The hamam foam treatment

How the foam is made

Traditionally the foam is made by hand: the attendant dips a cotton cloth into soapy water, fills it with air and squeezes it out over you, again and again, until you are covered in a thick, light layer of foam.

Wash first, then massage

The foam does two jobs. First it washes away what the kese has lifted from your skin. Then the attendant uses it for a foam massage: slow, gliding strokes through the soap rather than the brisk strokes of the scrub.

Why kese and foam belong together

Scrub, then foam: that pairing is what separates a Turkish bath from a sauna or a steam room, where nobody washes or scrubs you. In the Basic Hamam the pair sits in the middle of the programme — after the heat and before the massage. The order and timing inside the hamam can vary with the hamam and the day.

1. sauna and steam room;
2. kese scrub;
3. foam wash and foam massage;
4. basic aromatic oil massage, about 20 minutes;
5. time to relax, then the transfer back to your hotel.