Korean Bath House

I love the Korean Bath House. I first went there many years ago with my mother and have been going back, alone ever since. I go before a competition to have a body scrub. This is no regular scrub like you get in a spa, this is a down and dirty, scrub every inch of your body 30 minute torture.


Here I arrive at Lawrence Health Center in Santa Clara, it's a nondescript building located in a run down strip mall. It may not look fancy, but it has been featured in Sunset magazine as a "find".

I have no idea what any of the signs say! And how did I find this place? I read about it on the Internet. I love doing exciting, unfamiliar things so off I went one day!  You go to the counter and pay your fee and off into the spa.


A body scrub (exfoliation) is $30.00 and lasts for 30 minutes, a massage (body care) is $50.00 for 50 minutes. I get the two in a package, a scrub followed by a massage and hair washing.


I also schedule an appointment ahead of time and request Sue, a woman with the most powerful vice like grip I have ever, ever met. If she is married, her husband is either a very happy man or a very sore man.

The receptionist gives me three very small towels, a robe and a toothbrush. Shoes are left outside the door, this place is all about getting clean. Squeaky clean.

Women only through this door, men through another. 

Pink locker room and changing area with toiletries for afterward. I think that is an autoclave there on the right. A woman comes out and grabs my ticket to see what my services are and gives the ticket to Sue. They know #35 (my locker key) has "full body care" and is here. I have some time in the spa first though.

I weigh myself- they have a scale in pounds and one in kilos! I want to make sure I weigh the same going in and leaving, I don't want to lose water weight now.

All the clothes are left in the locker, I have my robe on and a couple towels, with $20.00 in my pocket for Sue. 

First I stand and walk on the acupressure mat in the hallway. I sure have a lot of fun doing weird things on my own. 

I make up my own stories about what these signs say. I will let you make up yours!

Toilets are through here, and in another room a huge heated marble slab to lay on after your treatment, hard, warm marble. Soothing music and the soft chatter of women talking as they lounge on the leather couches.

After I enter the baths. I first shower, wash my hair and brush my teeth. Clean, clean, clean. I walk to the steam room, I love the smell of the wormwood in there. Two women are there speaking in a language I don't understand. The older one spits on the floor. I guess I look shocked as the younger one says something and the older one quickly goes out and gets a small bucket of water and washes her mess down the drain.


I then go to the warm Jacuzzi and float a bit, the two women follow me and start talking. The young one tells me she is visiting her aunties who live here. She is from Washington where she goes to a Koren spa like this, and she told me her aunties (one of them is the spitter) wanted her to locate one in their area, so she found this and brought them.


They start telling me all about the wonderful baths they have "back home" and I ask where that is. Afghanistan. Oh, that's why I couldn't tell the language. We all talk a while about how wonderful it is to come here, only women, be free and naked and take care of our bodies. It's about time for my scrub so I use the toilet and come back, only to see Sue emerge with a smile. 


English is not her first language, so she speaks English the way I speak Spanish. Instead of "Wow, look at how fast that dog is running!" I say "Dog run fast". Sue's English is like that, so you can imagine our conversations.


She shouts "Where you been!? Wait few! Wait few!" and points to the jacuzzi. She wants me back in because she isn't ready for me. I obey. Everyone obeys Sue.


She comes to get me and shouts at me to tie up my hair. The splashing water is loud, so she has to shout to be heard I think.


I will add some links to previous visits at the bottom of this post so you can read about them, each has some different stories about the process. 


She wants to know about my competition and why I haven't been in to see her in so long. She tells me just because I don't have a competition, I still need to be clean...don't wait so long to come see me she admonishes. 


She dons scrubbing mitts that are rough and  scrubs and scrubs and bends over to whisper in my ear (a very loud whisper) that the last woman didn't do a good job then she makes me look at my stomach, which looks like smooth porcelain. 


She turns and tweaks my body into all positions and scrubs every inch, only avoiding the nipples as that would hurt.  I like it when she gets in between each toe and finger. When I say everywhere, I mean everywhere is scrubbed. Everywhere is scrubbed, dark balled up rolls of dead skin cover me and the table. Once in a while she rinses me off with buckets of hot water, it stings as the skin is raw.


