I’ve by no means given a lot thought to my scalp. Apart from the occasional unconscious scritch-scratch or vigorous shampooing, it’s type of simply … there. A vital however often-overlooked skull cowl.
However the humble scalp is the main target of an more and more common wellness development: elaborate Chinese language and Japanese-inspired therapies at so-called head spas. At these companies, guests obtain a scalp evaluation adopted by head and neck massages and repeated deep cleanses. Ogling the internal workings of the scalp, an in any other case forgotten physique half — and addressing its wants by blissful hydrotherapy therapies — has pushed the hashtag #headspa to attract consideration on Tiktok for greater than a 12 months now. In a single viral video of an L.A.-area head spa, a towel-clad influencer claims it’ll “change your life.”
I used to be intrigued. Which is how I got here to search out myself sitting in a salon chair at Cai Xiang Ge, or “CXG,” in San Gabriel, with a practitioner weaving a tiny digital digital camera by my hair. I confronted a 250-times-magnified view of my scalp on a close-by display. And what I noticed resembled an eerie underwater kelp forest, with darkish, swaying stalks rising out of a glistening, spongy area dotted with pink patches. It regarded like one thing out of a sci-fi movie. Ew.
Deborah Vankin undergoes a scalp examination to find out the route of her therapy at Cai Xiang Ge head spa.
The method was embarrassingly revealing. Seems I’ve an oily scalp with bits of dandruff, CXG proprietor Ning Chen informed me. “And see these pink elements? You’re not getting sufficient sleep. Stress,” she mentioned.
However there’s additionally an odd enjoyment of inspecting your soiled scalp up shut. As people, we’re nothing if not fascinated by our personal our bodies, whether or not that’s selecting a scab, prodding a canker sore or popping a pimple. ( you’ve finished it.) The shock issue of scalp therapies is integral to its enchantment, in keeping with Sara Hallajian, a Santa Monica-based trichologist and hair loss and scalp specialist at Âme Salon.
“It’s about: ‘Oh, let’s take a look at your dandruff up shut and the way soiled your scalp is earlier than and the way clear after,’ as a result of it’s not one thing you see with the bare eye,” Hallajian mentioned.
After my scalp’s close-up, Chen led me right into a dimly lighted room with a number of spa beds and conventional Chinese language harp music. Birds chirped on the soundtrack as I became a gown and reclined on the mattress. On one finish was a shampoo basin, on the different a foot bathtub, stuffed with heat water steeped with Chinese language herbs. It was early February, and I typically respect rituals round renewal this time of 12 months, cliche as it might appear.
The $135 Royal Therapy scratched that itch. For 90 minutes, CXG’s Alyssa Nevins repeatedly scrubbed my scalp and washed my hair as a part of a six-step course of. The aromatherapy head therapeutic massage was a dry one, wherein Nevins rubbed tingly feeling tea tree oil into my scalp and then utilized an digital, cephalopod-like system, its a number of arms whirling away pressure. That was adopted by 4 shampooings, every with a head and neck therapeutic massage.
The spotlight: Nevins left me mendacity there for 10 minutes with a round, waterfall-like system bathing my head and neck in herb-treated water. I wore a heated eye masks, my head was tilted backward and my face was immersed in plumes of steam. Skinny jets of water massaged my neck and shoulders. It was heavenly; I almost fell asleep. I additionally obtained a hydrating, collagen-boosting facial, an natural hair steam and a conditioning hair masque.
Deborah Vankin receives a hydrating, collagen-boosting facial throughout her 90-minute Chinese language scalp therapy at Cai Xiang Ge.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Instances)
The expertise ended within the salon, with tea and sweets and an “antihair loss therapy.” Nevins sprayed an natural serum throughout my scalp. She then used a excessive frequency scalp remedy system to disinfect my pores, a therapy the spa mentioned would fortify hair follicles.
Head spas declare that scalp therapies promote circulation and detoxify, calm and hydrate pores and skin, all of which assist stop dandruff, itchiness, dryness, irritation and hair loss. I wasn’t positive whether or not that was true or not, nevertheless it positive beats injecting my very own plasma into my scalp at $1,500 per session, one other lately en vogue magnificence therapy geared toward selling hair progress.
Tea and light-weight snacks are supplied after the cleanse, and earlier than the blowout, at Cai Xiang Ge.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Instances)
The claims that head spas make are “essentially appropriate,” mentioned Dr. Carolyn Goh, a dermatologist at UCLA Well being. “A deep clear and therapeutic massage might help with circulation and scale back irritation. My first advice to anybody affected by hair loss is to make your scalp clear. However if in case you have psoriasis or eczema, it’s not going to assist. I’d additionally warning in case you’re delicate and utilizing important oils — you possibly can develop an allergy.”
