Eucalyptus, birch, pine and the rest. What goes in the löyly water, how much, and the one thing you should never do with essential oil in a sauna.
Scent is half of why a wood-fired sauna feels different to the one in a hotel basement. Some of it comes free from the timber and the fire. The rest comes out of a bucket, and there is a right and a very wrong way to do it.
The one rule
Never pour neat essential oil onto the stones.
Essential oils are flammable. Stones sitting at 200°C plus will flash the oil off instantly, and at best you get a harsh chemical hit that makes everyone cough, at worst you get flame. It also bakes onto the stones and the smell stays for weeks, which is why some venues have banned oils altogether after one enthusiastic guest.
Oil always goes in the water first. A few drops in a full litre ladle bucket is plenty. If you can smell it strongly in the bucket you have put in too much.
What people actually use
Eucalyptus is the classic. It opens up your breathing and it is the scent most people associate with a steam room. It is also the easiest one to overdo, and too much stings your eyes.
Pine and spruce smell like the inside of a wood shed and suit a wood-fired hut better than anything else. Very forgiving.
Birch is the traditional Finnish one, and it is closer to fresh leaves than anything sharp. If you have ever been hit with a birch whisk you already know the smell.
Mint and peppermint feel colder than they are, which is a nice trick in a very hot room. Strong stuff, go light.
Lavender and chamomile for an evening session when you want to be sleepy afterwards rather than alert.
Citrus, orange or grapefruit, is bright and a bit unexpected. Fades fastest.
Tar, or terva, is the proper Finnish one and it smells like creosote and campfire. People either love it immediately or think something is burning.
Birch whisks
The other half of the tradition. A vihta in Finland, a vasta in the east of the country, a venik in Russia. It is a bundle of leafy birch twigs, soaked in warm water, then used to slap yourself or a friend across the back and shoulders.
It sounds violent and it is not. It brings blood to the skin, the wet leaves throw scent everywhere, and the sensation afterwards is somewhere between a massage and being lightly stung by a very polite nettle. If you ever get offered one, take it.
Almost nowhere in Bristol runs whisks as standard, partly because fresh birch is seasonal and partly because a sauna full of leaves is a cleaning job. Ask around in spring.
Ask the room first
In a shared session, adding scent is a group decision. Some people have asthma, some are pregnant, some just do not want to smell of eucalyptus for the rest of the evening. A quick "anyone mind if I put some eucalyptus in?" covers it.
Plenty of Bristol venues supply their own oils and would rather you used theirs. Some, especially the smaller community saunas, keep a bottle by the door with the dilution already done. Use that rather than bringing your own and guessing.
If you are sensitive to it
Pick an electric sauna over wood-fired and skip the oils entirely. Bristol Community Sauna and Suvi both run electric, and their quieter low-capacity sessions are the ones where you are least likely to walk into a wall of eucalyptus someone else has just made.
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