About water + heat + people
Welcome, I’m so glad you’re here. water + heat + people is an online series that covers the renaissance of bathhouses underway today, bathing culture, and emerging sweat temples currently opening in the U.S. Occasionally I will write about rituals and remedies found in other corners of the world. The stories and essays here are for a wide readership, intentionally. The soak & sweat enthusiasts, the bathhouse curious, and of course, industry pioneers whose dedication to these experiences are doing so much to shape and drive this change.
I’ll feature long form and short form pieces, special themes, monthly regulars, interviews, reviews, and highlights from the past.
Dispatches from the field of water + heat + people will come out on Tuesday and Friday, at least for now.
I spend a lot of time reading about the places that are opening now, talking to founders, talking to builders, visiting new venues, and thinking through the changing landscape as it trends towards substantive growth in the wellness market, and gives new meaning to a cache of local watering holes, whether a cold beer or not is served. I spoke to many founders before launching this because I want everyone who is making this new culture what it is to find instantly valuable information and insights here.
I also want the writing to be enjoyable for anyone dipping into this new wave of bathing culture.
For those just learning about any of this to those who have been steeped in this stuff for decades, welcome. The size of the bathing culture economy (at the time of writing) is $1B market in the U.S. when you look at it as a portion of “self-care.” When viewed as a natural annex to Springs and Spas the number jumps to $40B. That’s not even including the real estate side of it all. I don’t take a position on performance wellness, contrast therapy, or sauna versus soak. I write here, for a look at where humans are now gathering, what the future of ecological design can be for offline social communities that have unique infrastructure requirements while often pushing new permitting codes to be developed, or at least reexamined, and how this all references our most core traits as humans.
Anywhere humans are gathering to unplug, soak, and sweat - analog beats Ai.
About Nell
Waters is really my last name, seriously. Sweat Temples, The podcast Soak, and water + heat + people are written by, developed, and produced by me, Nell Waters.
I haven’t written any books. Yet. Nor have I made a box-office shattering documentary shot by Jimmy Chin about the perils and the adrenaline of the hot/cold soak and building a bathhouse.
I grew up in Manhattan and spent most of my teenage summers in Montauk, Long Island. None of that informed my career-long interest in the soak. Everything evolved out of a magical time in San Francisco known as the early aughts. A new wave of incredibly artful magazines were launching, restaurant pop-ups were echoing the old Copacabana clubs, intimate parties were laced with pork pie hats and drams of smoky scotch, and one could go to an opening at the MoMa (the San Francisco version) and hang out with Bjork at the open bar. It was a period where the coastal cultural center was shifting (slowly at first, but watch those bagels!) from New York to the Bay. It had nothing to do with Wall Street; it was all about size and access. In a world-class city with less than one million people, you could daydream more and with fewer distractions. You could pitch your idea to someone who was an influencer before there was such a thing as influencer. While you waited for 28 minutes in line, to order your single origin pour over coffee.
The idea for an urban bathhouse to be built out of shipping containers was hatched on a step at Mint Plaza in downtown San Francisco while talking to a friend, over Blue Bottle coffee. We’d just run into each other serendipitously. That was the personification of the city, my reality anyway, in the early aughts.
Since then I’ve been described as being “far in front of the bleeding edge of culture” by another pioneering sweat temple founder and builder. If anyone is writing checks from that future and sending them my way through pneumatic tubes underwater, please let me know. I’ve also been called a “pollinator” by the San Francisco culturati who edit 7x7 Magazine because I’ve got a knack for connecting people. I don’t deny that. Not one bit. I love to see it happen, too.
But wait, why would you pay for a subscription?
Subscription Allocation Fatigue is Real
The lack of friction in our lives these days can make it seem like things just happen.
Food just arrives at the door because of one click you made months ago for a subscription to last you your whole lifetime. Underwear too. Basic briefs or lacy intimates. Razors. Hims, Hers, hair loss ointments, hair color for your best look. The list is endless and I assume there are monthly arrivals I’ve never even considered. Chicken feed, for example. Or bromine tablets for your natural pool.
Substack introduces a fairer playing field for the cadre of writers and journalists who labor and research and write but have no paycheck from the company boardroom to sustain them. How times have changed. Medium, for example, used to charge the writer. Paying for subscriptions to things we consume, the ideas we need, the products or “content” we love, is pro forma and commonplace. Paying for something we love or something we want to try and experience first hand intentionally is the friction. Do we or don’t we? How interested in it are we really? Shouldn’t other people’s ideas just be free? Don’t writers just write because they love what they do?
Which brings me to the conceit that relevance is revenue. Do you want your money going to more bots who write automated neutralized content that has no emotional center or to the founders of Ai companies who will no doubt collect on those profits from selling more of their services?
Stop the bots!
Subscribe with your wallet because if you’re an industry insider this series will give you relevant information about businesses opening in other parts of the country and in cities where you might be thinking of expanding. We’ll get into best business practices and professional tips for newcomers trying to wrap their heads around how to work with planning and build departments in your area. Plus we’ll be an online forum where conversations can take place about how to handle new social codes which affect our moral compass as we enter into this brave new world. The most sticky topics used to be co-ed or clothing optional. But this is the wild wild west in our field. More is coming.
However, there’s another reason that subscribing with dollars is really important. The industry for bathhouses, saunas, cold plunge and contrast therapy - bathing culture at large - is in its early mainstream adoption phase. That means that there’s another long tail sweep of growth and impact to happen before we reach a peak. Between now and then the evidence we can provide for just how important this shift is will help businesses gain investors, founders gain allies and customers, and shift skeptics’ viewpoints towards being more open and curious.
For all of us in this industry, let’s show how valuable this moment in time is becoming.
If you’re still reading, thanks. I love to hear from people about the places they love, spots they’re opening, or products that are exceptionally valuable. Feel free to send me a message anytime if you’d like me to consider covering you.
