What’s the deal with ‘head orgasms’? Inside the rise of in-person ASMR spas

0 1 5 minutes read

What’s the deal with ‘head orgasms’? Inside the rise of in-person ASMR spas

https://www.profitableratecpm.com/f4ffsdxe?key=39b1ebce72f3758345b2155c98e6709c

I’m getting a brain massage – and it’s sublime.

I lie on a heated massage bed, wrapped in a soft, weighted blanket, while Kayla Faraji caresses my cheeks with pink, puffy goose feathers. She slides them down my neck and around my bare shoulders, sending shivers down my spine.

“Now I’m scratching you, scratching your chest,” Faraji whispers in my ear, particularly out of breath. “These are golden nails.” She drags long, spiky nail tips down my arms and along my collarbone, filling my ears with a harsh scratching sound.

A practitioner tickles a client's hand with pink goose feathers.

It’s all part of a one-hour ASMR session at Faraji’s new Kas Wellness in Costa Mesa.

“It’s deeply relaxing and restorative – and it’s so needed right now,” Faraji says of our session. “I feel like ASMR is the future of wellness, the new massage.”

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

ASMR, or autonomous sensory meridian response, is the pleasant tingling sensation caused by mild auditory, visual, or tactile stimuli—think of the sound of crinkling cellophane, sizzling oil droplets, fingernails tapping rhythmically on a desk, or a hairbrush running through thick, wavy strands. This sensation is sometimes called a “brain orgasm” because, for those who respond to it, ASMR can not only calm the central nervous system, but can also cause a feeling of euphoria, dizziness, or acute alertness.

However, only about 20% of the population experiences “tingling,” as the sensation is often called. But for those who are sensitive to ASMR, studies show it has health benefits: It can temporarily relieve stress, insomnia, low mood, and chronic pain, while also making it easier to concentrate. People who experience ASMR also experience reduced heart rate and blood pressure because it activates the parasympathetic nervous system for relaxation.

Over the past decade, ASMR has exploded in popularity: the term was coined in 2010 by cybersecurity analyst Jennifer Allen, and by 2025, “ASMR” was one of the top search terms on YouTube. But until recently, the ASMR community gathered primarily online. ASMR enthusiasts – aka “Tingleheads” – have typically watched online videos of a practitioner whispering while combing a client’s hair, for example, or dipping rose petals in paraffin wax and, once hardened, tapping the edges on a hard surface to trigger a feeling of relaxation or happiness.

Faraji, in addition to opening Kas Wellness, also posts ASMR videos on TikTok, where she has over 300,000 followers. One of her videos, in which she chews gum while dripping hot massage oil on the back of a client’s neck, has garnered more than 26 million views.

But ASMR’s dominance online is evolving as more physical ASMR studios pop up across the country.

“There’s a lack of real-world opportunities for people to be able to intentionally trigger their ASMR through an expert,” says physiologist Craig Richard, author of 2018’s “Brain Tingles.” “It’s only starting to happen in the real world where you can explore it through an intentional ASMR practitioner, like you could go in and get a massage.”

As the founder of ASMR University, which compiles and shares ASMR research findings, Richard maintains an up-to-date list of in-person ASMR studios around the world — and they’re still few and far between, he says. “As of January, there were 16 companies stimulating in-person ASMR in the United States, four in Canada, 11 in Europe and one in South Africa,” he says.

In addition to Kas Wellness, the Los Angeles area also has Soft Touch ASMR Spa in Pasadena, which caters to women and non-binary clients. But nothing else.

Faraji says she designed Kas Wellness as a large-scale “luxury ASMR boutique” with a spa vibe. The space is a mix of textures: rows of warm, flickering candles illuminate a cool, polished concrete floor; the velvet curtains ripple on the soft, shaggy carpets. There’s a candy dish in the lobby, which is awash in cream and white hues, offering visitors gummies infused with passion fruit and ashwagandha, a calming herb.

Kas Wellness offers a signature ASMR service – or “sensory journey” – for one hour, 90 minutes or 100 minutes. Clients can progress to a “four-handed session,” in which two practitioners work simultaneously. Like a massage, guests undress “to their comfort level,” says Faraji (I did it from the waist up) and slip under crisp white sheets onto a treatment bed in a private room. Practitioners – there are four at Kas Wellness – then stimulate the head, face, chest, arms, hands and back using “tingling tools,” as they are sometimes called, or “triggers.” One is what’s called a “glitter brush,” filled with tiny beads that rattle as the brush passes through the hair; another is a soft “sensory brush” that produces a form of white noise as it passes over the skin; Jade stone combs feel cool to the touch and make a hollow scraping sound.

Faraji likes to use her own nails as a sensory trigger.

“The human connection is really a part of it,” she says. “We try to spend time incorporating as much real flair as possible.”

That said, the ASMR experience is distinctly different from a massage, says Faraji.

“Basically, the concept of a massage is to manipulate your tissues and muscles through pressure,” she says. “ASMR is just the opposite: we use light sensory touch to relieve stress. We don’t knead, apply pressure, or manipulate your joints. It’s surface touch. We have so many nerves in our body and they all work – it stops your body from fighting or fleeing.

For an additional $20, clients can change into bathrobes and enjoy the lounge area before their treatment. It features hanging macrame chairs, a tabletop mindfulness garden, and refreshments such as sparkling water, hot tea, and Japanese whiskey. There’s also a meditation corner, where visitors can scribble what they want to let go of in their life on pieces of water-soluble paper, before dropping them into a dish of floating candles and watching their problems dissolve. Then, they are encouraged to light a candle and meditate on the positive intentions they wish to bring into their lives.

A practitioner uses green jade combs on a client.

Kas Wellness also offers personalized sound baths for up to eight people at a time. Faraji leads the sound bath experience and, upon request, ASMR practitioners will gently brush clients’ hair or scratch their arms while they listen to him play singing bowls.

Kas Wellness may be rooted in ASMR, but the overall effect feels more robust: part high-end massage studio, part spa, part sound bath destination, and part meditation center.

A woman in a white bathrobe lights a floating meditation candle.

“It’s about the mind-body-soul connection and ASMR is just the grounding modality,” Faraji says of his new store. “It is equally important to have the breath of gratitude at the end [of a session] for mindfulness. Because if your mind is not well, your body will never feel calm.

After my treatment, I lingered in the living room, where everything was particularly pronounced: my bare feet on the cool cement floor, my toes buried in the plush carpet, even the scent of my hot mint tea. I don’t know if I felt any tingling, but I was relaxed for the rest of the day.

“ASMR is such a universal thing,” says Faraji. “When we’re younger, physical contact plays a very important role in our creativity: girls sit and braid each other’s hair, and there’s this rhyming game where we tickle each other’s backs. [like] spiders are crawling up your back. But as we age, we have less access to gentle, nurturing touch, especially if you’re single. I think this is why ASMR resonates with so many people. It’s just comforting.

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