The herbal bath in Sapa is an opportunity to experience the health care culture of Vietnam and ethnic minorities.

The Dao Do Ethnic Group is one of the 54 ethnic groups that inhabit Vietnam. In the 18th century, Dao Do villages moved to the high highlands of Sapa, carrying with them their own social structures, language, costumes, and rituals, including health rites. The Dao Do people are well known for their healing bath products prepared from wild-harvested medicinal plants. Every household has a unique herbal bath recipe that is kept by the women and passed down through generations from mother to daughter.

Benefit of Red Dao Herbal Bathing

One week after giving birth, women in the Dao Do community take a bath with medicinal plants to regain their health. In Sapa winters, bath water is also used to treat muscle and bone discomfort and prevent colds and flu.

Those with medical manufacturing experience claim that the Red Dao processes between 10 and 120 distinct varieties of medicinal stems and leaves for each bath cure. Each type of herb to promote the best use must have a different preparation method. There are types that are properly dried or star-dried, or used fresh for best results. Certain uncommon plants must be dried before being stored in the kitchen attic year-round. They are typically bundled up in little handfuls.

How to bath

In a round wooden barrel, bathing water is combined with medicinal water and cooled to a comfortable temperature. A huge pot is filled with chopped fresh or dried medicinal plants, which are continually cooked for 30 to 45 minutes with firewood until the water turns blood red and becomes thick like wine.

The quality of the bath is important; it must be made from pomu wood, a kind of wood with the unique aroma of essential oils, lovely wood grain, and high durability. Po mu wood has a lovely aroma, and when mixed with hot water in a bath, it will increase all of the remedy's qualities.

The Red Dao people frequently organize their bathrooms in compact, enclosed spaces so that bathers can breathe in and savor the aromatic steam from the bath. Just before the bath begins, you can add orange peel, star anise, and lemon leaves to enhance the smell.

When you find the water is hot enough for you, then step in to soak in the bath, breathe in the fragrant aroma, more and more you hear your body "relaxing" in a refreshing way.

Due to the water's temperature, there is a burning feeling for the first few minutes. The smell of leaves then rushes to our noses, eyes, and mouths, giving us a rather uneasy feeling. Yet, all of the senses quickly started to feel floating and smooth. On his forehead, sweat beads formed. The muscles are relaxed like a rope. When that happens, you'll notice that your mind is clear, at ease, and light, that your complexion is rosy and fresh, and that your body is clean and pure, as if someone just cleansed it.

Bathing with Red Dao medicinal leaves is not only a way for the ethnic group to take care of its health, but it is also a part of the Dao people's cultural identity.