Massage with a broom in a bathhouse is a pleasant and very useful procedure that allows you to effectively combat various health problems and recover faster from injuries suffered. In order for the above provisions to remain relevant, you need to understand not only the rules for using bath brooms, but also know about the features of their preliminary preparation.
How to steam a bath broom
Fresh products do not need this, but dry bath brooms must be steamed before use. You are invited to learn further about the features of steaming bath brooms.
Dry brooms must be steamed
Beneficial features
Eucalyptus was first discovered in Australia in the 19th century. The leaves of the plant were used to treat various diseases, and strong, durable houses were built from the wood.
Beneficial features:
- Strengthening the immune system.
- Elimination of muscle and joint pain. Bath procedures help you relax after a hard day at work.
- Cleansing the body of waste and toxins.
- Normalization of psychological state. Massage using a broom helps to cope with prolonged stress and relieve emotional tension.
- Acceleration of tissue regeneration.
- Skin rejuvenation.
Which broom is better to choose
Preparing for a bath is an art. Any tree or plant has medicinal properties.
Products for the steam room are prepared:
- From birch branches.
- Duba.
- Linden trees.
- Eucalyptus.
- And even from nettles.
Most modern medicines and medications contain extracts from plants and herbs. Unfortunately, during the preparation of the drug, some of the beneficial properties of the “forest pharmacy” are lost.
A broom is an effective loss compensator. During the massage, in a short period of time and along the shortest path, it transports into the body all the beneficial substances that nature is so rich in.
It is important to choose the right bath accessory, because the effect it will have on the body depends on it.
Each of the brooms is good and has a number of advantages:
- Birch.
This variety can most often be found in the baths of our country. However, how many have wondered why this happens? It turns out that birch provides a deep and at the same time gentle cleansing effect on the skin. Helps remove salts and toxins from the body.
It has flexibility and elasticity, the leaves absorb sweat well. The roughness ensures that the product does not slip off when it comes into contact with the body. In addition, birch buds contain a huge amount of vitamins and essential oils.
Which is an indispensable medicine for convulsions, difficult expectoration and has a good diuretic and choleretic effect.
After such a steam bath session, breathing becomes easier and freer, since a high-quality massage fully cleanses the bronchial network.
It is especially recommended to visit the bathhouse for people suffering from asthma and those who cannot live without a cigarette. Because this procedure helps to expand the small bronchi.
- Oak.
It acts on the skin completely differently than its birch counterpart:
- Firstly, it thickens the skin rather than softening it.
- Secondly, it prevents sweating, while birch twigs enhance it.
Oak branches are rich in useful substances, the only difference being that it has the best effect on ailments such as hypertension and depression.
Large shoots absorb sweat well and raise heat, which contributes to thorough steaming of the body. The result is a deep cleansing of the body, which helps relieve inflammation.
Oak bark and leaves are the richest sources of essential oils and tannins. Thanks to this, massage with such a product helps make the skin matte, firm and elastic to the touch.
It is ideal for people with oily skin types and for those who want to get rid of cellulite.
A massage with oak twigs lifts your spirits well and increases the vitality of the body, since the enzymes contained in oak are a good sedative for the nervous system.
Photo from the site we build with our own hands.rf
The steamed oak bouquet releases a pleasant, specific aroma. If you need to lower blood pressure, it is simply irreplaceable.
- Lime.
It was once called the royal plant. Because linden leaves are very delicate, and the linden itself is light.
Linden is popularly considered to be a tree of peace and balance. Linden infusions are a common folk remedy used to relieve headaches.
Linden enzymes give good results when it is necessary to prevent and treat vegetative-vascular dystonia, which precisely contributes to the exacerbation of migraines and insomnia.
Products made from this wood are well used:
- To cleanse the kidneys.
- Wound healing.
And, of course, those who have succumbed to colds can appreciate linden with dignity - steamed linden saturates the air with a beneficial aroma, which, when it enters the upper respiratory tract of a person, contributes to their rapid recovery. It fights well against fever and improves the functioning of the nervous system.
- Eucalyptus.
A bath with it is recommended for muscle inflammation and joint pain. To restore the upper respiratory tract and saturate the skin with essential oils that help combat the consequences:
- Bruises.
- Sprains.
- Inflammation of muscle tissue.
To do this, water the heater and the walls of the steam room with eucalyptus tincture. A healing “cocktail” of cool steam and eucalyptus is created indoors, which will replace a bunch of pills and drugs. Eucalyptus will only enhance the healing effect of the process.
With its help you can quickly cope with colds. To do this, you need to do inhalations, moisten the leaves, pressing them to your face and actively breathe through your nose.
- Collection from nettle shoots.
Everyone knows that nettle has the ability to “burn” the skin. Therefore, not many people choose nettles.
