I know you aren't supposed to look at other sauna users but..... I caught people taking a look at me, and I enjoyed the attention even if it was for a slightly unusual reason!
Stepping back and setting the scene for some context, my wife and I recently spent some time in a famous spa/sauna town in Germany's Black Forest and naturally wanted to take full advantage of the facilities available. The town itself is a picturesque, quintessential Schwartzwald town, everything you could hope for from the region. Pretty streets, fine dining and drinking establishments along with some of the most perfect bakeries selling the best Black Forest Gateaux I could ever hope to try though the main attraction for the town are the two splendid sauna facilities.
The one we visited on 3 occasions during our visit has the main area with an array of swimming and spa treatment areas, pools of varying temperatures and healing properties all of which require users to wear swimming costumes. This place also has an optional sauna area in which nudity is mandatory, very German! We spent some time swimming before venturing upstairs to see what the sauna area was all about, WOW! it is so much more than just a sauna!
We expected something like a small changing area and a sauna, maybe a steam room, nothing much more but the only thing we got correct was the small changing area! through the double doors was indeed a small area to undress but then a large area sprawls out in front of you with saunas and steam rooms, plunge pools, hot tubs, showers, a bar and lounging areas. After trying a few of the saunas we followed a doorway that led to an outdoor garden area with more woodland style saunas, what a treat!
This whole sauna are is "naked only" and I really must add that this is NOT a place to go to be a creep or live out some fantasy, everyone is of course naked but this is Germany, its just how they do sauna. You must take a towel with you to sit on in the saunas but everything else is nude, you are free to wear your towel to cover yourself if you wish or not if not, both are totally acceptable and nobody will judge you for your appearance, I truly mean this, that said, people are still human.
Showering and sauna go hand in hand, its such a nice way to enjoy the heat, at first I was quite guarded and cautious about being nude in such a public place. I enjoy being naked but I've always been rather self aware and it stems from a place of not wanting to upset or offend anyone, it also comes from the self consciousness I have over having a very small penis, unusually small for a man of my age, height and shape a detail that is all the more obvious for the fact that I shave meticulously and keep myself totally smooth. My transitions between the dark sauna and shower were with my towel wrapped around so that nobody would see.
As I realised that nobody cared or really even noticed what the other people did or looked like I came to realise that my caution was not completely necessary and I could relax a little, once I felt at ease, I felt more, much more, comfortable and was truly able to enjoy my surroundings. Knowing that me being naked was not going to upset anyone meant I could feel totally at ease, even completely naked around the entire area. I still felt quite self conscious about my size but I knew it was a "me" problem and not anyone else and when I checked myself out I could see that yes, I was certainly smaller than average, it wouldn't arouse any interest, it was just a willy, albeit a bit of a small one.
After about an hour of sauna/shower I could feel I was getting pretty heat saturated and needed to chill out for a bit, walking out in the fresh, outdoor air was nice and taking a beer was good but when I went back into a sauna I quickly felt overheated and overwhelmed so decided (after a shower) to try the cold plunge pool which is such an instant refreshment though it feels uncomfortably cold, the result is so good!