Sauna.

I was at the sauna again yesterday. It's always good to go there on a non 'bathing suit day'. (Whoever thought that's a healthy idea... I can't figure it out.)

Something that keeps baffling me though are many of the visitors to the proper nude days. Inside the saunas they're naked, the way they should be. But once they get out, they hurry to put on their bathrobes, wrap their towels around them etc.

WHY?

Do they really think they look different outside the sauna cabin than inside? That no on saw them naked?

Are they scared to get cold even when the air outside the cabins is very comfortable to be nude in? Even for me, and I'm not one to feel comfy in the nude when it's below 25C / 77F, it's great without anything on me and I'll stay nude as long as I can.

The only thing I can think of is conditioning and habit. These people are used to 'dressing' once they're 'outside' some safe zone and so they do that, in a Pavlovian way. It's the only explanation that makes sense for me. I wonder if they even think about it. If they stop and realise what they're doing is plain silly because 'we' have seen them without their artificial additives and honestly: 'we' didn't care one hoot about how they looked. Because the sauna, like any other nude gathering area, is not about checking out the nudies. It's about the freedom from clothes, the ease, the relaxation.

Fascinating.