In order to fully experience all the “delights” of extreme sports, the product is not further processed; the only thing they do is immerse it in boiling water for a short time.
Photo from banyaspec.com
Indications and contraindications
Indications for the use of eucalyptus brooms for baths:
- rheumatism, respiratory diseases;
- tuberculosis, anemia;
- asthma.
Contraindications:
- psychological diseases;
- first trimester of pregnancy;
- individual intolerance;
- serious illnesses, skin damage;
- pathologies of the cardiovascular system;
- malignant neoplasms.
You should not go to the bathhouse with a high body temperature, high blood pressure, or immediately after a viral illness.
Features of product production
To create a healing atmosphere with aromatic light steam, it is important to purchase high-quality raw materials. You need to know how to properly steam a bath broom at home. It would seem that the most natural object obtained from nature should be competently manufactured. Twigs for collection are collected in good weather, at the end of spring and the first month of summer. The best time for preparations is morning. After cutting the branches, they are dried according to special rules.
The finished and dried material is constantly transferred during storage, preventing rotting. Only correctly carried out actions can guarantee the receipt of fees that can produce a good effect. A sign of an excellent option is matte green leaves with a bright aroma. Therefore, when purchasing bath accessories, you need to contact knowledgeable specialists who adhere to all the rules during production.
The VÖHRINGER plant guarantees excellent quality not only for accessories, but also for ovens. The catalog presents a wide selection of products, and experienced consultants are always ready to select the most optimal products.
Selection principles
You can buy a bath tool made from an exotic plant in a store. When choosing a tool, you need to pay attention to a number of factors:
- The branches should not be too dry. Otherwise, they will quickly break when used.
- If a large number of leaves fall from the bunch when shaking, the technology was violated during drying.
- If the bunch smells of rotten or rotten leaves, you need to choose a different tool.
The price for eucalyptus brooms is higher than for bundles of oak and birch branches.
When to prepare a spruce broom
The Christmas tree is not a rare tree in Russia, for this reason harvesting will not be difficult. The most suitable time is: spring and early summer. It is then that tender young twigs appear; they are perfect for a bath ceremony.
Unfortunately, there are no coniferous brooms for retail sale, but the market rows are simply replete with offers of this nature.
Many people say that steaming with a spruce broom is the lot of daredevils and thrill-seekers; this is completely far from the truth. When you do everything right, the needles won’t do any harm!
Methods of application
Application nuances:
- Before performing bath procedures, the bundle should be immersed in hot water for 5–10 minutes.
- If the bundle is new, it does not need to be steamed before visiting the steam room. It is enough to pour cool water over it several times.
- The beneficial properties of cut shoots are retained for up to 5 uses.
To increase the strength and durability of the bundle, it is recommended to add birch and oak branches to the bundle.
Steaming a eucalyptus broom: method No. 1
How to steam a eucalyptus broom for a bath in order to preserve the infusion from it for a long time? This is a fairly easy procedure:
- Pour hot water into the basin.
- We lower the eucalyptus there for about half an hour.
- After a specified time, it is pulled out, and the resulting decoction is used as a sauna aromatizer.
- The broth is poured onto the heater and onto the walls.
You will immediately feel a delicate aroma, which is very useful to breathe during a cold or for the purpose of prevention.
Not everyone prefers eucalyptus panicles. The fact is that its branches are very thin and somewhat weak. But everything can be fixed. It is enough to take a birch or oak tree and weave a eucalyptus branch into it. This will give an even greater healing effect. As a result, it will turn out good and convenient, and the properties will be enhanced several times.
DIY making
Making a eucalyptus broom with your own hands is more difficult than making products from other plants. To make it, you need to buy consumables in a specialized store.
Time and place for collection
If you have the opportunity to collect growing eucalyptus, you need to know some features:
- The plant can be harvested from mid-July to early November.
- You need to choose plants that grow away from roads and large enterprises.
- You can't collect shoots when it's raining. We need to wait for warm, dry weather.
Selection of branches and collection rules
When choosing branches, you need to pay attention to the shape and color of the leaves. They should be light green in color and small in size. The twigs should resemble willow branches in midsummer. You can cut them with a sharp knife or pruning shears.
Steaming
Features of steaming eucalyptus branches:
- Rinse the shoots with cold water.
- Fill a bowl of hot water and dip the branches in it for 20 minutes.
After steaming, the branches need to be dried.
Drying
Recommendations:
- the room should have a low level of humidity;
- two days after the start of drying, you need to open the windows and doors so that the room is well ventilated;
- It is forbidden to dry the bundles in the sun.
By following simple drying rules, you can significantly increase the service life of the finished product.
Creation
Tying a bath tool is easy. For this you will need prepared raw materials, thick twine. Clean the beginning of the branches from knots and leaves with a sharp knife. The main thing is not to damage the wood. Place thick shoots on the outside of the bunch, and fill the inner space with thin ones. Tie the branches with twine.
