The list of contraindications in that article was created by analysis of various sources on the Internet, as I have no medical education, so I cannot judge the validity of recommendations myself. Some websites don’t consider menstruation and implants a contraindication, so this is an unresolved question.

For menstruation, use of infrared sauna can increase menstrual flow. The popular opinion is that it’s a woman’s choice to take or not to take sauna sessions during that period, because some women find heat relieving and some don’t like it.

For implants, it’s harder to tell. I see no obvious reasons why implants should be prohibited in an infrared sauna, because they are unlikely to heat more than body tissues, but there is a variety of implant types and materials and effects of infrared heating can be unpredictable.

So, probably, implants and menstruation are not contraindications. But you should consult a specialist first and take sauna with caution in the beginning.

And finally a notice have appeared on infraredsauna.net stating that the new saunas have arrived:

The new saunas have arrived and I’ve been very pleased with the positive feedback I’ve had from the practitioners who are using them with their patients/clients. If you’re interested in this new sauna, please give me a call and I’d be happy to send you some information on them and answer any questions you may have.

However, it is the only mention of the new models on the whole website. No details are disclosed, the only thing known is that the new saunas have use carbon infrared heaters. I hope there will appear more information soon.

Klaus,
First, I want to thank you for this extensive explanation of principles behind the traditional Finnish sauna. Indeed, the key qualities of the traditional sauna are low humidity combined with high temperature. With higher humidity you’ll get the hammam (the Turkish bath) or the Russian banya. There is also a spa product, steam bath, which uses a lot of steam.

Now about “an infrared sauna … heats you more deeply than steam sauna” statement. It was my opinion back in 2005, when this post was written, I had less knowledge about both infrared and traditional saunas. Now, I know more and it makes sense to explain my current view.

Does the infrared sauna heat you deeper than the traditional one? As I think now, this question is not correct. What is “deeper”? Is 2 °C increase in core temperature “deeper” than 1 °C increase? Both saunas increase core temperature, depending on session length.

Depth of the layer of superficial tissues which has higher than core temperature can be taken as a measure of penetration. But this depth is mainly a function of thermoregulatory response or a human body and the total heat coming from outside. There is no difference if heat comes from infrared heaters or from extremely hot sauna air.

More than that, the Finnish sauna takes only about 10 minutes to increase the body temperature by 1 °C, while the typical infrared sauna needs about 30 minutes for that. To me it means than the traditional sauna provides more heat to a body in a given period of time. Someone may argue that the infrared one can rise core temperature more than 1 °C, which is unlikely, not only because there is no hard data supporting this claim (for the common infrared cabins, not for the medical devices for causing hyperthermia), but also because the common practice for the traditional sauna is to cool down after 10 minutes. More than 1 °C increase in core temperature is not advised both for the infrared and traditional saunas.

I see the difference between these saunas in the way they act. The traditional sauna is like a shock for a body. It gives a quick rise in temperature, and body should respond immediately with sweating and increased circulation.

In the infrared sauna, temperature increase occurs more gradually. There is no need for a quick thermoregulatory response. As a side effect, you can lose more sweat in the infrared cabin, because you spend there 30 minutes instead of 10 (on average). It doesn’t mean, however, that you will sweat three times more.

First thing you can do is to find the pictures of the model itself. Same model can exist in several modifications which use different wood types. Do not forget about other important aspects of wood such as toxicity and smell.

Looking at sauna pictures is a step in a right direction, but it is not enough. The fact is that many websites use “enhanced” pictures of a sauna, which were made to look good with image processing tools, like Photoshop. Many pictures are made too small to make out the details. So, if you order a sauna based only on digital pictures there can be a big disappointment when a sauna arrives. It may look completely different.

Think if you can find a place where you can see and try models you have selected. It is a best option I think. But if you can’t find a specific infrared sauna model in your neighborhood, you can look at real samples of wood of which it is made. Visit some woodworking and furniture shops and look at wood your future sauna is made of. Also you can try to find sample pictures on the Internet, using picture search on Google, Yahoo or other search engines. There are some specialized resources on the Web as well:

Common Furniture Woods - an article describing furniture woods with samples
Wood Profiles - a big list of wood profiles
WoodSampler - samples of wood from Woodwokers Association
Choosing wood for your furniture - another good article about furniture woods

Choosing wood can become entertaining in itself. Variety of wood colors and patterns is fascinating. I wish you enjoy your sauna not by only sitting in but also by looking at it.

