The Magic of the Korean Spa

A trip to Chicago recently gave us the opportunity to try the saunas or, more correctly, the jjimjilbangs (hot rooms) and other amenities at King Spa, a Korean style spa in the suburb of Niles. We arrived with a coupon deal in hand that reduced the entry fee from $75 to $45 each. We received wristbands that would allow us to easily tack on à la carte services throughout our stay. Jack and I parted ways at the gender separated dressing rooms to embark on the adventure that is the Korean(-American) spa.

Once you’re checked in, the next step is to start removing clothing: first shoes which are not allowed in the dressing rooms and beyond. Nakedness is next as you start your visit with the wet room, a large, open area featuring several hot tubs, a cold water tub, a steam room and showers of two kinds: standing and seated. After a shower and a soak, I decided to try the full body scrub ($100). 

A lady named “Barbie” in a black two piece bathing suit took me by the hand and, without a single word of English, set me up on a table, swaddled my head with a towel so I could close my eyes and relax and proceeded to energetically scrub my entire body for 40 minutes. I was rinsed and sent to a shower where I marveled at the new softness of my skin.

Relaxed and ready for anything, I next changed into the spa uniform of baggy shorts and tee-shirt and entered the huge lounge area edged with hot rooms. A number of people were relaxing in easy chairs, reading, knitting, dozing. Cell phones are permitted but a quiet atmosphere is required. I met up with Jack and we proceeded to visit each of the jjimjilbangs, the themed hot rooms.

These rooms are where the magic happens, or at least the magical thinking. Each has an interior that imparts something special when heated. Unlike a sauna where you sit on a bench, here you enter and lie on the floor for a period of time—that’s where the heat is. The King Spa jjimjilbangs use under-the-floor heating based on the traditional Korean ondol system of heating rooms. 

Each room is labeled and has some description near the door. A big part of the scheme involves the benefits of things such as “far-infrared radiation” and “negative ions” that emanate from rocks and other materials. This is similar to a Finnish sauna that uses rocks to radiate heat. Rock hound that I am, I was delighted to discover that King Spa is rolling in amethyst, the national gemstone of Korea. Not only was there amethyst embedded in the walls of several hot rooms but the lounge area featured many beautiful, towering geodes of the purple rock. 

The Finns favor dark, ordinary volcanic rocks for their heaters. Are there special health benefits to amethyst crystals and other minerals as presented in the Korean spa? I can’t say but ever since my grandfather handed me a quartz crystal at a young age I was hooked on their magic. I love having rocks and crystals around just in case, besides their beauty, they are exuding some yet unmeasured goodness.

Hinoki & Amethyst Room

Of course there was a hot room dedicated to amethyst. The walls were a mosaic of crystals. It had the added feature of a carpet of hinoki cypress cubes. These tiny blocks of wood were not as uncomfortable to lie upon as they looked. Just as a walk in the forest is supposed to be mood-boosting due to the aromatherapy of the trees, I expected this hot room to impart a woodsy fragrance--it was not as refreshing as a sauna in the woods by the lake.

Bul Ga Ma

This was a large, brightly lit room heated by special stone bricks stacked on a flatbed trolley that rolled out of an oven on tracks. The bricks are made from elvan, described as a “living stone” because of its superior ability to “absorb, radiate, and intensify heat.” Of course the room was also embellished with plenty of amethyst.  

Base Rock Room 

Another room where the stone is the star is the Base Rock Room. Siraka, a stone imported from Japan, is said to have special healing abilities. This room consists of siraka stone slab beds, surrounded by amethyst, of course. The stones are pretty hot so you must lie down on a mat  It felt like a giant heating pad for my back. 

The Pyramid Room

This mini pyramid room was decorated with a nod to ancient Egypt. The interior walls are covered with “genuine 23K gold leaves imported from Germany.” As we lay there I couldn’t help but think back to the 1970’s and the notion that the pyramids could keep seeds and mummies viable for thousands of years. I tried to soak in the preservative vibes.

Salt Room, 

This hive shaped room built of pinkish salt bricks had a nice feeling. Halotherapy is a popular trend right now and this dry heated room is not so different from a salt sauna. According to the website for The Salt Cave, Mpls, salt rooms are good for the respiratory system as well as other things.

Yellow-Soil Crystal Room  

Special mud imported from Korea makes up the walls of this room with bubbling blue oxygen lamps. “The absorptive nature of the yellow soil” is believed to extract toxins from the body. Of course, I have used mud or clay masks on my face so in this hot room, I imagined there was some benefit for my freshly sloughed skin.

Charcoal Room 

Without getting into the science of it, the negative ions present in this room purify the air thanks to walls covered in amethyst geodes surrounded by logs of charcoal. I wonder if a savusauna with its smoke-blackened walls provides the same effect.

Fire Sudatorium 

This was the hottest room and perhaps the most authentic when it comes to the tradition of jjimjilbang. You are given a mat to sit on before you pass through a low door into a close, dimly lit hut. Sudatorium is a Latin word for sweating room. Compared to the gentle heat of the other rooms, this was definitely a room where I broke a sweat pretty quickly. I longed for a ladle of water to make a cloud of löyly. 

Ice Room

Adjacent to the suditorium was the Ice Room. I think that it is meant to offer some thermic cycling from hot to cold but it was nothing like a plunge into cold water. lt felt like stepping into a fridge strangely lit with black light.

There are even more ways to relax at King Spa. Upstairs there were areas for people to recline and meditate or nap. There is a movie theatre, a spa where you can get facials and massages and a cafe that serves decent but over-priced Korean food. We spent several hours checking out this veritable Disneyland of a spa and enjoyed our day. There were similarities to Finnish sauna: the bathing, the heat, the use of stones. However, it was different in a most essential way: it was all indoors. Where was the feeling, as Eero Kilpi, champion of Finnish sauna tradition, has put it, "of being at one with nature?” Somewhere beyond the parking lot.

On my way out of the dressing room I noted one more amenity: the V-Steam. You sit on a special chair that positions you above a bowl that contains herbs steeped in hot water for a vaginal steam. What really caught my eye was the centipede infused v-steam. There’s always next time.