5 Faux Pas in public baths: no. 5 towels

When my parents-in-law came to Britain they were taken aback by the size of the bath towels and they didn’t want to use them. They were concerned about the palaver of having to wash and dry such huge towels. They wanted to use the flannels to dry themselves with instead!

I never thought about it when I lived in Britain, but now I wonder why we need such huge towels, big enough to wrap around ourselves and wear like a strapless dress? Bath towels here (and in Japan) are much smaller. They’d probably be called hand towels at home. And the idea is you just use the towel once and then put it in the wash. I’ve got used to this system now and my big towels have become guest towels.

♨️

Most public baths will provide towels, but don’t expect to be given huge luxurious ones!

Usually in Korea, ladies are given 2 of the standard smallish towels at reception when they buy their ticket to the public baths.

Men are not given any towels at reception – apparently there are stacks of towels available in the men’s changing rooms and they can use as many as they like.

Ladies are restricted to TWO towels (and there are no spare towels in the changing rooms) because… we steal them apparently!

jimjilbang scene from Second 20s (tvN 2015)

So why do we get 2 towels?

After getting completely undressed, take one towel with you and leave the other one in the locker to dry yourself with properly later.

The towel you take with you has all sorts of uses. First of all, you can use it as a kind of security blanket when you’re walking around naked from bath to bath.

Or you can sit on it in the sauna to avoid sitting directly on the sweaty benches.

Some ladies soak their towel in cold water and then cover their heads with it in the sauna to keep their faces cool.

And finally when it’s time to get out of the bath you can use it to dry yourself a bit to prevent water dripping onto the floor and causing a health and safety nightmare all the way back to your locker.

There are even more uses for the towel out in the communal areas.

Choi Ji Woo wearing the yangmori towel in Second 20s (tvN 2015)

In the sauna you can hang a towel around your neck to wipe away the sweat. Or you can tie it on your head into a ‘sheep head’ and pretend you’re an extra in a sauna scene in a Korean drama. (see below for instructions on how to do that!)

DON’T put your towel in the bath

But what I was told NEVER to do was to let the towel drop into the bathwater. If you need to rinse the towel use one of the available bowls in the separate shower area. Rinsing or even just wetting the towel in the bath is definitely a no-no.

😳

What you need to know

So don’t put the towel in the water. But do make it into a yang-mori 양 머리 ‘sheep head’ In Korean dramas people often wear the yang-mori. Here’s a video that shows how to make it!