Why people are paying $130 for a 'head orgasm' at Orange County's new ASMR spa

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I’m getting a encephalon massage — and it’s sublime.

I’m lying connected a heated massage bed, cocooned successful a soft, weighted blanket, arsenic Kayla Faraji caresses my cheeks with billowy, pinkish goose feathers. She slides them down the sides of my cervix and astir my bare shoulders, sending chills up my spine.

“Now I’m scratching, scratching your chest,” Faraji whispers into my ear, particularly breathy. “These are aureate nails.” She drags long, prickly robust nail tips up my arms and on my collarbone, filling my ears with a raspy scraping sound.

A practitioner tickles a client's manus with pinkish goose feathers.

It’s each portion of an hour-long ASMR league astatine Faraji’s caller Kas Wellness successful Costa Mesa.

“It’s profoundly relaxing and restorative — and there’s specified a request for that close now,” Faraji says of our session. “I consciousness similar ASMR is the aboriginal of wellness, the caller massage.”

A practitioner traces a client's limb with bamboo chopsticks.

ASMR, oregon autonomous sensory meridian response, is the pleasurable tingling feeling brought connected by gentle auditory, ocular oregon tactile stimuli — deliberation the dependable of cellophane wrapper crinkling, lipid droplets sizzling, fingernails rhythmically tapping a desktop oregon a hairbrush swooshing done thick, wavy locks. The feeling is sometimes called a “head orgasm” because, for those who respond to it, ASMR tin not lone calm the cardinal tense system, but whitethorn bring connected a consciousness of euphoria, giddiness oregon acute alertness.

Only astir 20% of the population, however, acquisition “the tingles,” arsenic the sensation is often referred to. But for those who are ASMR-sensitive, studies amusement determination are wellness benefits: It whitethorn temporarily alleviate stress, sleeplessness, debased temper and chronic symptom arsenic good arsenic assistance focus. People who acquisition ASMR besides amusement lowered bosom complaint and humor unit due to the fact that it activates the parasympathetic tense strategy for relaxation.

Over the past decade, ASMR has exploded successful popularity — the word was coined successful 2010 by cybersecurity expert Jennifer Allen and successful 2025 “ASMR” was a apical hunt word connected YouTube. But until recently, the ASMR assemblage has chiefly coalesced online. ASMR enthusiasts — a.k.a. “Tingleheads” — typically person watched videos online of a practitioner whispering portion combing a client’s hair, for example, oregon dipping roseate petals into paraffin wax and, aft they harden, tapping the edges connected a hard aboveground to trigger a consciousness of relaxation oregon bliss.

Faraji, successful summation to opening Kas Wellness, besides posts ASMR videos connected TikTok, wherever she has much than 300,000 followers. One of her videos — successful which she chews gum portion dripping lukewarm massage lipid onto the backmost of a client’s cervix — has garnered much than 26 cardinal views.

But ASMR‘s online dominance is changing arsenic much and much brick-and-mortar ASMR studios popular up astir the country.

“There’s been a deficiency of real-world opportunities for radical to intentionally person their ASMR triggered by an expert,” says physiologist Craig Richard, writer of 2018’s “Brain Tingles.” “It’s lone starting to hap successful the existent satellite wherever you tin spell and research it done an intentional ASMR practitioner, similar you tin locomotion successful and get a massage.”

A candlelit workplace oregon ASMR treatments.

As the laminitis of ASMR University, which compiles and shares probe findings astir ASMR, Richard keeps an updated database of in-person ASMR studios internationally — and they’re inactive rare, helium says. “As of January, determination are 16 businesses that stimulate ASMR successful idiosyncratic successful the U.S., 4 successful Canada, 11 successful Europe and 1 successful South Africa,” helium says.

In summation to Kas Wellness, the L.A. country besides has Soft Touch ASMR Spa successful Pasadena, which caters to women and nonbinary clients. But small else.

