I slept through my head spa visit. Which, when you think about it, sounds pretty nice. It was the hottest day of the summer, and I'd found a respite from the New York City street steaming me like a piece of broccoli in the back room of Masa Kanai, a salon on the Upper West Side. It was a Taurus Sun's ideal sitch: I was lying on a plush chair with air conditioning blasting, Slack notifications turned off, while Ritsuko Borges gave me one of the best massages of my life — all on my scalp.
People come to Borges, a hairstylist and trichologist, for many reasons. 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.
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. "There are a lot of different issues people face, but all of them are trying to find a sure," she tells me. "Even if they don't know exactly what a head spa is before making an appointment, they hope that our treatment will heal them and make them feel more relaxed and happier."
- Ritsuko Borges, a hairstylist and trichologist based at Masa Kanai in New York City
- Sandra Chiu, LAc, a traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner and owner of Lanshin, a wellness center in Brooklyn, NY
- Dhaval G. Bhanusali, MD, a board-certified dermatologist based at Hudson Dermatology and Laser Surgery in New York City
- Brendan Camp, MD, a board-certified dermatologist based at MDCS Dermatology in New York City
That's what brought me to Borges's head spa — and given my nap, she obviously killed it in the relaxation department. But another major force has drawn western audiences to this practice: TikTok. The hashtag "head spa" currently has over 21 million views (and counting) on the app, with many of the videos delivering an ASMR effect: scalps get steamed, product is lathered in by gentle fingers kneading into pressure points, all to deep-clean the hair and scalp. On TikTok these videos might only last a minute, but my visit was a full hour.
"Head spas and similar services are also popular because when you watch one being done, you want one," says Sandra Chiu, LAc, a traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner and owner of Lanshin, a wellness center in Brooklyn that also sells scalp-simulating tools for at-home self-care. "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."
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."
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. "I would recommend this treatment to anyone who has been under a lot of stress that has affected their hair strength and growth, is interested in supportive practices for their scalp and hair, and is committed to natural and holistic methods of well-aging and focused on preserving hair vitality."
Chiu adds that the head spa has become popular on TikTok and Instagram because westerners see it as "an intriguing foreign novelty."
"Many Asian healing traditions are often enticing and alluring to a western audience that has not seen or experienced it before," she explains. "The way we do things in Asia is often popular here in the West — look at jade rolling, facial Gua Sha, etc. What usually follows this interest is appropriation, so I'm so thrilled that this time head spa is gaining a lot of attention as an Asian-rooted practice."
TikTok may have fallen in love with the head spa, but some in the medical establishment are not so sure. "This sounds like snake oil," one dermatologist, who's name I'll keep out of this story, said when I asked her to comment.
Others weren't so dismissive. 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.
Brendan Camp, MD, a board-certified dermatologist also based in New York City, adds that "A head spa is a pampering treatment. It is similar to a facial, but for the scalp and hair. It should not be mistaken for a medical treatment for diseases of the scalp and hair." Like Dr. Bhansuali, he advised people skip the head spa and head straight to a dermatologist if they are experiencing unexplained hair loss, persistent scalp itch, growths on the skin, and rashes that do not respond to over-the-counter products or spa treatments.
But overall, the doctors gave me the go-ahead for the treatment. And that's how I ended up sitting in Borges's backroom oasis. First, she asked me if I had any essential oil allergies — something Dr. Camp advises potential head spa visitors let their practitioners know about, so they can stay clear of potentially harmful treatments. "In some patients, exposure to essential oils can be associated with contact dermatitis, which presents with redness, itching, flaking, and sometimes weeping or pain," he adds.
Then, Borges took a close-up camera to my scalp, showing me the goopy, excess sebum building up there. This is typically how all appointments start. 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. 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.
Now it was on to the actual process. 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. 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.
Somewhere along the way, I fell asleep. Borges continued the treatment, but I was a goner. I'm not a big dreamer these days — I chalk it up to stress, plus a mattress that needs replacing — but something about the service set me off. I dreamed of colors, swirling purples and forest green fireworks, sort of like those old school PC screensavers. I got lost in repeated images, and succumbed to total tranquility. (Apologies to my editor, who'd been Slacking my powered-down phone the entire time.)
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.
I woke up with a full layer of drool around my lips. 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. We finished it up with a simple blowout, and I was out the door.
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. "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.
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.
Read more about scalp care:
- How to Take Care of Your Scalp for Your Healthiest Hair
- This Beauty Brand Founder Turned to Traditional South Asian Hair Oils to Treat Postpartum Hair Fall
- The 22 Best Scalp Products & Treatments too Soothe Dryness & Irritation
And now, watch a wash day routine for detangling and dermatitis:
