In a Finnish sauna, people traditionally bathe with a whisk of soft birch branches dipped in hot water. They use the whisk to lash their own or fellow bather’s back. Sounds painful, but actually, this ritual improves blood circulation and refreshes the body. In Finnish, the whisk is called either vihta or vasta depending on the dialect area. Lauri Saimanen from Tervakoski created a machine-washable plastic version of the whisk in 1993. Plastic whisks were sold in great numbers in the beginning of the 1990s.
In a Finnish sauna, people traditionally bathe with a whisk of soft birch branches dipped in hot water. They use the whisk to lash their own or fellow bather’s back. Sounds painful, but actually, this ritual improves blood circulation and refreshes the body. In Finnish, the whisk is called either vihta or vasta depending on the dialect area. Lauri Saimanen from Tervakoski created a machine-washable plastic version of the whisk in 1993. Plastic whisks were sold in great numbers in the beginning of the 1990s.
