How to properly prepare a birch broom for the bath?

Before visiting the steam room, lovers of bath procedures will definitely take care of the presence of a good broom. However, do not forget that before using such an accessory requires mandatory preparation and treatment. In this article, let us discuss in detail the preparatory process and the technology of steaming birch broom.

Birch twigs can be referred to the most popular materials for making bath brooms. Such natural materials are characterized by excellent flexibility and durability.

Birch leaves have a surface with slight roughness, which ensures close contact of the broom to the human body during the bathing procedure. In this case the possibility of getting burned is minimized.

A suitable period for making birch twigs is the first half of June. Gathering birch twigs is best done in dry and hot weather, because damp material before preparation can still darken. Such billets can not be used for brooms.

Some masters advise to wait until the first dew falls. But in this case you should not delay with the preparation until the end of the afternoon.

The collected branches are neatly cut into individual small billets. All of them are gathered together and loosely tied into a single whole. And they must not fall apart in different directions.

The workpieces are hanged up to dry. To do this it is necessary to choose a well-ventilated room. The birch branches should not be exposed to ultraviolet light. This can spoil the future birch brooms.

When the birch twigs have dried a little, they are carefully removed. It can take 7-8 days. From the dried material form small bath brooms. This time all the birch branches should be tied more tightly together.

After that the material is sent for final drying in a well-ventilated and completely dry room.

When all the blanks are completely dried, they are stacked on top of each other. If you have properly made the preparation, the branches will have a rich green matte color and have a pronounced pleasant birch aroma, which subsequently after the steaming procedure will only increase.

Many masters advise storing birch billets in hay. Such a procedure will prevent the leaves from crumbling, allowing them to maintain their appearance for a long time.

Before you start using the birch broom in the bath, you should make preparations, which are as follows.

The birch broom should be washed off all the dust that has accumulated during drying and storage. The birch broom should be completely clean.

Check that the broom is well dried. Do not steep an undried broom in the future. After all, such preparations will begin to rot. They will lose all their useful properties. If necessary, it is better to re-send them for storage.

After you can proceed to the final shaping of birch brooms for the bath. In doing so, all unnecessary knots and small leaves are removed. All branches that are thicker are better placed in the center. In this way, a solid base for the whole billet will be created.

The formed broom should be taken firmly with one hand and at the same time with the second hand tie it tightly at the bottom with a strong twine. It will be necessary to leave about 15-20 centimeters from the bottom for a handle. After this you can start the steaming process.

In order to properly steep a birch broom there are several popular ways. Below we will get acquainted with each of them in more detail.

Carry out steaming of prepared birch brooms according to this technology half a day before visiting the sauna. They are put in cold water, and then sharply poured over a hot liquid.

After a while warm liquid is poured on the birch brooms and again poured hot. They are shaken well so that all the excess moisture is gone, and hidden in a special waterproof container. In the bath, a little hot water is splashed on the branches steamed in this way and covered with a basin.

To steep birch brooms in this way, you must first rinse billets under running water at room temperature - this will help to remove the remaining dust and dirt from the branches and leaves. At the same time, you need to prepare a deep basin with cold water. The washed brooms are dipped into it and left like this for a few minutes.

Then the branches are transferred to a basin with warmer water, its temperature should be about 35-40 degrees. After a few minutes, the hot liquid is poured into this container and covered with a lid. So all the brooms are left for 10-15 minutes.

This kind of steaming will not take too much time. To do this, you need to prepare a deep basin and pour it with water at room temperature. All bundles with birch twigs are laid out in it.

In this form the birch twigs are left to soak for about 10-13 hours. Then they are pulled out and shaken off well, so that the excess fluid runs off. It is better to use this way of steaming for overdry materials. But in doing so, they may lose some of their useful properties.

This method can be used if you do not have time for a long and thorough steaming of brooms. In this case, you need to prepare a basin filled with water at room temperature. In it completely dip a bundle of birch twigs and hold it in this way for a few seconds.

Then take them out and shake off a little extra liquid. Wet birch twigs are placed for a few seconds on the hot stones in the bath. This will release a large amount of steam. It contributes to the rapid softening of the birch material. Such a procedure should be repeated several times for 2-3 minutes.

Then they are taken out and, without shaking the water, transferred to the steam room and held over hot stones for a few seconds. This will allow the final completion of the material steaming procedure. It is important not to dry out the brooms while holding them over the stones.

To properly prepare the material and steaming it, you need to remember some recommendations.

• Pre-rinse the billets. Before soaking all brooms it is better to rinse a little under running water. This procedure will remove from their surface remaining debris or small fallen leaves.
• Do not use boiling water. Too hot water can only spoil the birch broom, the temperature of the liquid should not exceed 60 degrees. Otherwise, the material can simply lose all its useful properties.
• Do not bring the birch broom after steaming immediately. Many masters recommend that the bunches be brought just before the beginning of the procedures.
• Do not pour out the water after steaming. If there is any liquid left in the container, in which the broom was steamed, then it is better to pour it into a separate basin and use it during bathing procedures. Such water can safely pour all over the body, such a solution will be especially useful for hair, because it gets rid of dandruff and strengthens the roots well.
• Carefully control the very process of steaming. Leaves when steaming should not become too soft and crumbly, or lose their rich green color.
• Watch the soaking time. If you leave the branches in a bucket of water for a long time, the leaves will start to soften and become too soft and unusable for the bath.

Not all brooms necessarily need to be steamed. If you store them in the freezer, then there is no need for this procedure. You can simply defrost them completely and warm them thoroughly in the bath itself.

Having acquainted with all the basic details of preparing birch brooms for the bath and the basic ways of steaming such products, each person will be able to collect all the necessary natural material and to treat it correctly for bathing procedures.

How to properly steep a birch broom, see below.