ÁMEZING NEWS #30: Marrakesh Photo Diary + Beauty Anthropology
The hammam experience, argan oils, yoga & more!
What a month May has been! The weather’s getting warmer…our bodies and souls are ready to be out socializing…We start to crave the sun and the sea (and maybe an Aperol spritz). For us Angelenos, summer this year will look a bit different and this has been a difficult reality to face as so many of our friends and families are still going through the literal motions after the January fires. PCH is technically open, but I think I’ll be exploring more of the South Bay, Orange County, Long Beach and San Diego beaches this summer.
I’m freshly back in L.A. after an incredible trip to Morocco! When I signed up for Kyle Miller and Kate Posch’s yoga retreat in Marrakech, I had one thing in mind: the hammam. Back in 2013, I was in Paris with my best friend Ana. She took me to my first hammam experience there and I’ll never forget it. Rolls and rolls of skin sliding off my skin! I couldn’t wait to experience this level of exfoliation once again.
Of course, I was excited for the yoga part of the retreat too. This is the third retreat I’ve done with Kyle and I just can’t recommend them enough. I’ve been working like crazy all year and could feel my body on the verge of burnout. Six days of yoga was a huge gift to myself. I find it a beautiful way to travel. You meet great people who are there with an intention to focus on their bodies and minds. This was my first time meeting Kyle’s co-facilitator Kate Posch and she was great too. If you’re ever interested, no prior yoga experience is even needed!
Hammam Time
The last time I had been to an actually hammam was more than ten years ago, so you can imagine my excitement. I visited two different hammans, one at the iconic La Mamounia and the other at Tarabel. Both were absolutely beautiful experiences.
Mamounia was grand and truly breathtaking. This was the splurgier of my two hammam bookings. The incredible gardens and grounds instantly calmed my nervous system. Inside the bathhouse, I savored the opportunity to witness and experience this ancient tradition. Our unique connections to these ancient roots are so often forgotten within the contemporary beauty-scape. Bathhouses are cultural institutions where bathing practices are still alive and well. It felt like beauty anthropology–the best.
We were escorted to a women’s steam room, which felt like necessary preparation before the scrub. We streamed for about 15 minutes and we were then each individually escorted to our private hammams. The architecture was so stunning, tiles in dark ruby red from floor to ceiling. My practitioner let me steam again for another few minutes, then I took a quick rinse and the work commenced. In the ruby red chamber, I laid face down on the tiled table. My practitioner started applying layers of the Moroccan black soap from head to toe. Literally! Moroccan black soap, also known as beldi soap, is made from argan oil and macerated olives, creating this gel-like greenish-black soap. The other key component of any hamman is of course the kessa glove. Similar to the gloves used at a Korean spa. (Loofah who? Everyone should have one of these in your shower. Daily body exfoliation is very much underrated!)
I flipped around and she did my entire back. Once again, from head to toe. She left that to marinate for a few minutes and then I took another rinse. I knew the best part was coming. Section by section, she exfoliated each limb with her kessa glove and the rolls of skin started truly coming off. Rolls! This part is utterly euphoric. I asked to see the dead skin (I’m gross and curious). It was crazy to see, even if it wasn’t as much as I remember seeing in Paris. Probably because my body care routine is a lot stronger now. She exfoliated both sides, I took another rinse, and then she proceeded to wash my hair. I wasn’t expecting that part. The shampoo was made with orange blossoms and she left it in for about five minutes. We didn’t even use a conditioner, but unsurprisingly, it was silkier than normal.
The last few minutes of the treatment consisted of total skin hydration. The practitioner moisturized me with the Mamounia body oil (made with Argan oil and orange blossom). She specifically told me to not shower until the next day. Of course there was no way I was going to rinse all that goodness off after the journey she’d just taken me on; I let it all absorb overnight. Treating my body to such an experience felt really special and made me want to continue devoting time to caring for myself in this way back at home. Literally at home, local spas, wherever.
My hammam experience at Tarabel was just as beautiful and yet entirely different. Located in the heart of the medina, Tarabel’s location felt like a secret tucked away in the city. It was smaller, cozy and much more intimate. In many ways, I preferred it over Mamounia. Both offer entirely different feelings. This was my second scrub of the week, so there was much less work to do, but I kept thinking about the notion of consistent care. As someone whose usually on the other end of these kinds of services, allowing myself to receive in this way felt restorative. Who wouldn’t feel really, really good?
This was my first trip to a country that really takes bathing rituals seriously, something that isn’t part of American culture at all (except in the ways immigrant cultures create and sustain it, big shout out to Koreans and Russians, the Japanese and Turkish too). Even if its not part of dominant culture, these ethnic communities have maintained the role of spas as places for restful and rejuvenating conjuring. Reminds that this space is inherently precious and sacred.
These ancient practices are still alive and well because we need this kind of care. And we need to feel like we deserve it because we all do. My trip may sound luxurious, and of course it was in many ways it was. But this kind of care isn’t as stratified by class in other cultures the way it is here. Moroccan women from different socioeconomic backgrounds and walks of life all visit hammams, making them not only important health and wellness destinations, but sites of interpersonal power and community building. More of this in our culture, please!
Marrakech left a sensorial imprint on me. Friends have said to me that Marrakech’s colors couldn’t be more me and I have to agree with them. Marrakech completely embodies my favorite color palette. The oranges, reds, and browns of Marrakech spoke to my soul. It felt so good to have all of my senses engaged in such rich experiences.
The spices in the souk. The sounds of the call to prayer throughout the day. Daily cups of fresh, aromatic mint tea. The iconic Majorelle blue. Argan oil everything. Orange blossoms in the air. Elements of Berber culture (indigenous people of North Africa).
I just scratched the surface. There is so much to learn, and I can’t wait to return.
A beauty highlight: the Moro Concept Store
To say that I was obsessed with this product range is an understatement. Southern Morocco is home to the best Argan oil in the world. Many of you remember when I used to use Argan oil in my treatments, but I had to stop because it’s so hard to source a high quality one in the U.S. Many of them here are diluted or blended with other carrier oils, but in its purest form, Argan oil is my absolute favorite facial oil. Moro is full of the ultimate Argan oil offerings, as well as a stunning range of fragrances. I wanted it all!
ÁMEZING UPDATES
I have a slightly different summer schedule until September! I’m closed on Thursdays and taking clients on Sundays. Email me as normal for appointments but reach out ASAP so there’s room to accommodate. Hope to see you soon!
ÁMEZING READ
Ready for more bathhouse content? Read our editor Tierney’s new piece in the L.A. Times: “At the Japanese bathhouse, the lens comes off and ‘everything feels more beautiful.’” It’s a profile of L.A. painter Zoé Blue M. and her new show “Hard Boiled” at Jeffrey Deitch in NYC.
“I’m fascinated with bathing as a ritual. It’s almost like you live your life with a lens on and then it’s removed in the bathhouse. You focus on the beauty of the body, the beauty of femininity. Everything feels more beautiful in the bathhouse. Every style of body feels so beautiful. I’m most interested in existence within these spaces, and seeing in these spaces. Allowing the body, aging bodies, different types of bodies, to become part of one’s visual landscape,” Zoe tells Tierney.
Click the link to keep reading!
The body milk with SPF looks amazing! Would you recommend?