Sam’ Club Schedule
Road Show Schedule

Here is how SaunaGen official website describe what enhancements new saunas have:

What does separate The Royal Sauna Series from other competitors? The new design of the Royal Sauna provides the end user optimum use of infrared heat from the front, back and lower side, and the angled infrared sauna. The most direct contacts the end user receives from all infrared saunas are from the back heaters. Royal Sauna has now angled its front heaters directly towards the end user.

Front heaters become angled, and it is a good change from my point of view, since a person taking a sauna will get more even exposure to infrared. Other changes are rather cosmetic - a color therapy, an improved design and so on. Heater type is ceramic, the same as in old models. Looks like SaunaGen has decided not to switch to carbon. I’ve also noticed that 1-person model looks like it has no angled heaters - dimensions are too small for that.

In addition to infrared saunas, SaunaGen also offers a spa kit, which contains an eye mask, aromatherapy, a spa robe and a towel, a body massager and a floor mat.

SaunaGen - Royal Saunas Series

This guide is adapted from the “Art of Sauna Building” book by Pertti Olavi Jalasjaa.

Take a look and check if there are any good ideas for you to use - Build Your Own Sauna… It’s Easy! by Great Saunas.

The model in review - a 2-person CarbonFlex IG-520 D/IG-520 B:

Wood: Hemlock (IG-520 B also comes in red cedar modification).

External dimensions: Width: 48 in, Depth: 40 in, Height: 74 3/4 in (77 in for IG-520 B).

Heaters: Carbon heaters covering all side and back walls, and space under the bench.

Outlets: 120 V, 15 Amps, 1620 Watts.

Accessories: CD/AM/FM player, remote control, speakers, spot lighting, color therapy (IG-520 B only).

Warranty: Lifetime on wood and emitters (emitters are covered only if the sauna is used as a non-commercial product), 5 years for controls and electrical parts, and 1 year for speakers and a player.

Price: Approximately $2000 for IG-520 D.

CarbonFlex saunas are the first ones that I’ve seen that have carbon heater sheets on the whole surface of the wall. Other brands, like Sunlight Saunas, or EZe Products have large carbon heaters too, but they don’t cover the walls completely. In CarbonFlex saunas there is no cold spots on back and side walls. In the same time, they do not have heater on the floor as Sunlight Saunas have. CarbonFlex heaters are imported from Japan. Place of assembly of a sauna itself is not mentioned.

IG-520 B model is positioned as a “premium” model, and is little higher, has color therapy, outside and inside controls (unlike IG-520 D, which has a control panel only inside) and has red cedar wood option. IG-520 D has a latching system for assembly, while IG-520 B uses a buckling system. In all other ways these models look quite similar.

There is no page for these models at the official Saunatec website, so I give a link to one of the distributors - CarbonFlex infrared saunas. You can also find there an assembly guide for both IG-520 D and IG-520 B models.

Brighton Sauna does not use carbon heaters in our infrared saunas. We use ceramic heater rods that contain a thick pure ceramic casing over a glass tube wrapped in a thin conductive metal wire.

Link - Infrared Sauna Construction by Brighton Sauna

In my opinion, a sauna wood smell is a very important thing. In our daily life, we give little attention to smells, spending most of the time in a smell-neutral environment, but in intimate moments, when we relax, meditate or enjoy our meal, the value of a smell rises greatly. The same is with a sauna, be it infrared or traditional one. A smell that is coming from heated wood is more intensive than from polished and/or veneer made furniture. It will enter your world when you will be taking a relaxing infrared sauna session, and it will co-create your overall experience of a sauna.

Your task when shopping for an infrared sauna is to choose the wood which smell will enhance your pleasure. However, there are many other factors which should be taken into account, and a wooden smell is clearly not the most important one. Do not seek for the sauna which smells best, just give attention to a smell, and look for one that is pleasant to you, or at least neutral. Put your head in a sauna, close your eyes and breath slowly. Imagine that you are taking this sauna regularly, and ask yourself is you like the fragrance.

Go for a strong smell only if you like it. If you read my other article about wood allergies and their role in infrared saunas you know that some woods can cause allergic reactions. The general rule is the stronger the smell the more potentially allergic the wood is. Very small amount of people is allergic to wood, but the point is that strong smell have more chances to become annoying even if it was acceptable at first.

