in front of a mirror, just a refreshed post sauna glow.

A clean rinse after EVERY round:

• At a lake cottage or cabin? Jump in the lake.
• At a backyard sauna? Stand under an outdoor shower or cold water bucket dunk.
• At an Indoor, health club or hotel sauna? Find the cold lever on the shower handle.
• Like it says on the laundry detergent box: Heat up, cold rinse, repeat.

Why is the Clean Rinse so Important?

A complete sauna hot round is great for the skin. In the sauna, the body becomes hot, sweaty, and the skin pours are open. Exiting the sauna, it is significantly beneficial to douse with cold water. Cold water helps flush the pours, clean the skin, and then helps to close the pours. Cold water is also significant in that it helps blood flow and circulation. Maybe this helps blood pressure too?

The Clean Rinse Explained

The clean rinse at the cabin or cottage (mökki in Finland) is a simple jump off the dock after exiting the sauna hot room. For the growing ranks of Urban Backyard Retreat sauna enthusiasts, the clean rinse is enjoyed thanks to a simple outdoor shower set up. The backyard shower is hooked up to a garden hose. No need for tempering cold water from the outdoor faucet. The outdoor backyard shower replicates the cool lake plunge.

Treat Every Sauna Round Like It’s Your Last Round

A cold shower may initially leave one nonplussed. The mind is not trained to accept a douse of icy cold water. But a sauna enthusiast listens to the core of their body, not their skin. Standing under a backyard shower, there is fulfillment with The Tucker 360 Degree Spin. The 360 degree shower ensures a complete clean rinse. No more sweat. Body cleansed. But then something else happens. No matter how windy outside or how cold the spring rain is, sometimes it’s nice to dry off and other times it’s nice to let the cool breeze dry the body.

This is When Euphoria Sets In

You can do anything. You can reach for a towel. Reach for a beer. Relax. Think. Don’t think. Talk. Don’t talk. The body is warm. The body is clean. The mind is fresh. The world slows down. Time becomes irrelevant. This is what it’s like to be human again. Don’t rush to go back in the hot room. Chill out for a little while.

Summer Sauna: a Great Time For a Double Shot of the Clean Rinse

It’s night time and it’s still warm out. You take a wonderful cold shower outside, sit and chill out and hear a great tune. You want to go back into the sauna, yet your body core is still warm. After taking another cold shower, you go sauna. Summer Sauna – a great time for a double shot of the clean rinse.