A little more about the benefits
Eucalyptus is most often valued and chosen for its beneficial effects on the human mucous membrane. Its medicinal properties are able to penetrate the respiratory tract and clear them of mucus during a runny nose and pathogenic bacteria.
The air, which is filled with eucalyptus scent, acts as a calming and tonic. A large percentage of essential oils affect the bronchi and lungs.
Touching the skin, it whitens it, eliminates defects and damage. Makes it soft and elastic. Healthy oils improve blood circulation, and antibacterial substances keep it clean. Frequent use of eucalyptus branches will help maintain youthful body skin.
Basic mistakes and recommendations
Recommendations:
- To quickly get rid of a cough or runny nose, you can breathe in the aroma from a steamed broom for 5–7 minutes.
- You need to start the massage with smooth movements, gradually accelerating.
- You can't make hard blows. They will not only cause pain, but will also leave marks on the skin.
- It is forbidden to dry products in the sun.
Eucalyptus is an exotic plant. The climatic zone of its growth is subtropics. Since the plant has many beneficial properties, bath brooms began to be made from it.
How to steam a bath broom correctly: detailed instructions
Massage with a broom in a bathhouse is perhaps one of the most popular and sought-after procedures. Therefore, when going to the steam room, it is very important to know not only how to prepare, but also how to steam a birch broom for a bath. The detailed recommendations with photos below clearly show each stage of preparation.
So, you need to know that:
- If the bath broom is fresh or has been dried relatively recently, it will be enough to rinse it under running water, or dip it in a bucket, and, shaking it slightly, go with it to the steam room.
- As a rule, it is impossible to soak a broom in a bathhouse for a very long time, as well as too quickly - this does not have the best effect on it. In the first case, the branches, having absorbed excess moisture, will become heavy and limp, and in the second, they will be very brittle and begin to lose leaves.
To preserve and strengthen a fresh broom during your first visits to the steam room, experienced steam room lovers recommend not to whip or fan yourself with it. You need to use gentle, stroking movements to collect condensation and sweat that appears on the skin of the body. Gradually absorbing moisture, the branches of the birch broom will strengthen, and it can be used several more times.
If we delve deeper into the terminology, then the use of the word “steaming” will not be entirely correct in this case. A term such as “soaking” more fully reflects the procedure for preparing a broom. It will be useful to learn how to steam a broom for an oak bath correctly.
Before soaking brooms in the bath, you need to consider the following:
- Preparation should begin at home, soaking a broom several hours before visiting the steam room in cold water. It is important to turn it over periodically and ensure that the leaves are completely submerged in water.
- Then, without shaking it, turn the broom over, placing the handle in the water. This technique will allow the wood fibers to better absorb moisture. Which, in turn, will give the branches elasticity and strength, and also prevent the rapid shedding of leaves.
- After this soaking, the broom must be taken out, shaken slightly, and placed in a large bag or bag. He is completely ready for bath procedures.
Another important point concerns the case when we had to walk to the bathhouse, and also in the winter cold. In this situation, the leaves may well be “caught” by frost. Therefore, the broom should be carefully removed and given time to warm up in the warm air of the steam room. This will avoid rapid loss of foliage.
A bath broom prepared in this way does not require additional steaming. During the first few visits to the steam room, it will be quite enough to collect condensation and sweat from the body.
However, the above recommendations will be appropriate for Russian baths and steam rooms that already have wet steam. When visiting a sauna, where the air is very hot and dry, the broom simply needs to be regularly moistened in a previously prepared container with water or an aromatic composition.
Preparing brooms for a bath: when to collect and how to knit
There is nothing complicated in preparing brooms for a bath, but, as in every business, there are some nuances: you need to know when it is better to knit brooms for a bath, which branches to choose, how long they should be, how to preserve brooms for the whole year without losing quality .
When to knit brooms for a bath
Our ancestors prepared raw materials for bath brooms in the first half of June - on Trinity Day after Green Christmastide. If you are far from church calendars and rituals, collect branches in early June, when the foliage has already grown and become stronger, but has not yet become faded and withered.
You can knit brooms for a bath yourself
For church holidays or calendar dates, you can only focus on regions: our country is large. In some places it’s almost summer on Trinity Sunday, and in others the leaves have barely sprung. So it’s better to focus on the condition of the foliage.
When are birch brooms harvested?
Not much time is allotted for harvesting birch brooms: a week at most. You need to have time to prepare birch branches when the leaf has already turned green, and not light green, but before the earrings bloom. If time is missed, the foliage becomes very hard and falls off greatly in the bathhouse. So the harvesting period for birch brooms is very short.
