Skip to main content
Massage Championship World Tour

🇹🇷 Turkey · Traditional

Hammam (Turkish and Moroccan Bath Massage)ハマム（トルコ式・モロッコ式浴場マッサージ）حمّام / Hamam

The hammam is the steam bath-house that developed in the Islamic world from the Roman and Byzantine public baths, and the sequence of body care performed there. In the Turkish form, the tellak (bath attendant) scrubs the skin with a coarse kese mitt and kneads the whole body in foam (köpük) on a heated marble platform (göbek taşı). The Moroccan form uses black soap (savon beldi), a kessa glove, ghassoul clay and argan oil. It carries both the religious meaning of purification and the role of a social gathering place.

Traditional massageSpa treatmentIn-depth article

Fact sheet

Origin
🇹🇷 Turkey · 🇲🇦 Morocco — Turkey (Istanbul), Morocco and the Arab world
Era
From the 7th century, inheriting the Roman bath; perfected in the Ottoman era (15th–16th century)（Traditional）
Classification
Traditional massage / Spa treatment
Architecture
Camekan (changing and rest hall) → soğukluk (warm room) → hararet (hot room with the central marble platform)
Practitioners
Tellak (male attendant), natır (female attendant); in Morocco the kessala / kessal
Tools and products
Kese / kessa mitt, foam bag (Turkey), black soap, ghassoul clay and argan oil (Morocco), peştemal wrap
Religion and society
A place of Islamic ritual purification (ghusl) and the stage of social rites such as the bridal hammam
Techniques
Steam / Water / Heat / Tool
Practitioner body parts
Palm / Tool
Medium
Water / steam
Clothing
Skin contact, draped
Setting
Bath / water
Typical duration
45–90 min
Also known as
Turkish bath · Hamam · Moroccan hammam · Kese · Gommage

History: from thermae to hammam

The ancestor of the hammam is the Roman public bath, the thermae. Romans placed warm bathing at the centre of civic life, and baths employed attendants who oiled and scraped the body and gave massage. The Byzantine empire continued the culture, and when the Islamic world inherited Byzantine cities from the 7th century, the bath was reborn as the hammam, joined to the Islamic idea of purification (ghusl).

Islamic cities always built a hammam near the mosque, serving both purification before prayer and the care of the body. The Ottoman empire raised the architecture to a high art; the Istanbul hammams designed by the 16th-century architect Mimar Sinan survive as masterpieces combining light falling from the dome with the heated marble hall.

Body care in the hammam was the work of the tellak. The bather lay on the heated marble platform, the attendant scrubbed the whole body with a coarse woven mitt called kese, then kneaded the body under silky foam poured from a lathered cloth bag. This sequence is the prototype of what is now called 'Turkish massage'. In the 18th and 19th centuries European travellers popularised it as the 'Turkish bath', and imitation baths were built in London and beyond.

Culture: purification, society, rites of passage

Hammams have been places to bathe, gather and talk. Customs such as visits before a wedding exist, while arrangements for access, time and gender vary by community and facility.

Turkish kese and foam work, and Moroccan black soap, kessa and clay-based care have their own terms and contexts. One spa menu should not be presented as an ancient ritual or fixed sequence shared by every hammam.

Rinsing is described as a washing stage. The unsupported label “temperature work” is not used as a standard technique name. Temperature, rubbing and opportunities to rest should be discussed with the recipient.

Development: into the world's spas

In the second half of the 20th century, public hammams declined as home bathrooms spread, but from the 1990s the spa industry rediscovered the hammam as an experience of heat, exfoliation and foam-and-oil massage. Luxury hotel spas built hammam rooms with heated marble platforms, and Moroccan black soap, ghassoul and argan oil became global spa products.

Historic hammams in Istanbul and Marrakech have been restored as tourist attractions, offering the traditional skills of the tellak to visitors, while modest neighbourhood hammams continue to serve local life.

Research discusses the effects of heat and exfoliation on the skin and of warm bathing on circulation and sleep, but studies of the hammam's specific treatments are few. Cautions stem from the hot, humid environment: cardiovascular disease, low blood pressure, pregnancy, dehydration and skin inflammation or wounds call for care.

