hankyoreh

The cypress wood bath is a draw in the Huam Annex – Inus bathhouse. (courtesy of Huam Annex – Inus)

A mild, sweet scent permeates the air while classical music plays in the background. Once you follow the path down the corridor, you see three rooms. When you open the door, you find a bathroom the size of a bedroom. In it are a bathtub and a body-scrub bed. What exactly is this place?

Sulis, a bathhouse for solo customers I visited on Dec. 2, is located in the Nokbyeon neighborhood of Seoul’s Eunpyeong District. At Sulis, you can get a full body scrub and then soak in a bath alone. With COVID-19 making people wary of being in confined spaces with other people, bathhouses like this one have become the hottest new trend.

These spas are part of a growing number of non-face-to-face services that are opening people’s wallets. The void left by the disappearance of public bathhouses is now being filled with these bathhouses, new facilities brought around by COVID-19.

The colors of the “Italy towels” found at body scrub stations in Korean bathhouses correspond to the level of exfoliation. (Yoon Dong-gil/Studio Adapter)

These bathhouses, which can be found mainly in the Seoul region, represent a new type of bathhouse, but still preserve Korean traditional bathing culture — especially by offering full body scrubs, arguably the most essential feature of the Korean bathhouse experience.

Like a skin care facility, the price you pay depends on what type of treatment you get. The basic package usually takes 40-50 minutes, in which one gets a full body scrub, a face care routine, shampoo, and a hair mask. Prices for basic experiences range from around 40,000 won to 50,000 won (US$31-$39). If you add a massage, the price can go up from anywhere from 10,000 won to 50,000 won.

It takes Park Eun-yeong, 39, an hour to get to this shop from her home, but she still makes the trek because of the services it offers.

“I went to bathhouses with my mother since when I was in elementary school to get body scrubs. Maybe it’s because I’ve been doing it since I was young, but if I don’t get those scrubs something feels like it’s missing,” she said.

“These body scrubs have been a big part of my life, but COVID-19 heavily impacted me in that I couldn’t go that often to public bathing houses. Scrubbing myself at home didn’t quite feel right. But when I get the body scrub here, I feel so refreshed, and all my fatigue melts away,” Park told me. “Both my mind and body feel lighter somehow, as if I’ve shed a layer of my skin.”

Making a reservation at this place was easy. All you must do is choose which time and what course you want to receive via the Internet. If you come right at the time of your reservation, you don’t have to wait around. You get the body scrub right away, and since you receive the service in an individual space, you don’t have to worry about running into other people.

The interior of Sulis, a single-person-use bathhouse located in Seoul’s Nokbeon neighborhood. (Yoon Dong-gil/Studio Adapter)

Women-only body scrub facilities are frequented most by people in their 20s to 40s.

“Our main customer base is made up of people who have received body scrubs from when they were young, but there are also people who come here for the first time, out of curiosity,” said Park Da-hee, CEO of Sulis Private Bath & Body Scrub. Weekends are packed full of reservations, and on the weekdays, late-night slots are filled quickly.

“Last month we had 600 reservations. Office workers usually make reservations, so they either come at night after work or come early in the morning before their commute to work.”

Users say that they are reminded of their memories at local bathhouses here. Where they bathe has changed, but body scrubs act as the medium to make people reminisce about the past.

“There are people who say that, after they receive the body scrubs, they think about the banana-flavored milk they drank at their local bathhouses as children,” said Park. “We always have banana-flavored milk in our beverage section, and that’s our best-selling item.”

The bathhouse offers a selection of drinks for sale, with banana-flavored milk being by far the best seller. (Her Yun-hee/The Hankyoreh)

Much like in a public bathhouse, bath managers oversee the body scrubs at this shop. The managers, who are mostly in their 50s and 60s, are seasoned experts, having worked at public bathing houses for 20 to 30 years.

Jeong Kyeong-soon, 61, said she got her start 30 years ago in the bathhouses of Yeonsinnae and Gangnam in Seoul. Even though her place of work has changed from a public bathhouse to a private one, she still uses her old “work tools,” the instantly recognizable Italy towel — a bath product used for body scrubs.

According to Jeong, the color of the scrubber marks the different densities. “We decide on which towel to use after getting an idea of the customer’s skin,” she added.

There was no shortage of customers at Jeong’s shop.

“There are people who haven’t been to public bathhouses in years, thanks to COVID-19,” the expert scrubber shared. “They come after they can’t take it anymore. You know how they say once you get a body scrub, you become addicted to it? That refreshing feeling is unforgettable. It’s also addicting.”

