Rento Birch Sauna Scented Oil

Essential oils are one way to scent a sauna. The other is a product made for the job, and this Rento bottle is that: the label reads Birch Sauna Scent and, in Finnish, Koivu Löylytuoksu – birch scent for the löyly water. Birch is the smell many Finns connect with a summer sauna, where bundles of fresh birch twigs belong to the ritual.

The Amazon listing itself says very little: a plastic bottle, a listed weight of 15.17 oz (430 g) and not much more. Volume, ingredients and dosing are not given there, so the bottle label is the instruction to follow. It is used like any sauna scent – mixed into the bucket water, never poured onto the heater.

Tip: Start below the dose on the label – roughly a capful in a full bucket is a common starting point for ready-made sauna scents – and judge it after the first ladle.