Sauna slippers

Sauna slippers — shower shoes, flip-flops or sandals worn around the facility — are the footwear barrier between bare feet and communal wet floors. They serve two independent purposes: hygiene, by reducing contact with the fungi that cause athlete's foot, and grip, by steadying bathers on wet tile where slips concentrate. They belong everywhere outside the hot room and the plunge pool, and come off at the hot-room door: slippers are never worn on the benches or the hot-room floor itself.

Hygiene role

Dermatologists advise wearing shower shoes, flip-flops or sandals around pools, gyms, showers, locker areas and hotel rooms, because the causative fungus may be on the floor — including in the gym shower itself. Public-health guidance agrees: no barefoot walking in changing rooms and showers, with a separate foot towel and no sharing of footwear. Footwear probably helps — the historical shower-floor evidence and current CDC and podiatric advice converge on sandals in locker rooms and public showers. In steam rooms, where floors stay continuously wet and shared, trade guidance calls flip-flops non-negotiable. Facility etiquette in public baths expects slippers everywhere outside the sauna and plunge.

Slip role

Wet tile with soap and body oils is slippery, and the journey — changing room, shower, sauna door, plunge surround — crosses several wet surfaces in succession. Slippers with grippy, non-marking soles reduce this risk, complementing floor falls to the drain, dry-path discipline and changing-room layout (see slip hazards and first aid).

Choosing

Choose washable, quick-drying construction with drainage and grip: rubber or EVA slides with textured soles for wet tile, porous cradles that do not trap water, and a fit that cannot flip off on stairs or ladders. Cloth slides that stay damp harbour the very fungi the slipper is meant to avoid, and smooth fashion soles defeat the grip purpose. In winter add wool socks or sandals for icy raft and dock approaches, with hat, gloves and dry change waiting.

Facility rules

Facilities should require or provide slippers, disinfect loan stock between issues, and sign the remove-here point at the hot-room door: slippers travel everywhere outside the heat and plunge, never onto benches or hot-room floors. Showers stay slipper-on zones throughout.

Choice and care

Suitable slippers are washable, quick-drying and simply constructed — rubber, EVA or washable synthetics with drainage and grip — rather than cloth slides that stay damp and harbour fungi. Clean them after each use: wiping with a wet towel or rinsing off is sufficient to remove enough residual fungi to prevent reinfection. Dry feet completely before putting them back on, keep toenails short and clean, and rotate pairs so each dries fully — the same foot-hygiene routine that prevents recurrence generally. Facilities should provide or require slippers, keep loan stock disinfected between issues, and sign the remove-here point at the hot-room door alongside hygiene, use and ritual guidance, with the hourglass, bathrobe, hat, whisk, bucket, pillow, drinking bottle, gloves, brushes and seat towels completing the kit. Oversight sits with safety and maintenance.

Winter and outdoor use

Outdoor and floating saunas add ice to the brief: foot coverings for frozen rafts and docks, gloves and hats for the plunge queue, and warm dry clothing staged for the exit, with bathing shoes recommended even where summer bathers go bare. Never bathe alone in winter conditions, start newcomers on short dips, and keep breathing steady through the cold shock.

See also

• Athlete's foot in sauna facilities
• Slip and fall hazards in a sauna
• Sauna hygiene
• Sauna floor
• Using a sauna
• Sauna rituals