The bath broom is the king of all bath accessories. But only a high-quality and environmentally friendly broom will have a positive effect on your health.
For this reason, it is better to assemble it yourself. But it needs to be done correctly.
Decoration of every Russian bathhouse
It is also extremely important to know how to soak a bath broom to make your bath procedures comfortable. Of course, you can simply buy a ready-made broom in a specialized store with bath accessories. But it’s better to prepare them yourself.
Not everyone understands what types of bath brooms there are. But for a beginner this is not the most important question.
The most important thing is to independently prepare products for the bathhouse according to all the rules. For this reason, we will tell you some rules and secrets of this matter.
The optimal time of year for harvesting brooms
According to traditions, you need to start preparing such accessories for the steam room from the beginning of June.
Photo of succulent birch branches
It is at this time that all plants bloom. The foliage on tree branches grows stronger, gaining juice and aroma. Therefore, it is at this time that it is necessary to collect plant branches.
It is quite reasonable to start collecting bath brooms in June, because the leaves of the trees are already quite large and filled with essential oil glands.
Young shoots of large size demonstrate high elasticity, so the product made from them will be the best.
But how to cut branches:
- Branches should be cut in dry weather;
- If the foliage gets wet in the rain, it will subsequently deteriorate, darken, fly around and curl during drying. Therefore, in rainy or too wet weather, branches should not be cut. It's better to wait a couple of days.
Remember
- Observe procurement deadlines. Carry out cutting of branches in early summer. After steaming, young shoots become elastic and soft, and the leaf holds tightly to them.
- Dry according to the rules. Avoid high temperatures and exposure to UV rays. Due to these factors, the foliage turns brown, becomes fragile, and essential oils evaporate.
- Store in optimal conditions . Dampness leads to irreversible consequences: mold appears and a putrid smell appears. High temperatures lead to fragility, evaporation of esters, and leaf fall.
It’s not difficult to prepare brooms yourself, the main thing is to dry and store them correctly. As a result, you will always have a useful attribute for visiting the bathhouse.
Video: how to prepare and dry a birch broom
Types of bath brooms
Products from the most common breeds
Few newcomers to the bath business understand which broom is best for a bath:
- The most popular are birch and oak;
- Also, experienced bath attendants often prefer combined options, when shoots of different trees are collected in one product. For example, several eucalyptus shoots are added to a collection of oak branches.
Combined version of the sauna bundle
Which brooms are best for a bath is up to the steam room lover to decide. There are no clear rules here. Try different options and see for yourself which one you like best.
Collection rules: key points
Traditionally, the collection is carried out from the so-called weeping birch. These are tall trees with strong and long branches. The most suitable are birch trees that have not bloomed; they have more elastic twigs and velvet leaves. Choose branches that grow in the shade; their leaves are more delicate.
Advice! Choose trees that stand in the shade, near bodies of water. Their branches and leaves are more juicy and tender.
Do not cut the entire bunch from one tree. Firstly, in this way you are harming it, and secondly, it will be impossible to use it for mating anymore, since its branches will become stiffer and its leaves coarser. How to make a bath broom from birch:
- Collect branches from different trees in the same area;
- Choose branches that are lowest to the surface of the pond;
- Do not cut branches where there are flowers, they will be tough;
- Branches should be straight, no longer than 60 cm;
- Cut branches in one motion without damaging the structure of the branch;
- Use sharp scissors and be careful not to damage the cut branches.
Before knitting a broom, you need to dry the branches a little in the shade.
Carefully! Do not use wire for garter, only thread, otherwise you will get scratched in the steam room. Do not tie the rods too tightly; they will not dry well.
Features of preparing a broom for a bath
Raw materials for the future broom should be cut only in ecologically clean areas, which are far from highways. This should be done in the morning, after the dew has disappeared. Then the broom can serve for quite a long time.
Advice! Experts recommend cutting off biennial branches. They grow closer to the ground. They are cut 50-60 cm in length.
Harvesting oak branches
How to knit a broom correctly
Some people do not tie the products in advance, but make peculiar sheaves from the prepared branches. The upper branches of such a sheaf provide reliable protection to the lower ones. Hay is placed on top of the sheaf for additional protection.
And only when a person is going to take a steam bath in a bathhouse, he pulls out the required number of branches from such a sheaf and ties a broom. However, this technology is quite inconvenient.
It is better to prepare in advance the number of bundles you need for the steam room for the year.
Knitting a broom for a steam room should be carried out according to the following rules:
- First, spread the cut branches on burlap for several days;
- Then you need to collect brooms from the withered branches.
Knitting technology
Knitting instructions:
- place the branches in a pile;
- place a cord on a stack of branches;
- wrap a stack of branches with cord;
- pull the cord;
- tie the cord into a strong knot;
- tighten the knot on the stack of branches;
- trim the ends of the cord;
- hang the brooms to dry.