She flips me on my stomach and attacks the back, she is bent over the head of the table, wearing the traditional black lace bra and panties, she reaches way down and I laugh to myself as my head is nestled between her large breasts...ha ha only here would this happen. 


She shouts "How you like my power!?" I tell her she is strong, and she asks if she should go light. "NO!" I cry, wondering if that was a mistake, she is strong, really, really strong.


She tells me my skin is very bad, she has had to scrub much longer so my massage will be shortened. She stands me up and makes me rinse with the hand held shower head.


Back on the table and she coats my entire body with oil, I am slippery like a seal. She places a hot wet towel under my stomach to keep me from sliding off the vinyl. 


Hot towels all over, massage, pounding, smacking and she finishes by washing my hair. She asks what shampoo I use, my hair is silky. She then laughs and asks if I remember the very first time I saw her, my long hair was so tangled she couldn't even wash it. I wonder how she can remember me from that long ago.


I finish and stand, she turns me round and round admiring my sleek and smooth naked body. She is satisfied. A smack on the butt and a laugh. She always does that to me.


I go back to my car, it's a half hour past feeding time and I have to be very careful not to lose muscle, I must eat. My food is sitting in the trunk waiting for me. I will sit in the car with the door open, and eat my tilapia, asparagus and cashews. I cannot sit there with the top down, my skin is all new, I will burn like crazy.

Here is a short video of the interior, a cannot tell you how much I love this place. If you are uncomfortable being naked in front of strangers, this is not the place for you. No clothes are allowed behind the bath doors. (Email readers will need to navigate to the blog to watch this short video).

Links to previous visits

Korean Bath House May 2010

Korean Bath House July 2010


Korean Bath House September 2010


Korean Bath House September 2011

Korean Bath House

I am a person steeped in rituals. Oh not the weird kind, but I suppose a lot of people would find this one weird, in fact, I know those out there who are a bit more conservative certainly will.

Saturday morning I went to the Korean Bath house, and the actual name of the business is Lawrence Health Center. I go here a week prior to every competition. Why? It is important to exfoliate very thoroughly so the spray tan goes on even and looks good. All that dead nasty skin needs to come off! 

The bath house has a cold spa, hot spa (waaaaay to hot for me), warm spa, dry sauna, steam sauna, therapy room, relaxation room, beauty salon and small eating and resting area outside the locker rooms.

Men and women come here to bathe and socialize. Good, clean, healthy fun. You start off by paying your fee. You can come for the day, as long as you like for only $20.00; or you can do what I do and pay for Full Body Care for $80.00, this lasts 1 hour and 10 minutes. The brochure say this about the Full Body Care:

Full Body Care is the combination service of Scrub and Massage, this service is provided in the spa area, it's most highly recommended service in our spa.

Body scrub methods are imported skills from Korea, it's exfoliation service. Body scrub treatment sterilizes and removes dead flaky skin leaving you fresh, clean, smooth skin. It's totally provide relaxed and revitalized feelings.

Acupressure Massage is method of applies pressure to certain meridian points on the body that relieve tension and relaxing tight muscles and body pains. It's traditional art of Asian deep tissue massage.

After paying my fee I was handed three small hand towels, a toothbrush and a robe and locker key, off I go to the women's section. I leave my shoes in the cubby, I wore flip flops no one will take them.

I find my locker and a woman comes to take my ticket showing I paid for a service.  Everything is sparkling clean, everyone is barefoot (well, naked actually) and the floors are smooth and clean. I trot off to the bathroom first, they have crocs by the doors to wear in the toilet area.

Then to the communal bathing room where I stash my little towels and robe in a cubby and start in on the process. There are standing western style showers , three of them. Then a whole row of small stools and hand held shower heads with mirrors in front. Most of the women plop down on a stool and start scrubbing and cleaning and chatting the whole time. They scrub themselves, they scrub each other.

