Table Of Content
Head spas claim that scalp treatments promote circulation and detoxify, calm and hydrate skin, all of which help prevent dandruff, itchiness, dryness, inflammation and hair loss. I wasn’t sure whether that was true or not, but it sure beats injecting my own plasma into my scalp at $1,500 per session, another recently en vogue beauty treatment aimed at promoting hair growth. For 90 minutes, CXG’s Alyssa Nevins repeatedly scrubbed my scalp and washed my hair as part of a six-step process. The aromatherapy head massage was a dry one, in which Nevins rubbed tingly-feeling tea tree oil into my scalp and then applied an electronic, cephalopod-like device, its multiple arms whirling away tension. That was followed by four shampooings, each with a head and neck massage. People come to Borges, a hairstylist and trichologist, for many reasons.
Well+Good gets up close and personal with Ella Dove’s scalp.
We finished it up with a simple blowout, and I was out the door. "Many Asian healing traditions are often enticing and alluring to a western audience that has not seen or experienced it before," she explains. Though New York City-based board-certified dermatologist Dhaval G. Bhanusali, MD, had not heard the term "head spa" before I reached out, after some TikTok research he answered a few of my questions. "There is a cultural element to a lot of these practices and while we doctors and scientists evaluate based on the science available to us, there are generations of experience in other countries around many of these, or similar practices," he says. TikTok may have fallen in love with the head spa, but some in the medical establishment are not so sure.
THE HEAD SPA
"This sounds like snake oil," one dermatologist, who's name I'll keep out of this story, said when I asked her to comment. "On social media and YouTube it has an ASMR quality that is an instant draw. It's like what you didn't know you needed, because you didn't know it even existed." We steam the scalp to remove build up and deep clean pores.
Welcome To Yang Si Guan Scalp Spa
But head spas do exist, and have for quite some time — it just has only been fully accepted by our Eurocentric beauty culture more recently. "While the term 'head spa' refers to a specific style of scalp treatment from Japan, scalp massage and treatment is huge throughout Asia, from Japan to India," Chiu says. "For instance, in China and Taiwan any hairstyling service at the salon automatically includes a neck, shoulder, and scalp massage woven into your shampoo and conditioning steps. It can take up to 30 minutes and is like a treatment in itself."
A new scalp treatment gains popularity at Northeast Fresno Medical Spa - KFSN-TV
A new scalp treatment gains popularity at Northeast Fresno Medical Spa.
Posted: Fri, 17 Mar 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
At Yume, we treat your scalp like your skin because healthy scalp is the root for lustrous, beautiful hair. Our scalp treatment combines a deep cleansing, heat therapy, clay scalp mask, aromatherapy, toner and moisturizer. Finish with a shoulder & neck massage and an aromatic herbal tea served to provide customers with the ultimate relaxation experience.
Our Spa Treatments
Like many head spas, CXG serves one-timers as well as members who visit weekly or biweekly to relax and maintain scalp health. Chen’s clientele was initially 70% Asian and 30% non-Asian; by summer 2023, it was the opposite, which she said is due to social media promotion. At $220, the service is a little cost-prohibitive to regularly maintain on my editor's salary (yes, I paid for it in full — no writer freebies here). But if I had Upper West Side money, I'd go every month. Borges tells me that a head spa "can be found in almost any Japanese salon," so I might shop around and try other treatments.
Videos of Chinese scalp treatments on social media are popular among seekers of ASMR — autonomous sensory meridian response — in which certain sounds promote tingling, goosebumps and other relaxing sensations. But there’s also a strange delight in examining your dirty scalp up close. As humans, we are nothing if not fascinated by our own bodies, whether that’s picking a scab, prodding a canker sore or popping a pimple. (You know you’ve done it.) The shock factor of scalp treatments is integral to its appeal, according to Sara Hallajian, a Santa Monica-based trichologist and hair loss and scalp specialist at Âme Salon.
The ultimate treatment for your hair and scalp.
After training in Japan, where head spas — a.k.a. an over-the-sink process where treatments consist of scalp massages — are commonplace, she moved to New York and began cutting hair in salons. The subsequent $108 Classic Scalp treatment was a five-step process. It was especially massage-oriented, with repeated scalp kneading, hair combing and cleansing over 90 minutes, and involved five teas, or “herbal soups,” each infused with different organic herbs. The rounds of tea-washing focused, respectively, on detoxification, rejuvenation and stress relief, nourishment and calming, repairing PH balance and hair loss prevention. This treatment is designed to eliminate build-up and impurities. It includes scalp herbal scalp mask, hair bath, toner, conditioner, shoulder massage & neck massage.
