The Complete Sauna Accessories Checklist (What You Need, What You Don't)

Walk into any sauna supply shop and you'll find a wall of gear: mitts, ladles, thermometers, aromatherapy kits, wooden pillows shaped like tiny park benches. Some of it genuinely makes your sauna better. Some of it exists because sauna people love buying things (guilty). Here's an honest sort of what earns its place, what's nice-to-have, and what you can skip without a shred of guilt.

The Short Version

If you want the whole checklist in one glance:

What You Actually Need

1. A wool hat (yes, really)

This is the piece newcomers laugh at and then never sauna without again. Heat rises, so the air around your head is the hottest air in the room — often noticeably hotter than at your chest. A thick felt hat slows that heat transfer, which is why regulars report they can sit through a full round without that pounding, light-headed "I need to leave now" feeling. It also keeps dry heat off your hair and scalp, which tends to leave hair less brittle after repeated sessions.

Look for 100% natural wool felt, thick enough to hold its shape, unlined, and unbleached or naturally dyed. Wool is the material of choice because it insulates even when damp and it breathes — synthetics trap moisture against your scalp and can melt or smell scorched near hot stones. A classic bell-shaped wool sauna hat covers the crown and ears; a brimmed bucket style adds a little shade for your face and neck. Both do the same core job.

Fit matters more than people expect — too tight and it presses, too loose and it slides off when you lean back. We wrote about that in detail in One Size Fits All? How a Sauna Hat Should Actually Fit.

2. Two towels, not one

One to sit on, one to dry off with. Sitting directly on a bench is uncomfortable and unhygienic, and in most Nordic saunas it's simply not done. Cotton or linen; skip microfiber, which gets unpleasantly slick when soaked.

3. Water

You lose a meaningful amount of fluid in a hot room, and research on sauna use consistently points to hydration as the main practical precaution. Drink before, sip between rounds, drink after. If you're curious what the evidence does and doesn't support about regular heat exposure, we summarized it in What Science Says About Regular Sauna Use.

4. Sandals

For any shared facility. Warm, wet floors are exactly the environment fungal infections like, and a $10 pair of flip-flops solves it permanently.

Nice to Have (Genuinely Nice, Not Just Marketing)

• Ladle and bucket. If your sauna has a stove with rocks, this is how you control humidity. A wooden ladle with a long handle keeps your hand out of the steam plume.
• Bench cover or seat pad. A folded towel works. A linen bench cover works better and looks lovely. Your call.
• Sauna whisk. Birch, oak, or eucalyptus branches, soaked and used to gently strike the skin. Central to banya culture and a completely different experience from a silent Finnish sit — see Banya vs Sauna: What's Actually the Difference? for why the two traditions diverge.
• Backrest or headrest. Small wooden ones make long sessions on a hard bench far more pleasant.
• Sand timer. Low-tech, heat-proof, and it stops you from checking a phone you shouldn't have brought in.
• Purpose-made sauna essential oils. Diluted in the water bucket, not dripped on rocks. Eucalyptus and birch are the classics.

What You Can Skip

Anything electronic

Phones, smartwatches, wireless earbuds, Bluetooth speakers — heat and humidity are hard on batteries and adhesives, and honestly, the disconnection is half the point. Fancy digital hygrometers fall into the same bucket: interesting once, then ignored. A simple analog thermometer is plenty if you want one at all.

Cooling sprays and "sauna serums"

Products applied before you go in mostly just sweat off. Save skincare for after, when your skin is clean and your pores have had a rinse.

Synthetic or novelty hats

A polyester hat is worse than no hat: it traps sweat, doesn't insulate well when wet, and can pick up an unpleasant smell fast. If you're browsing sauna hats, check the material before the design.

Anything you'd need in an infrared cabin that you wouldn't need elsewhere

Infrared saunas run cooler and heat you differently, which changes the gear math a little. Whether a hat still helps there is a fair question, and we answered it separately in Do You Need a Sauna Hat in an Infrared Sauna?

Packing Order for a Public Sauna

1. Wool hat (on top, so you don't forget it)
2. Sitting towel
3. Drying towel
4. Sandals
5. Water bottle
6. Swimsuit, if the facility requires one
7. Small bag for wet things on the way home

That's it. Seven items, most of which you already own.

A Note on Building the Kit

You don't need to buy everything at once, and you shouldn't. Start with towels, water, and a hat — that combination changes the experience more than the next five purchases combined. Live with it for a month of regular sessions, notice what actually annoys you (hard bench? can't judge time? want more steam?), and buy the fix for that specific annoyance. Gear bought to solve a problem you've felt gets used. Gear bought because a checklist said so ends up in a closet, which is the sauna equivalent of a bread machine.

One last honest caveat: heat is a real physiological stressor. If you're pregnant, managing cardiovascular issues, or on medication that affects blood pressure or temperature regulation, talk to a clinician before starting a sauna routine. No accessory changes that part.