Faraji says she conceived Kas Wellness arsenic a full-scale “luxury ASMR boutique” with spa vibes. The abstraction is simply a mash-up of textures: Rows of warm, flickering candles illuminate a cool, polished factual floor; velvet curtains ripple by plush and furry propulsion rugs. There’s a candy crockery successful the lobby, which is awash successful hues of pick and white, offering visitors gummies infused with passionateness effect and the calming herb ashwagandha.

Kas Wellness offers 1 signature ASMR work — oregon “sensory journey” — for 1 hour, 90 minutes oregon 100 minutes. Clients whitethorn upgrade to a “four manus session,” successful which 2 practitioners enactment connected them simultaneously. As successful a massage, guests undress “to the level of their comfort,” Faraji says (I did from the waist up) and gaffe beneath crisp achromatic sheets connected a attraction furniture successful a backstage room. Practitioners — determination are 4 astatine Kas Wellness — past stimulate the head, face, chest, arms, hands and backmost utilizing “tingle tools,” arsenic they’re sometimes called, oregon “triggers.” One is simply a alleged “sparkle brush,” filled with tiny beads that rattle arsenic the brushwood sweeps done hair; different is simply a brushed “sensory brush” that provides a signifier of achromatic sound erstwhile swooshing implicit skin; jade chromatic combs consciousness chill to the interaction and springiness disconnected a hollow scratching sound.

Faraji likes to usage her ain nails arsenic a sensory trigger.

“The quality transportation is specified a portion of this,” she says. “We effort to walk clip incorporating existent interaction arsenic overmuch arsenic possible.”

That said, the ASMR acquisition is distinctly antithetic than a massage, Faraji explains.

“Fundamentally, the conception of a massage is manipulating your insubstantial and muscles done pressure,” she says. “ASMR is the implicit other — we usage airy sensory interaction to relieve stress. We’re not kneading oregon applying unit oregon manipulating your joints. It’s surface touch. We person truthful galore nerves successful our assemblage and they’re each firing — it takes your assemblage retired of combat oregon flight.”

For an further $20, guests tin don robes and bask the lounge country earlier their treatment. It features hanging macrame chairs, a tabletop mindfulness plot and refreshments specified arsenic sparkling water, blistery beverage and Japanese whiskey. There’s besides a meditation corner, wherever visitors tin scribble what they privation to fto spell of successful their beingness connected pieces of h2o soluble paper, earlier dropping them into a crockery of floating candles and watching their troubles dissolve. Then they’re encouraged to airy a candle and meditate connected affirmative intentions they privation to bring into their lives.

A practitioner uses greenish jade combs connected a client.

Kas Wellness besides offers customized dependable baths for up to 8 guests astatine a time. Faraji leads the dependable bath acquisition and, by request, ASMR practitioners volition mildly brushwood clients’ hairsbreadth oregon scritch-scratch their arms portion they perceive to her play the singing bowls.

Kas Wellness whitethorn beryllium rooted successful ASMR, but the wide effect feels much robust: portion high-end massage studio, portion spa, portion dependable bath destination and portion meditation center.

A pistillate successful a achromatic bathrobe lights a floating meditation candle.

“It’s astir the mind-body-soul transportation and ASMR is conscionable the anchoring modality,” Faraji says of her caller boutique. “It’s arsenic important to person the gratitude breathwork astatine the extremity [of a session] for mindfulness. Because if your caput isn’t well, your assemblage volition ne'er consciousness calm.”

After my treatment, I lingered successful the lounge, wherever everything felt particularly pronounced: my bare feet connected the chill cement floor, my toes sinking into the plush rug, adjacent the scent of my blistery peppermint tea. I’m not definite if I’d felt the tingles, per say, but I was relaxed for the remainder of the day.

“ASMR is specified a cosmopolitan thing,” Faraji says. “When we’re younger, carnal interaction is specified a large portion of our creativity — girls volition beryllium and braid each other’s hairsbreadth and determination was that rhyming game, wherever you tickle each other’s backs [like] spiders crawling up your back. But arsenic we get older, we person little entree to brushed nurturing touch, particularly if you’re single. I deliberation that’s wherefore ASMR resonates with truthful galore people. It’s conscionable comforting.”

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