I use the standing shower and clean well, washing my hair with their products. The soap is a big round green ball, smells strong to me.

A big sign says "Keep Quiet" and everyone is laughing, shouting and having fun, no one whispers or pays attention to the sign. You need to talk loudly to be heard over the splashing of the water in the cold spa, a huge waterfall is constantly pounding down a shower of icy cold water.

I won't be enjoying this long, I really don't want to stay in the steam and lose water right now, so I am quick. I weighed myself just before leaving the locker room, I will weigh myself after I am done, it needs to be the same.

I float in the warm spa a while, then into the steam room. I love this steam room, it is huge and the walls are covered in big boulders. It has wormwood on the grate so the scent is heady in the room.

Back out to the bathroom one last time and as I walk through the lounge an older Korean woman lets out a loud gasp and brings her hands to her face. It is Sue! I always ask for Sue but was told she wasn't working today. I walk over and she is holding her hand out to me with a smile on her face. She doesn't speak very much English, but that has never been a problem for us. I explain I asked for her and she said she works Sundays through Thursdays now. She asks if I am having a scrub and a competition. I tell her yes I am having one and a competition in a  week, she smiles and says something to her friend. We say goodbye, I have to go. 

I enter back into the bathing area and then my acuma (Korean for Auntie) comes out in her black lace panties and bra and leads me to the massage table. There are three tables, this is no private matter. Anyone who is not comfortable being naked should not come here, or maybe if you want to get over this ridiculous fear you should!

I lay face down and she scoops buckets of very hot water out of a big garbage pail and splashes it over me, she will continue to do this throughout. She starts scrubbing my entire body with two rough mitts. The dead skin pills up brown and waxy all over my body, thank goodness she splashes that hot water on me to get rid of it all. 

She picks up my hand and places it on my stomach, "feel soft?" she asks? It does, I run my hand up and down my body, it feels wonderful.

On my side, she scrubs every inch, the only area not touched is the labia, everything else is scrubbed thoroughly. On my back, she scrubs my abdomen, my breasts, my underarms, my inner thighs.  On my other side, legs get pushed and moved so she can get everywhere.

I think my favorite part is the scrubbing of my neck. I know that sounds odd, but to have my head pushed to one side and my neck and under my chin completely scrubbed just feels fabulous.

After she has scrubbed all my skin, she rinses me off and then scrubs again, this time with soap. Then she stands me up and says how healthy I look now. I understand that skin to Korean women is like weight to American women. The Korean women want clear, smooth, soft skin, the Americans want to be painfully thin. 

I rinse again and am handed a small towel to dry off with. Then back on the table where she applies a mask to my face. Now hot baby oil is liberally poured all over, she starts the massage. Again I am flipped and flopped all over the table.  She works an especially long time on my upper back area, it is tense. My calves are really tight too, and she massages my glutes and lower back with her forearm, it feels so good.

Finally she washes my hair and massages my face a bit more.  Stands me up, hands me the shower nozzle to rinse again and sends me on my way. 

I go to my robe and get a $20.00 tip for Huong, she did a great job. Although I prefer Sue as she is very rough and thorough, Huong left my skin less red which is probably better for the competition. 

I would do this every week if I could afford it. And every time I do this I say I will go to the little market next door and buy some of the exfoliation gloves so I can do it myself, but I always forget.

A great discovery as I drove out here was I say Dosai Place! My friend Devarshi always has pictures of himself eating Dosa on Facebook, It looks so good. I want to go after my competition and bring the Coopster. 

The don't have a website, but here is their information:

Lawrence Health Center

3545 El Camino Real Santa Clara CA 95051

(408) 243-1177

Open 7 days a week 9:00 am to 10:00 pm (last entry is at 8:30 pm)

Closed only on Thanksgiving and Christmas

Korean Bath House

It's that time again, time for a body scrub. I always have one before a competition as the spray tan will adhere more evenly, with better tone and a smoother overall look. The ultimate exfoliation!

