How to clean your infrared sauna

Because your infrared sauna is a moist environment that comes into contact with skin, it is important to clean your sauna regularly. Dead skin cells, sweat, and hair can easily collect and give your sauna an unsightly look and smell. But with a few easy cleaning practices, you can keep your infrared sauna nice and clean for years to come.

Below are ten tips for cleaning your infrared sauna.

10 tips for cleaning your infrared sauna

1. Use a brush to scrub the benches, backrest, and walls of the sauna after use. A simple 30 seconds to 1 minute of scrubbing should suffice if you use your sauna every day. Rinse the bench, backrest, and walls with water after you scrub.
2. For a deeper clean, use a 10% solution of hydrogen peroxide or vinegar to scrub the sauna. Rinse with water after you scrub. Baking soda is also great for cleaning however, some people report seeing an even darker stain on the wood in their sauna after using baking soda. So be careful using baking soda for your sauna.
3. Sweat stains are notorious for leaving a mark in the sauna. You can lay towels on the sauna seats to prevent this. An alternative would be to buy special sauna cushions for your sauna to keep the sweat stains away.
4. Wash the towels and sauna cushions to prevent the build-up of bacteria and mold on them.
5. Want your sauna to smell fresh? Instead of using chemically-based air fresheners, you can use natural ingredients like lemon, mint leaves, lavender leaves, and natural essential oils to keep your sauna smelling fresh.
6. Sweep or vacuum the floor of the sauna every week or few weeks to get rid of dirt you may have tracked in or as well as those stubborn hairs that get on the floor.
7. Disinfect your sauna. As we mentioned above, moisture loves to attract bacteria and mold. To make sure you and your loved ones don’t get an infection from your sauna, use a disinfecting agent-70% alcohol works well to clean and disinfect surfaces in your sauna.
8. Take out rubber mats to clean those weekly if you use the sauna on a regular basis.
9. Use sandpaper to “sand” those areas of your sauna that need a fresh look. Usually, we recommend that you do this once a year.
10. Let your loved ones know to not bring food and drink into the sauna. Yes, it sounds amazing to enjoy food and drink in a sauna but most of the time, these are the very items that introduce stains and dirt that are stubborn to clean. So if you are going to have friends and family in there regularly, set the expectation that nobody will have anything in the sauna that is not supposed to be in there.

Some bacteria cannot stand infrared light and/or the heat that is generated in a sauna. This is a good thing because it means by itself, a sauna can be very clean with little effort. However, to prevent sweat stains, strands of hair, and body odor from spoiling your sauna experience, the tips above will help keep your infrared sauna clean.