In every parcel
The ritual card.
The ritual
One ritual. Five steps. About an hour.
The way it is done in the hammam, at home, with what is in the box.
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Step 1: Steam
A hot shower or a bowl of steaming water, door closed, until the skin is warm and soft.
Drink a glass of water first.
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Step 2: Soap
A thin layer of black soap scrub, or Nila soap scrub, over damp skin. Leave it on.
Thin is right. A little goes a long way.
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Step 3: Exfoliate
Rinse, then the kessa glove in firm sweeping strokes, one area at a time.
Light pressure. The glove does the work.
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Step 4: Tone
Rose hydrosol pressed onto freshly cleansed skin.
Keep it out of the eyes.
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Step 5: Glow
A few drops of argan oil into slightly damp skin.
Warm the drops in your palms first.
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Step 6: Target, optional
Two or three drops of prickly pear seed oil pressed into the face.
Night is a good time.
The blue
Nila. The hammam's blue, once a week.
A powder for a mask, mixed into yoghurt. A tradition, not a treatment.
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Step 1: Yoghurt
Plain natural yoghurt in a bowl.
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Step 2: Nila
Grind a piece of stone to a fine powder, or use the ready-ground powder. Gloves on.
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Step 3: Mix
A small amount of Nila into the yoghurt until it is an even blue.
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Step 4: Apply
To the face or body as a mask. Leave it 15 minutes.
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Step 5: Remove
Wipe it away, then rinse with lukewarm water. Rinse the sink straight after.
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Step 6: Tone
Rose hydrosol.
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Step 7: Glow
Argan oil into damp skin.
We found no published clinical study of Nila on skin, and we say so on every Nila page.
Stains
Nila stains. Treat it with respect.
- Gloves on before you grind or mix.
- Cover the sink and the worktop, or work in the bath.
- Rinse the bowl, the sink and your hands straight away. It marks ceramic, enamel and cloth if it dries.
- It can tint skin for a day or two if it is left on thick.
Turmeric stains too.
- It colours cloth, grout and the basin if it dries.
- Rinse straight after use and keep it off white towels.
- A yellow tint on the skin fades with washing.
Once a week is the hammam's rhythm. Patch test anything new, and keep the glove off broken or irritated skin.