Even most neutral woods have smell. If you don’t like (or can’t stand for medical reasons) the smell of your sauna, you can use a fan to ventilate it before a session. Another idea is to leave new sauna open for some time and wait until intensity of smell will decrease.

On the contrary, if you want to return the smell of a fresh new wood, polish it with a sandpaper and the fresh smell will return. There is another thing you can do - bring a piece of a different strong-smelling wood into your sauna, and enjoy the variety of smells.

I wish you to use sauna smell to help you relax and enjoy the time spent in a sauna.

In the model line of EaconSauna there is a two-person Eacon 002 sauna:

Wood: Hemlock.

External dimensions: Width: 49 in, Depth: 41 in, Height: 77 in.

Heaters: 10 ceramic tube heaters, 4 on back , 2 on front, 1 on door, 1 under the bench and 2 on the roof.

Outlets: 110 V, 15 Amps, 1500 Watts.

Accessories: CD player/radio, ionizer.

Warranty: Lifetime on wood and heaters, electrical components 2 years.

Price: Around $3000.

There are two things in this sauna that makes it unique in some way and why my attention was caught.

First is the number of heaters. There are ten (10) heaters in this two-person model, when industry average is 4-6 heaters. There are heaters on its doorand even on the roof. This doesn’t mean that there will be hotter in this sauna - overall heater power is still in the same range with other 2-person models - 1500 Watt. With more heaters, heater surface temperature is lower and heat distribution should me more even. Theoretically. Surprisingly, in Eacon 002 there are no heater on side walls, which I think is compensated by tilted front heaters, but only first-hand expirience can determine if heat distribution is even.

Second feature is the heater on front door, which can be moved vertically on a metal bar, and tilted to loft or right. This is the only model I know with such heater placement, which you can adjust to your needs.

Fron the other hand, this sauna model appear rather small for me. It has below the average depth dimension. And only when you try it yourself you can tell if features mentioned really give it a advantage over other infrared sauna cabins.

Link to model page on official website - Eacon 002

The fact that wood can give you allergy or just bad feeling should not scare you or repel from buying a sauna. Probability of this is very small. Still, it won’t be superfluous to check you reaction for a given wood for sure. Price for having an infrared sauna made of inappropriate wood is high - it will render your expensive sauna useless.

Most common allergens are wood pollen, dust and smoke. While smoke and pollen aren’t usual things in a sauna cabin, wood dust is common in a new sauna. Take some time to wipe it with damp cloth prior to use.

Less common is a contact allergy to wood. If you have this type of allergy to wood, you should avoid the wood type which give you such reaction altogether.

There is no agreement between infrared sauna manufacturers on which wood is best. Some use cedar because of its good traits as a furniture material, others offer woods like basswood and poplar saying that they are hypoallergic, so you need to take this choice yourself. You may not know beforehand that you have an allergy to certain wood type, thats why ideal way is to put the candidate sauna on trial. Find a place in your neighborhood where you can try a sauna you want and test it for a month.

To reduce the risk of developing the allergy to wood it is recommended to look for wood with mild flavor. Also, leave your new sauna open for a few days to let it outgas. You can also use a fan before the session to get rid of the smell.

There are some resources which go into detail about what hazards specific wood types have:

Wood Hazards - BME Encyclopedia
Wood Toxicity and Wood Identification Resources - American Association of Woodturners
Wood Toxicity - Hobbywoods
Wood/Dust Toxicity - Greater Vancouver Woodturners Guild
Toxicity of Wood - theWoodbox.com

Take a look at these pages and use charts of wood toxicity for reference when you will evaluate different sauna models.

Waterstar brand includes many models, with both carbon and ceramic heaters. One of this models is a 2-person WSD-8002LD:

Wood: Hemlock/Russia Spruce/Red cedar.

External dimensions: Width: 47 in/120 cm, Depth: 46 in/117cm, Height: 75 in/190 cm.

Heaters: 5 ceramic heaters, 2 on back (350 Watts), 2 on front (350 Watts) and one under the bench (200 Watts).

Outlets: 110 V, 15 Amps, 1600 Watts.

Accessories: CD player/radio, ionizer.

Warranty: Lifetime, except CD player (1 year).

Price: Usually falls in $1000-$1500 range.

This sauna is standard in many ways. It does not provide any outstanding features, and its appeal is in low price and quality of a smoothly running manufacturing on its own factory in China. Quality doesn’t mean luxury - it just means that saunas are well-made and ratio of defects is low. But maybe it is that most people need - an sauna infrared sauna that just works.