The hammam today

A modern hammam experience lasts 45 to 90 minutes: 15 to 20 minutes warming in the hot room, then on the marble platform exfoliation (kese or kessa), foam or black-soap massage, rinsing, and finally an oil massage and tea in the rest room. The Turkish form is marked by foam kneading, the Moroccan by black soap, clay and argan oil.

The attendant's skill lies in gliding the mitt at a constant pressure and direction to remove only dead skin without harming it, in raising foam thick and even enough to cover the body, in kneading with the whole palm without slipping on wet skin, and in managing temperature and water (the warmth and quantity of each rinse).

Signature moves

Descriptions introduce ways of touch, not instructions to reproduce them. Practice varies by lineage, practitioner and recipient.

  • Kese / kessa exfoliation

    Long strokes with the coarse mitt to lift dead skin; constant pressure and direction.

  • Foam massage (köpük)

    Silky foam poured from a lathered bag and kneaded with the palms; the Turkish emblem.

  • Black soap (savon beldi)

    Olive-based soap spread and left to penetrate in the steam; the Moroccan opening.

  • Ghassoul clay pack

    Clay from the Atlas mountains to condition the skin.

  • Rinsing

    Rinses of varying warmth and volume to guide the body's response.

  • Oil massage in the rest room

    A finish with argan or other oils.

One possible session

An example centred on conversation and consent—not a prescribed sequence, duration or self-treatment guide.

  1. Warm in the hot room

    15–20 minutes to soften the skin.

  2. Exfoliation on the stone platform

    Whole body with kese or kessa.

  3. Foam or black-soap massage

    Kneading and pressure on wet skin.

  4. Rinse and pack

    Ghassoul in the Moroccan form.

  5. Oil and tea in the rest room

    Rest wrapped in a peştemal.

Related competition categories

Competition scores assess a performance under that event’s rules—not the value of a technique or culture. Consult the official rules for eligibility and judging criteria.

Freestyle Western

Rules and judging criteria for this category →Practices related to this category →Explore official competition records →Meet the judges →View seminar information →

Related forms and lineages

Frequently asked questions

Q.How do the Turkish and Moroccan forms differ?

The Turkish form exfoliates with a kese and kneads in foam on a heated marble platform; the Moroccan form applies black soap in the steam, exfoliates with a kessa glove and finishes with ghassoul clay and argan oil. The architecture and the idea of purification are shared.

Q.Is hammam massage strong?

Exfoliation is fairly firm friction; foam massage is medium kneading. Traditional tellak work is known for vigour, but modern spas moderate it.

Q.Who should avoid it?

Anyone for whom heat and humidity are a strain: cardiovascular disease, low blood pressure, pregnancy, dehydration, and people with skin inflammation or wounds. Seek medical advice.

Glossary

ギョベクタシュGöbek taşı
The heated marble platform at the centre of the hot room; 'navel stone'.
テッラク／ナトゥルTellak / Natır
Male / female bath attendant.
ケセ／ケッサKese / Kessa
The coarse exfoliating mitt.
サボン・ベルディSavon beldi
Moroccan olive-based black soap.
ペシュテマルPeştemal
The thin woven wrap worn in the bath.

Sources & references

This article draws on the following primary sources, official bodies, scholarship and organisations.

  1. [1]Çemberlitaş Hamamı (1584, Mimar Sinan), Istanbul — historic bath, architectural recordPrimary source
  2. [2]Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism — Ottoman bath architectureOfficial body
  3. [3]Sibley, Magda. 'The historic hammams of Damascus and Fez: lessons of sustainability and future developments'. PLEA conference papers.Academic
  4. [4]Ergin, Nina (ed.). Bathing Culture of Anatolian Civilizations. Peeters, 2011.Academic

About this article

Edited from published sources. Listing sources does not mean community or specialist review is complete, or that benefits are established. We welcome practitioners’ perspectives on names, descriptions, additions and corrections.

Share a perspective or correction
Edited by
Massage Championship World Tour
Last updated

Technique-specific visuals require content, source and usage review before publication. Generated illustrations must be labelled as illustrative, never presented as documentary photographs of people, interviews or practice.

Related techniques