Here is the front door of the Lawrence Health Center in Santa Clara.  I made an appointment with Sue, she is very strong and knows me.

I am having the "full body care" which is one hour and 10 minutes, a scrub and a massage. I got there early enough to soak a bit first.
  

I walked through the doors, left my shoes in the cubby, found my locker and took off my clothes.  I slipped into the thin robe they gave me and wandered through more swinging doors to the bathroom.

I then walked through the large rest area, and many of the workers were sitting on the huge, heated marble resting platform, chatting, laughing and folding small towels.

One woman looks up, smiles and shouts "You have a ticket?!" It was Sue. I smiled and handed her my ticket showing what services I paid for.  She said "It's been a long time!" I told her it has only been less than three months.

She asks how my tournament was, I tell her I came in 2nd, she said "that's pretty good I guess" "when is your next one?", I tell her it is Saturday.

I walked back into the communal bathing area and took off my robe and put that into another cubby and went to shower. There are three western standing shower stalls, and 9 seated scrubbing areas, with hand held shower heads.

I then went into the warm jacuzzi, to soak a bit, it felt good. I decided to take a very short steam bath, it isn't a good idea now, I want to hold onto all my water, but this steam is amazing, not to be missed.

The steam room walls and ceiling are covered with big river rocks. The seating areas are wide and large enough to lay down lengthwise and sideways, anyway!

The room has a fantastic aroma, they have a huge tray of wormwood over the steam vent, it is not very steamy yet, but soon it starts pouring out, so much steam I can barely see my hand in front of my face. The water is dripping off my body in rivers, better get out!

I go to the cold pool, and pour icy cold water all over myself and then Sue pops her head over the divider and shouts for me. Sue, as all of the ladies there do, wears a black lace bra and panties, it's the uniform.

She splashes hot water on the linoleum covered massage table, and motions me to lay down. I am completely naked and she dons bright green mitts and starts scrubbing all over with a rough substance.

First my back, then the right side, then the front, then the left side. She scrubs everywhere, my stomach, neck, between my toes,  every inch of my body is being scrubbed and all of the dried, dead skin is being removed.

She scrubs for 30 minutes, and in between throws buckets of hot water all over me to wash away the skin. It stings, she has removed so much skin that just water touching parts of it makes me tingle.

Next, she puts a strong smelling soap on her mitts and scrubs me all over yet again. Not as long, only to clean away all the skin.

She props me up, and using a  hand held shower, washes me all over and hands me a small towel to dry off. Back onto the table I go and now she  stars rubbing copious amounts of baby oil all over my body, I am slippery like a seal, she has to place a towel under me to stop me from sliding off the table.

Now, steaming hot towels are placed all over and she starts a mini facial. My hair is up and she alternates hot towels with cool rowels, washes my face and gently scrubs it. A cool potion is painted all over, then a light muslin gauze is set over and more potion painted on, it is cool and refreshing. 

The massage starts, she is rough, and pity the body part that Sue decides is tight or has a knot. Today, she seems to think it is my poor feet, calves and glutes. Thanks goodness! Someone who will massage my poor glutes!

She pushes, squeezes, even pounds with her fists.  Hot towels are applied, they feel so good, more kneading and pounding.

She removes the gauze from my face, gently washes it again and now washes my hair, taking her time, lather and rinse, lather and rinse.

She stands me up again, hands me the shower handle and I rinse off, she gives me a towel and with her signature slap on my behind, tells me "You will do great at your tournament Saturday!"

I walk to my robe, get a tip for her and then off to lay on the heated marble slap and rest or a while. I listen to the chatter of all the women in the baths, scrubbing each other, laughing, not a care in the world.

I love the Korean bath house, yet it always holds just a bit of sadness for me. I brought my mother here for her 70th birthday, we laughed and joked that we had to lie about her age because she was over the age limit for the baths.

I remember as we both lay on the massage tables, she was being "slapped" as part of the massage, and she had a look of horror on her face, until I was slapped too! Then we both broke out in laughter.

Maybe that's why I love this place so much. I have my mother with me each time I go.