But time is not the only criterion. When choosing branches for a birch broom, you need to be guided by the appearance of the leaf. It should have a deep green color, the plate should be smooth. There should be no aphids or other pests or diseases. But, most importantly, there should be no earrings on the branches. And for greater effect, you need to cut birch branches with a broom during the specified period, but after a rain. Only the birch must already be dry, otherwise when steaming the leaf will darken and curl.
More advice from the older generation: cut a broom when the leaf on the birch tree is no larger than an old five-kopeck coin, and it should feel slightly sticky to the touch.
For birch brooms, choose young trees growing in the sun on a hillock or near a pond
But with sticky leaves you get a “soapy broom”. It has an excellent effect on the skin: it becomes silky and soft. But at the same time, leave the steam room with your skin covered in mucus. Not everyone likes this feeling. So here you have to choose: either more comfortable sensations with more “mature” foliage or elastic skin.
Birch brooms harvested in May smell differently than summer ones: they add a smell very similar to the smell of propolis. At this time, there are light stripes on the skin of the twigs, which release this aroma. Such stripes are not found on all branches; they need to be selected separately. When you run your hand along such a branch, you feel the tubercles - these are the same resinous, odorous secretions. If anyone hasn't tried it, try it. Very pleasant sensations, although the sheet is sticky at this time.
Some bathhouse lovers especially appreciate birch brooms that grew near water - a river or lake (but not in a swamp). Such plants have long, elastic and flexible branches. Twigs, growing roots or stumps of birch trees are good. They are flexible, elastic and tender.
Branches for a broom should have two or three branches
On trees, the lower climbing shoots are considered the best. They are cut for a broom. It is better not to cut single young ones without side branches, even despite the large, beautiful and dense leaf: it turns out to be a whip. And this is not at all what is required from a bath broom.
If you don’t need to cut more than two or three pieces of a young tree, you can harm the plant. Know your limits - take care of nature!
Old people who love baths say that even in a birch grove you can’t take branches for a broom from every tree. But only from those whose birch bark on the trunk seems to shine a little. Moreover, the spots on the birch bark are not gray, but rather brownish in color. There are not very many such trees, but they exist. Try to find at least a few and stack the branches separately. Then evaluate the difference and next time you won’t regret it.
When preparing brooms, birch foliage should be dense and smooth. Some people recommend trying a birch leaf with your tongue. If it is rough, the branch is not suitable, if it is smooth and velvety, it is an excellent raw material.
Separately growing young trees are an excellent choice
You can navigate by the stem of a young birch leaf. If it has already turned reddish, you can cut it, but if it is green, it’s too early.
The video shows how to choose birch branches and correctly knit brooms from them.
We prepare oak brooms
The harvesting period for oak brooms is longer: starting from the end of June, and some are harvested in August and early September. Depends on the year and region. But even in the same region, it differs greatly from year to year. In some areas you have to hurry: later the foliage is affected by diseases and becomes lethargic or spotted. But sometimes, after disease damage in August-September, the foliage on the oak tree grows back. Then you can also get excellent brooms.
When harvesting an oak broom in the summer, pay attention to the condition of the leaf: it should be an even, dense green color, without spots. The main rule: there should not be an acorn yet. As when harvesting birch, branched shoots with large leaves are taken.
But there are lovers who harvest oak brooms in September. In this case, the leaf turns yellow or yellow. They say it also “works” very well.
For gourmet bathhouses, oak brooms, made from tree branches near which burdock grew, are highly prized. Their shoots are considered the most durable and flexible. Trees should grow in shady corners of the forest and be young: on old ones it is difficult to find non-knotted branches of sufficient length. The foliage should be large and abundant.
Chopped oak branches should lie a little in the shade
The preparation of oak brooms has its own specifics:
- firstly, the cut branches are stored in a shady place for an hour and a half, and only then can they be transported;
- secondly, after the oak broom is tied, you need to put pressure on it to give it the shape of a fan - this shape is the most common, but some people prefer oak brooms of the traditional spherical shape.
When to cut linden brooms
If you want a linden broom with color, you have a week and a half to prepare it. And that’s due to different species blooming at different times. In general, the best period is considered to be when most of the flowers have already opened. The aroma in the bathhouse is amazing.
Linden with flowers smells amazing, but they won’t be able to “work” properly - the leaf is soft
There is a linden broom and a later preparation. He also has a period of two weeks - from August 15 to September 1. This is what experts say, who claim that previously collected linden branches contain, of course, more useful substances, but the leaf on them is too soft and, when steamed, curls and wrinkles so that it is absolutely impossible to steam with it.
Preparation of coniferous brooms: spruce, juniper
The “widest collection range” is found in coniferous species. There are no restrictions here. In Siberia, coniferous brooms are made both in the most severe frosts and in the summer...
Choose a warm, fine, dry day for harvesting. The branches begin to be cut after the dew has dried. They choose the young and flexible. There are no other recommendations.
It looks scary, but they say that with proper processing it is tolerated even by delicate skin