The therapy stimulates acupressure factors within the head, notably one referred to as bai hui, the place the so-called meridians meet, in keeping with Dr. Ka-Package Hui, director of the UCLA Well being Middle for East-West Medication. “That will assist individuals with insomnia, nervousness, complications. It’s expensive, nevertheless it’s stress-free.”
Scalp therapies have been an integral a part of wellness tradition for hundreds of years in lots of elements of Asia, together with in China, Japan, Vietnam and Korea.
In China, head spas are so frequent that “there’s one on each avenue,” Chen mentioned. They caught on right here in L.A. round 2020 and have proliferated within the final 12 months and a half. Now, Chen says, there are about two dozen within the L.A. space, with “about 4 new ones opening close by prior to now two months alone.” Most of them are in San Gabriel, Temple Metropolis, Arcadia and Rosemead — hubs for Asian communities. Along with CXG, different common native head spas embody Yang Si Guan in San Gabriel, Tou Dao Tang in Temple Metropolis and M Head Spa in Rosemead, all of which have opened inside the final 12 months and a half.
Cai Xiang Ge proprietor Ning Chen on the entrance desk of her head spa.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Instances)
Chen mentioned her head spa helped kick off the development in L.A. when CXG opened in mid-2021. CXG plans to develop into Beverly Hills inside the subsequent 12 months.
Like many head spas, CXG serves one-timers in addition to members who go to weekly or biweekly to loosen up and keep scalp well being. Chen’s clientele was initially 70% Asian and 30% non-Asian; by summer season 2023, it was the alternative, which she mentioned is because of social media promotion.
Movies of Chinese language scalp therapies on social media are common amongst seekers of ASMR — autonomous sensory meridian response — wherein sure sounds promote tingling, goosebumps and different stress-free sensations.
In particular person, the ASMR expertise is much more pronounced. All through the therapy, there are the sounds of repeated brush swooshes, shampoo lathering and sloshing water. This was particularly evident at Tou Dao Tang once I visited.
Tou Dao Tang originated in China, the place it has greater than 9,000 areas. However in fall 2022, the corporate launched its first U.S. outlet in Temple Metropolis. It has plans to develop into Glendale later this 12 months. Openings are additionally within the works for Tustin, Las Vegas, San Francisco and New York.
“It’s the brand new factor,” supervisor Hannah Lin says of scalp therapy’s rising recognition. “And other people wish to attempt the brand new factor.”
My scalp evaluation, carried out by Tou Dao Tang’s Sherry Zhu, once more advised oily pores and skin, dandruff and sleep deprivation in addition to a doable vitamin deficiency, Zhu mentioned. The latter was advised by a number of pale-colored hairs.
The next $108 Basic Scalp therapy was a five-step course of. It was particularly massage-oriented, with repeated scalp kneading, hair combing and cleaning over 90 minutes, and concerned 5 teas, or “natural soups,” every infused with completely different natural herbs. The rounds of tea-washing targeted, respectively, on detoxing, rejuvenation and stress reduction, nourishment and calming, repairing PH stability and hair loss prevention.
These therapies have turn out to be so important for some patrons of Tou Dao Tang that members typically preserve their very own combs and brushes on the spa, labeled with their names, for practitioners to make use of after they go to.
Deborah Vankin receives a Chinese language scalp therapy from Tou Dao Tang head spa.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Instances)
A detailed-up of Deborah Vankin’s squeaky clear scalp after her therapy at Cai Xiang Ge.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Instances)
Deborah Vankin after her Cai Xiang Ge therapy, which ended with a blowout and styling.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Instances)
“In China, the pinnacle spa is so common,” Lin mentioned. “We wished to carry it to the U.S. and let individuals learn about our tradition.”
The pinnacle spas I visited have been very completely different experiences. CXG’s environs have been particularly luxurious, full with multicolored lights, aromatherapy and a heat foot bathtub, whereas Tou Dao Tang’s home-brewed, natural “tea bathtub” washings felt extra all the way down to earth. They each left me feeling squeaky clear and relaxed — a lot in order that at Tou Dao Tang, I by chance floated out the door with out paying. (I referred to as again later and took care of the invoice.)
After each therapies, my hair was shiny and extra-soft for days.
Evidently, the itch I had for a sense of renewal was sufficiently scratched.