Advice! Don't forget to clear the branches of knots and leaves in the area that will later become the handle.
If you know how to brew such a broom, you can steam with it several times.
Birch brooms drying
As for the handle of the product, it should be made quite long. This makes steaming much more convenient. After all, it will not slip out during vigorous swings.
Advice! Don't make the product heavy. Otherwise, it will not be convenient to use.
How to make a comfortable handle?
The handle of the Russian broom needs to be carefully shaped; if there are any knots, they will need to be trimmed so that they do not put pressure on your steamed palm when you steam. Also, the handle needs to be made not only comfortable, it will also need to be cleared of leaves, and its base needs to be evenly trimmed. This is done so that the end of the handle can be used to tap the muscles and massage the body.
Such end tapping, kneading and patting on the muscles gives a wonderful and amazing sensation of a thorough and deep massage. The handle is made ten centimeters long and strong, so that the rods tied into a bundle can be used as a rolling pin, rolling and squeezing the deeply steamed muscles to pull them from the bottom up, then from the top down.
Our Russian ancestors only after such a procedure began to steam directly with the green part of the broom. As a rule, broom greens were made no larger than the size of a human head; To make it spherical in shape, it was formed by carefully selecting branches one after the other.
The ends of the branches from the outside should never be cut off, because they are softer and thinner, otherwise they will become prickly and can damage the steamed skin.
Well, buyers: if the broom you bought is tied with wire, then replace it with linen twine.
Bath broom drying technology
How to properly dry bath brooms? There are quite a few ways to carry out this procedure.
However, they all have one important rule in common: drying should be done exclusively in the shade.
- When exposed to direct sunlight, the foliage will curl and fade. In addition, all essential oils and aroma will disappear from it. At the first steaming, such a product “goes bald”, leaving all its foliage in the basin;
Advice! Brooms should be dried avoiding strong drafts.
- The best place to dry is a dark, cool and dry place. Products must be hung or stacked very carefully. At the same time, they need to be turned over daily to ensure even drying;
- The simplest drying method is hanging on a pole;
Drying by hanging on poles
- A fan-shaped broom is considered ideal. To get it after a week of drying, they should be tightly tied and placed tightly against each other. Due to this, they will flatten over time. And only then can they be transferred to a storage location.
Advice! A well-dried product has leaves that have a matte greenish tint and a pleasant natural scent of balsamic oil.
If the broom is too dry
There are times when the broom gets too dry. In such a situation, do not get upset and throw away the product. Everything can be corrected.
This kind of bathhouse broom needs to be steamed longer than usual, and then left on the heater. The hot stones will emit steam, which will be absorbed by the branches.
Soaking a bath broom
Not everyone knows how to properly soak a bath broom. Before steaming, the product must be washed and rinsed in water. Their foliage should not be soggy or flabby. Carefully monitor the condition of the brooms.
Advice! After steaming brooms in water, you should not pour it out. If you wash your hair with this water, it will have a beneficial effect on the condition of your hair.
If the broom is made from fresh twigs, then it should not be steamed. Simply rinse it with water to remove any dust or dirt from the leaves.
Oak brooms
How to brew a bath broom correctly? There are several methods to perform this task:
First method (operative)
You need to do the following:
- put the broom in a bowl of warm water for a quarter of an hour;
- add hot water to the bowl and cover it with a basin;
- Turn the product over at regular intervals.
Second method (fast)
It's worth doing the following:
- lower the product into a steamer with hot water for a couple of minutes;
- remove the broom and, without shaking off the water, go to the steam room;
- hold a broom over the hot stones of the bathhouse.
Now you know how to properly soak bath brooms, and you can get down to business.
Steaming methods
There are several methods for preparing a birch broom.
Contrasting. Its essence is that first it needs to be soaked in cold water, then in warm water (40-45 C?). After 5 minutes, boiling water is added to the basin and the container is closed with a lid. In this way, the broom is kept for 10 minutes, after which it is ready for use. This temperature difference makes the birch branches look almost fresh and fragrant. Before use, experienced bathhouse attendants recommend holding the broom over the heater. This way it will absorb steam.
Any steaming method has its advantages. Their main goal is to restore flexibility to the branches and freshness and aroma to the birch leaves.
Proper storage of brooms
How to store bath brooms so that they do not lose their properties? Only experienced bath attendants can answer this question.
If you have prepared products, it is important to be able to preserve their beneficial properties. To do this, they must be stored in a dark and dry place.
The room should be well ventilated, but there should be no drafts. An excellent option in this case could be the attic of a house or garage.
There is another method that ensures excellent preservation of steam room brooms. However, it is more suitable for rural residents. You can store products in hay.
In this case, they will absorb even more nutrients and natural aromas. City residents can store brooms in vacuum bags.
Storing an oak broom using the vacuum method