20 Best Shampoos For Asian Hair To Solve All Hair And Scalp Issues - Harper's Bazaar Singapore
20 Best Shampoos For Asian Hair To Solve All Hair And Scalp Issues.
Posted: Fri, 23 Feb 2024 09:05:43 GMT [source]
I usually go two weeks between rinses, and she noted that had I come in close to the two-week mark I'd notice an even filmier coating over my scalp. Chen said her head spa helped kick off the trend in L.A. She plans to expand CXG into Beverly Hills within the next year.
These treatments have become so essential for some patrons of Tou Dao Tang that members often keep their own combs and brushes at the spa, labeled with their names, for practitioners to use when they visit. After my service, I went back to the real world, the one filled with hot concrete and steaming subways and impending deadlines. Still I felt much lighter — both on my scalp and in my mind. Just before the end, my hair marinated in a mask Borges made especially for my scalp from a mixture of mahogany wood and organic sage, which she often uses on guests with oily scalp, as the ingredients help to rebalance sebum. Then, Borges took a close-up camera to my scalp, showing me the goopy, excess sebum building up there. After taking a peek, Borges said it wasn't a lot of sebum, relatively, and asked if I'd washed my chemically-treated (green) hair recently — I had the day before.
Turns out I have an oily scalp with bits of dandruff, CXG owner Ning Chen told me. “And see these red parts? Pamper yourself with the ultimate luxury of our 90-minute spa experience, a blissful escape for rejuvenation and relaxation. Nothing creates a more profound, impression than an experience with an essential cloud diffuser. Specialized Scalp Analysis using our magnifier allows us to see the health condition of the scalp. Scalp treatments have been an integral part of wellness culture for centuries in many parts of Asia, including in China, Japan, Vietnam and Korea.
"Just like how all salons offer cute, blowout, color, or keratin, pretty much all Japanese salons have a head spa on their menu, too," Borges added. So even if your favorite TikTok head spa practitioner is miles away, you may be able to find a treatment at a nearby J-beauty spa. I got in the chair (one of the coziest salon recliners ever… no dreaded neck pain detected), and was covered with a blanket and eye mask. Though I couldn't see what was going on, Borges softly cooed every step to me, so I wouldn't be surprised by anything.
Since we opened our doors in 2021, we’ve been serving our guests with traditional, deeply relaxing treatments. Our team of dedicated therapists is eager to help you achieve peace of mind in a serene atmosphere with treatments tailor-made to your needs and desires. In person, the ASMR experience is even more pronounced. Throughout the treatment, there are the sounds of repeated brush swooshes, shampoo lathering and sloshing water.
Not that I was worried; the service was an indelible mix of both gentle and decadent. As Borges applied the essential oils, she rubbed my scalp, focusing on certain pressure points I didn't know existed. Virtually anyone can be a candidate for a trip to the head spa, but Chiu adds that there are a few folks who might benefit from a session in particular. She decided to offer her New York clients the Japanese service after listening to client after client ask for advice on scalp problems, such as dermatitis and hair loss.
This was especially evident at Tou Dao Tang when I visited. After my scalp’s close-up, Chen led me into a dimly lighted room with multiple spa beds and traditional Chinese harp music. Birds chirped on the soundtrack as I changed into a robe and reclined on the bed. On one end was a shampoo basin, at the other a foot bath, filled with warm water steeped with Chinese herbs. It was early February, and I generally appreciate rituals around renewal this time of year, clichéd as it may seem. Deborah Vankin undergoes a scalp exam to determine the direction of her treatment at Cai Xiang Ge head spa.
The experience ended in the salon, with tea and sweets and an “anti-hair loss treatment.” Nevins sprayed an herbal serum all over my scalp. She then used a high-frequency scalp therapy device to disinfect my pores, a treatment the spa said would fortify hair follicles. But once the treatment was over, my scalp told a different story. Once again, Borges showed me the camera-view of my follicles, and the sebum we'd noticed just an hour before vanished. My head felt clean — maybe the cleanest I've ever noticed it. I could feel smoother skin on my scalp, and you could have probably seen your reflection in my hair, that's how shiny it was.
No comments:
Post a Comment