The Turkish Hamam Experience In a Turkish hamam there are either two separate sections for each of the sexes or different days and hours allocated to men and women. When you enter the first section or the changing area of a hamam you begin by taking off your clothes and putting on a pestemal, which is a piece of striped cotton cloth. This is wrapped around the midriff and tucked into place. Some people choose to wear their bathing suits underneath. A kind of wooden clog called nalin are worn on the feet. Dressed with pestemal and clogs, you go to the next room where a gobek tasi (navel stone), a marble heated table, is situated in the middle surrounded by marble sinks and taps. Here, you sit next to one of these sinks and start pouring lukewarm water over yourself with a hamam tasi (bowl). You keep pouring water until your skin softens, meanwhile increasing the temperature of the water as your body gets used to it. The hamam attendant, tellak, will take you to the gobek tasi when your skin is ready and start rubbing your body with a special glove, kese. Tiny black pieces will get rubbed off your body which most people think is dirt. This is in fact the top layer of dead skin. At this stage a massage is optional. Next, the tellak will give you a soapy rub down and wash you with water in decreasing temperature in order to make your pores close. Now it is time to go back to the changing area to lie down and drink tea in the traditional tiny glasses.