TLDR: Yes, yes. A thousand times, yes…read more
In advance of our trip to Houston, I started watching food reviewers to get ideas of where to eat. That shifted my IG algorithm to include things to do...and I've never been happier. I saw a video depicting their Hammam treatment where you hang out in steam, they soap you up, and then exfoliate you. Never done it, asked the wife, and I booked it. Glad we did, phenomenal experience.
Detailed step by step of our experience to help the uninitiated know what to expect.
1. Online booking. Simple, fast, requires 20% deposit. 10/10.
2. Confirmation text to check if I needed to reschedule. 10/10.
3. We arrived 10 minutes early. Front door was locked but the desk attendant let us in quickly and relocked the door. Considering the level of undress we were about to be in, 100% on board with that. 10/10.
4. Check in and sit in these awesome high-back padded chairs while we wait. 10/10.
5. Quickly greeted by the staff who will be providing our treatment and led to a small changing room. There they instruct us to strip down and put on disposable underwear, a nice robe, and slide on sandals. I'm a big guy, so they switched out the 3 items for bigger versions. I was happily surprised they had a 4XL robe and sandals to fit my size 16 feet. The paper underwear was made of the same material as a dentist bib/disposable surgical gown, and covered what boxers would cover-down to mid/lower thigh. Wife's paper undies were more like a string bikini bottom. We were not quite sure what to expect, but it provided for an appropriate level of modesty. The room contained multiple lockers with keys so that we were able to secure our belongings. 10/10.
6. We were then led to a steamy room, removed our robes, and carefully helped up onto the padded platforms. Once seated we were rinsed with warm water and soaped up. Then they got us bottled water (cold or room temperature, our choice) and left us to steam in the the 103°F room. Sweat, sweat, sweat. They checked in a couple of times to make sure we were okay, which I appreciated. That steam was no joke. 10/10.
7. After maybe 10-15 minutes, we moved into another room that looked identical, rubber mats on elevated platforms. But this time we laid down and the treatments started. Warm water poured over body, light scrubbing of face, and some treatment painted on my face. Then it was really same thing over and over with different parts of the body. Pour water, scrub with the mits, and exfoliate years of dead skin. Years. 10/10.
8. The women who provided our treatments were great, social in response to our talking but not trying to talk the whole time. Gotta love that with any kind of spa treatment, let the client decide the talking level. At some point, she rinsed off the face treatment and scrubbed my face a little more. 10/10.
9. So they keep doing their thing, having us move arms, tilt neck, roll on side, etc., so that they can get to all of our parts. We'll, most. Going back to the distinct differences in our disposable underwear, wife got way more of her upper legs/buttocks scrubbed. My scrubbing stopped just above the knee and resumed above the waste. And honestly, I get why-guys can be/are creeps. It did leave, however, a large area of me unexfoliated. 9/10.
10. After that, had us sit up, more water pouring to rinse off the dead skin and touching up spots that needed a little more scrubbing. Once rinsed and cleaned, got a scalp treatment/shampooing. Nice touch. 10/10.
11. They helped us put our robes back on and we were led to our changing room were they did a rose water spritz and argon oil serum face treatment. We were then left alone to get dressed. 10/10.
12. Ended the experience in the Tea Room where we enjoyed wonderful hot Moroccan tea and some baklava. What a wonderful treat!
Thanks for reading my novel. Hopefully it covered questions you might have if you have never had this experience before. We thought it was fantastic, and it is going on our growing list of "must-dos" when visiting Houston.