What is interesting, manufacturer of Waterstar warns that there are many fake Waterstar saunas on the market, and encourage to buy only from authorized dealers. You can find the list of dealers on this page.

Link to model page on official website - Waterstar WSD-8002LD

I think it is a very good idea for vendors and manufacturers to list upcoming events on their sites where they will present infrared sauna models, because it benefits both customers and sellers. It brings more exposure to brands, and gives people information about opportunities to see and test infrared saunas.

So, if you are a vendor reading my blog, you can let me know via contact page about shows your infrared sauna company will participate in and I will cover it on my blog.

If you are a consumer and know any upcoming shows (or how to find any) which will feature infrared saunas, I will be happy to hear from you too. If I will gather enough information, there will be a separate section on this website which will help to locate shows in one’s neighborhood.

For a moment, move away that emotional hype associated with far infrared. I personally see it only as a mean to deliver heat (supposedly, more effective and comfortable than a stove in a traditional sauna). From that viewpoint it becomes apparent that other things are important in an infrared sauna. These things are placement of heaters, how comfortable and uniform feels the heat they generate. How heaters behave throughout session. These thing are more real than healing traits of specific wavelengths. You can try and feel them. And the most real is the wood your sauna cabin is made of. Unlike heaters, which are hidden with covers and have no smell or texture, and have no biological materials, wood is what you will see, smell and feel while using your sauna.

Imagine, that you choose your sauna based on heater type it have only to discover later that you don’t like how wood smell, or, even worse, that you have allergy on that wood type. If you look from this viewpoint you will see that wood choice is important, and should have its part of your attention. Let’s summarize main aspects of wood choice for infrared sauna, from medical aspects to questions of aesthetics and comfort.

• Wood as toxic and allergy-inducing substance. Should be first to think on. Good news is that most of us do not have allergy on wood, but if you cannot be sure, consult your doctor. This is also one more reason to try a sauna before buying.
• Wood smell. Sauna wood comes without paint, and has fresh smell. You can like or dislike it. Pay some attention how a sauna wood smell feels to you when choosing a sauna.
• Wood patterns and color. Wood have many different patterns and colors. It should be compromise between practical (there will be inevitable stains) and easthetics side (you need to like what you see around when taking a sauna session).
• How wood feels to touch. This part is not as critical when buying an infrared sauna, as you always can finish your sauna at home with sand cloth, but it will be better to find an infrared sauna that feels good to touch already.

Wood: Spruce (Austrian).

External dimensions: Width: 49 in/120 cm, Depth: 41.2 in/101cm, Height: 79.1 in/194 cm.

Heaters: 4 ceramic heaters, on each cabin corner.

Outlets: 220 V, 1540 Watts.

Accessories: Portable CD player, aromatherapy, full spectrum sunlight, colour therapy.

Warranty: 8 years on electrics, including heaters.

Price: £3,259.99 (single online shop data, not average price)

Certainly falling into the high-end old-school category, this model is supposedly manufactured in Austria and has quite a high price. However, model is packed with a wide range of features, and looks like a quality product. Also, I found Physioterm website to be one of the most well-structured infrared sauna sites. However, it does not say anything about quality of saunas themselves.

One interesting this is that the heaters placed on the corners of the sauna, instead of traditional backrest/front side scheme. It certainly changes the experience - distribution of heat in such sauna is different. I think, that in a traditional heater placing, there is a risk that back heaters heat more intensively than front heaters, because they are very close to your back. In this sauna, heaters are on approximately equal distance, but the downside is that you will probably have not to lead in the wall to get your back heated.

Avalaibility of different light- and aroma- therapies allow to bring a lot of variety into sauna experience. While the benefits is somewhat questionable, they will help you to not to get bored with sauna sessions.

Link to official model page - Physiotherm Home-Fit 2

Once the existing stock is gone, it will no longer be possible to purchase a sauna like we have been making.
Even with the factory shutting down, the parent company will be honoring all the warranties for the Soft Heat saunas.

Soft Heat is one of the old manufacturers in infrared sauna industry, making infrared saunas since 1991. As stated on their other website, www.softheatsauna.com, they were official suppliers to 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. By the way, the only note of closing a factory I found was on Randy Gomm’s website. Other websites related to Soft Heat look like they weren’t update for a long time. But I found this auction which supports this information. I personally have a feeling of regret that such an old manufacturer had to close his sauna assembly facility.

