Buckstaff Bathing

I did something yesterday that wasn't on my bucket list before, but should have been. I had a bath at a bathing house in Hot Springs. I say "had" a bath instead of "took" a bath because it was a very passive experience, something done TO me. If I had known about it before, it would have been on my bucket list. It is a singularly unique experience.

Debra, my travel buddy, and I chose the Buckstaff Bathhouse, because it's one of the two still in operation as a bathhouse, instead of a spa. It is the most historically accurate and is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, 1912-2012. It is also the only one actually in the National Park and operated by their staff.

I read about it online through reviews at Trip Advisor first. I decided it was an experience I would either love or hate. You see, you have to be naked to have a bath. Now, I'm not overly modest, but I didn't want to be naked in front of lots of other people. I never did the group gym shower thing when I was younger. But, I was somewhat reassured of some degree of privacy after reading the reviews. I also wasn't sure how I'd feel about someone else, a stranger, bathing me.

I would say that no one has bathed me since I was a little girl. However, Wil and I indulge in baths together sometimes in our garden tub. When we have the time and privacy, it's fun and romantic. We light candles, play easy listening music, and sometimes I have a glass of wine. And, yes, Wil has bathed me, but I don't need to say any more about that in a blog. I knew this would be totally different from that romantic experience.

Back near the turn of the century, people came to the bathhouses to bath and soak in the hot mineral waters of Hot Springs, Arkansas. They believed it was healing. The water bubbles out of the earth at nearly 150 degrees and is naturally sterile. It is piped to the bathhouses, losing some heat in the journey and arriving at a more comfortable temperature around 110 degrees. Privileged people back then had no problem with being bathed by servants, a far different world than today. The bath was and is a series of soaking, scrubbing, steaming, soaking some more, wrapping, and showering.

So, Debra and I screwed up our courage and went to the Buckstaff Bathhouse yesterday morning. We opted for the full package ($64), including a massage after the bath. The bath without massage is $30. It turns out we made a GREAT choice. We were each given a new loofah that would be ours to keep after our bath. We were escorted in a 1912 elevator, complete with the brass folding cage door, to the second floor, the ladies floor. Men are bathed on the first floor. First, we made a quick trip to the bathroom. Then, in the dressing room, we stripped in our cubicles, stored our clothes and belongings in our lockers, and announced to the attendant that we were ready, each wearing nothing but our locker key on a cord around our wrists.

We were each wrapped by the dressing room attendant in clean white sheets, toga style, and sat to wait for our bath attendants to fetch us. They arrived within a minute or two. Kathy, a middle-aged black woman, took charge of me. She was reassuring and explained everything as we went along. She had a friendly personality. She took me to a another room filled with various sized marble-walled cubicles. The cubicle she took me to was in a row of cubicles with tubs.

The tub was an old claw foot one, long and deep, filled with hot water. My sheet was whisked away and I climbed up a stool to step into the bath. I was told to sit while she turned on the bubbler. It wasn't exactly a whirlpool. The contraption that stirred the water looked like a small outboard motor, sans propeller. It came to life and really frothed up the water.  Kathy took the loofah that had been issued to me when I registered and scrubbed my arms and my back, all the way down to my butt. Then she put a smooth board into the water for me to lean back on and she scrubbed my legs. After that I was left to soak.

The water was heavenly! It was hot, just a few degrees short of intolerable, but I quickly got used to it. The tub was long enough to stretch out in. My neck was cushioned on a towel. The hum of the bubbler masked the sounds of people in the room. I lounged and soaked, nearly floating in the hot water, submerged up to my neck. I knew that Debra was having the same experience in another cubicle. Kathy came by to check on me once or twice.

Twenty minutes later, she came back to fetch me. I stepped out of the tub and she wrapped me up in the sheet again. I was escorted to the steam cabinet. This is one of those love or hate experiences that I hated. My sheet was whisked away again and I stepped naked into the stainless steel steamer and sat on the small bench. The front doors were closed and the top was closed around my neck with the gap mostly filled by a towel. I immediately began to pour sweat. Kathy saw that I wasn't enjoying it and she said I would only stay in a couple of minutes. She did bring me cups of cold mineral water that I could snake my hand up to drink.  That was a long 2 minutes.

She opened the steam cabinet and I was sooo glad to step out. My sheet was hastily wrapped for the 6 foot walk to the sitz bath. THAT was certainly different. The bath was a tub, vaguely shaped like a chair, with the basin for the seat. My sheet was removed and I sat clumsily into the water. My butt and lower back were submerged in hot water. My feet and legs hung over the front and my arms rested alongside. A towel was draped across me to preserve some modesty. It was a strange position, but remarkably comfortable. I soaked there for several minutes, with my own pitcher of icy mineral water to drink.

Next, I was helped up and rewrapped, a bit differently this time. I made another bathroom stop. Next, I was led to another room with 8 padded tables and helped onto one. A hot wet towel was folded for me to lie down to heat my back. My shoulders, and legs were wrapped in hot wet towels. An icy cold wet towel was draped over my head and I was left to relax...mummy style. It felt really good and in more familiar surroundings, I could have peacefully dozed.

About 20 minutes later, I was unwrapped from the towels and led to a shower in my damp sheet. It was whisked away from me again and I stepped naked into what they call a "needle shower." It was actually just 8 normal shower heads blasting me from 4 different directions, from shoulder to hip. The water was warm, but not hot. After 2 minutes or so, the water was turned off and Kathy opened the curtain for me to step out. She handed me a towel to dry off. Yes, they let ME do that for myself. Then I was wrapped into a dry sheet and led away.

At this point, Kathy turned me over to massage therapist Lena. I was pink, wrinkled, relaxed, warm and extremely clean! Lena led me to her massage cubicle where she gave me a full body massage. Everything from head to toe was massaged except for my breasts, belly, and genitals. She was very professional. She whisked away my dry sheet and used it to screen me so I could lie down, then she covered me with it. Only the body part she was rubbing at any one time was uncovered. The room was dim, music played softly, and the lotion rub was soothing.

Twenty minutes later, I was sad to get to the end of my Buckstaff bath experience. I was rewrapped and led back to the dressing room. I went back to my cubicle and locker to dress. Debra was running a little behind me, so I had time to dress, use the bathroom, dry my hair somewhat, and put on make-up. I sat in the upstairs lobby to wait for her.

We left tips for our attendants at the front desk. We both felt so pampered and relaxed. Neither of felt the embarrassment that we had feared. Kathy and the dressing room attendant were the only ones who saw me completely naked and they didn't seem to be really looking at all. Though several other women were there, I saw no one who wasn't fully covered with a sheet or towel.

Even though the building wasn't air conditioned and the weather was quite hot outside, I was never too hot indoors, except in the steam cabinet. It probably helps that we went in the morning before the temp climbed into the 90s and later up to 106. Old buildings tend to be well-ventilated and there were fans in the waiting and dressing areas. The bathing rooms in the building reminded me and Debra both of the bathrooms in the 1920's dorm we lived in back in college, with the small tiles on the floor and the marble walls and partitions. It was all very quaint.

So, I have added this to my bucket list and labeled it "Done." I highly recommend this experience! If I ever return to Hot Springs, I definitely plan to indulge again.