“Even I go to a bathhouse regularly to get body scrubs,” she added.

Customers who want to go into public bathhouses but feel uncomfortable disrobing in front of strangers make up the customer base of such miniature bathhouses.

Lee Sung-sook, CEO of Gyeol, another private bathhouse in the Hwagok neighborhood of Seoul, said people who are too shy to get naked around others or people who have scars from surgeries or injuries come to her shop for their dose of scrubbing.

This is because one can take a bath alone in a space away from strangers. Friends and even co-workers, who found it uncomfortable to bathe together, will often go to these bathhouses together and each gets the full body scrub separately.

Those who seek out these private bathhouses think of baths not only as a way to get clean, but as a way to let off some steam of their own. With the drawn-out pandemic wearing out both people’s bodies and minds, bathing has become a way of treating themselves to small luxuries.

Even bath sets that one can use at home have been selling more. According to G-Market’s growth in bath and home spa products’ sales rate, body scrub sales rose 17%, body brushes rose 10%, and mini bathtubs rose 23%.

Ahn So-jeong, the author of “Becoming the Hot Springs Expert” who has made it her mission to keep a record of Korea’s bathing culture, said that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought the meaning and importance of bathing.

“With COVID-19 making it impossible to go socialize and form bonds with many people as well as participating in outside activities, people have been spending more time alone, which has then prompted them to think about the importance of how to enjoy one’s alone time,” Ahn said.

“What people have found as they searched for something that could heal both their bodies and minds, was bathing. An everyday act started to get a new meaning. They say that ‘depression is water soluble,’ which basically means that bathing makes you feel good and cleanses your body and spirit. It makes you reset everything.”

Most of the single-person bathhouses popping up in the Seoul area are women-use only. Shown is the interior of Gyeol, in Seoul’s Hwagok neighborhood. (Her Yun-hee/The Hankyoreh)

Beyond body scrubs, there are a growing number of places that specialize in the “bath” part of bathhouse.

Huam Annex - Inus, located in the Huam neighborhood of Seoul’s Yongsan District, is one such place. Made by the Project Huam, an architecture co-op that mostly focuses on urban regeneration projects in the neighborhood, and The Inus, a bathroom appliances brand, it is a bathing resort. The two wanted to make a space that was built on the concept of “going on a bathcation in the city.”

I visited Huam Anex - Inus on Dec. 6. Located in a residential area of the neighborhood, it opened in February 2022, and only one person can use it per day. The annex offers a place where you can be alone and revel in restful bathing.

The building itself a single story tall, and only around 39 square meters (419 sq ft) in size. That space is divided into two: a bathing space, and a resting space.

In the bathroom there is a bath made of cypress wood that measures around 3.3 square meters (35.5 sq ft). Only available for six hours a day, it does not allow for overnight stays. Admission is 53,000 won on weekdays (Monday to Thursday) and 60,000 won on weekends (Friday to Sunday).

Just who decides to spend half a day in a bathroom? According to Huam Annex - Inus, from February to November, their customer base was made up of people in their 30s (at 54%) followed by people in their 20s (25%), and then in their 40s (16%).

Huam Annex – Inus is located in a residential part of the Huam neighborhood of Seoul. (courtesy of Huam Annex – Inus)

One annex employee said, “When we first opened, we were worried about who’d actually use the facilities. But when we open the reservations at the end of each month, almost all the slots get reserved as soon as possible. You’re only able to get a reservation if you reserve your slot as soon as reservations are available.”

“There are tons of office workers who take a half-day off from work and come here to rest,” they added.

The visitor’s book at the bathhouse is full of the customer’s feelings about their respective “half-day happinesses.”

“I took a relaxing soak in the cypress bath, watched Netflix, and took a walk in the alley in Huam.”

“I don’t have a bathtub at home, so I couldn’t indulge in baths, but here I was able to bathe to my heart’s content. Thanks for the restful experience.”

“My busy daily life was tiring me out, so I came here. It was a brief, but long, break from reality.”

People who come for complete rest, people who come to bathe, to cleanse themselves of age-old dirt from their bodies and minds at the end of 2022 are the ones seeking out these exclusive bathing spots. By soaking themselves in warm water and scrubbing up, they feel like they’re treating themselves to something small but special.

In resolving to bathe once more before the New Year, they’re resolving to find a new, fresh kind of happiness.

By Her Yun-hee, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]