I don’t know the reasons why this happened, and Randy also doesn’t tell any. Maybe it’s because cheaper models from Asian factories started to make a serious competition to manufacturers in North America. Or this can be just a step of Soft Heat to restructure their business and they will continue to make saunas somewhere else.

Anyway, in his notice Randy writes that he conducted an extensive research to find a replacement for Soft Heat saunas, but for more affordable price. He says that his experience with current sauna market was mainly negative, with many saunas lacking of electrical approval, and with wrong information supplied about materials heaters are made of and micron range of infrared they emit.

Finally Randy found the sauna brand he believes in. New saunas are supposed to become available on early February. By his description, they have full-wall carbon heaters and cost much less that Soft Heat models. He also mentioned CarbonFlow(tm) technology. This trademark is unknown to me, and I wasn’t able to find any information about it. The only product line that has whole wall surface covered by carbon heaters is CarbonFlex saunas by SaunaTec.

It seems like carbon heaters continue to gain popularity. Also, there is a clear trend that infrared saunas are becoming cheaper and more affordable. Competition from Asian markets increases. Let’s hope that this will lead to improved quality of saunas for better price.

Other type is studies which you can dig in medical databases like PubMed. These ones are heavily stuffed with medicine words, and usually do not talk about infrared saunas, but about ‘thermal therapy’ or ‘heat’. An infrared sauna is frequently used in such studies as a mean to generate heat, but titles suggest that the key word here is heat, and not infrared. An additional detail is that such studies are very specific, they done to persons with one specific diagnosis, like ‘patients with chronic heart failure’. And not all of these studies show clear positive effect.

That’s why the recurring theme in my writings is the call to finish spending your time guessing the truth from studies and to go out and try an infrared sauna. Find out how an infrared sauna works for you, for certain. Conduct an experiment - find an infrared sauna in your neighborhood, and go there two-three times a week for a month or two. Note what changes you will notice during these period, regarding your own condition - weight, skin, heart, joints, depression, stress or anything else you want infrared sauna to help you with. What can be more certain than your own study, conducted by you and on you (and funded with your money :))?

If you are still looking for that ‘many Chinese studies’ that have proved benefits of an infrared sauna therapy, then read Health Studies Are Worthless to Those Who Care About Health, an article by Steve Pavlina, which applies well to infrared sauna studies.

It is evident that in a cold room an infrared sauna will lose more heat during warm-up and session than in a warm one. The tricky question is if this difference in heat loss matters enough to alter your sauna experience significantly. I can tell, from some second-person experience, through communicating with my readers vie email and reading some health and sauna related discussion groups, that for some sauna models warm-up time can go up to one hour and max temperature can fall noticeable.

Infrared sauna rooms are rather large and it may be uncomfortable to place one in a living-room. Using an unheated room or placing sauna outdoors is a really appealing alternative, but if you have a cold time of the year in a place where you live, you need to take room temperature into account.

There are three main factors that affect infrared sauna warm-up time and max temperature:

• heaters net power;
• volume of sauna internal space;
• how good sauna walls conduct heat.

Indeed, sauna with more powerful heaters will warm-up more quickly. Small sauna need less energy to heat up than a large one. If walls are thin or have gaps between boards, the heat will go out quicker. Looking for a sauna to place in a cold environment, look for one with best heaters power to volume ratio and well thermoinsulated walls. Talk with selling side to know if they have an idea how their sauna works outdoors. Look for sauna models which have an outdoor cover as additional option. It makes sense even indoors, as it helps to keep the heat inside the sauna.

If you have a choice, place an infrared sauna in a potentially warmer place, with not much air flow, and in a corner, so only two walls will be open to the room space. Close windows and doors during your sauna warm-up. You can ventilate room when sauna will be hot, to allow some fresh air into the room.

To summarize things to know when placing a sauna in an unheated room:

• look for the sauna with best net heater power to volume ratio;
• sauna with more thick and solid walls will store heat better;
• outdoor cover can provide additional thermoinsulation, so it makes sense even indoors;
• place your sauna in a potentially warmer room, without much air flow;
• with your sauna placed in a corner, only two sides will face open space, thus less heat loss;
• close doors and windows for a faster warm-up, to ventilate room later.

I personally think that placing an infrared sauna in an unheated room is a good idea if you can afford it, and if done with proper planning your sauna experience will not suffer.