For years the message was simple: maintain good hydration and, please, do not go to sleep without removing your makeup.
Then we immersed ourselves and fell in love with a new trend: skincare and its dreaded ten steps exported from South Korea. Now, in 2026, when it seems that we already have the keys to a good routine integrated, and our pulse does not tremble when deciding whether the serum goes before or after the moisturizing cream, a new task arises.
In the midst of a fever to optimize health, the focus moves a few centimeters higher: the scalp.
The ten-step routine falls short
It is increasingly common to find Japanese-inspired hair spa centers in cities or, failing that, on TikTok. Cranial massage, activation of energy points, water jets and hair diagnosisall seasoned with an environment that offers an experience of absolute relaxation. With a proposal this striking, it is not surprising that these treatments have become the new object of desire. beauty.
But, as happens with almost everything that promises well-being and succeeds on social networks, an inevitable question arises: are we facing a new gesture to care for our well-being based on science or a new fashion without much sense?
This “instagrammable” fusion of hair care with moments of relaxation was born in Asia but the franchise Japanese Head Spathanks to viral videos, has awakened the desire of thousands of users and has managed to adapt the treatment to the European public; especially when emphasizing the relaxation and well-being part.
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Aída García, the promoter of the business, discovered the technique at a fair in Miami, but also through TikTok videos, mostly from accounts in Saudi Arabia, where many users wondered when something like this would arrive in Spain. It was then that it detected this gap in the market and decided to take the step, currently having more than 25 centers spread throughout the national territory.
“It seems easy, but behind it there are years of experience, an incredible team and a very strong focus on marketing; for example, TikTok has been key because every time we upload a video, our agenda fills up” Aida Garcia, promoter of Japanese Head Spa
It is clear that the virality and striking nature of the treatment is what attracts so many users, helping the proliferation of these establishments. Not in vain, these types of centers top the list of trends in spas and wellness, with a 233% increase in searches in 2025 compared to the previous year according to the SpaSeekers report. But there is undoubtedly another compelling reason for this growth. And it is that in a day to day where they prevail the rush and frenetic paceany help to lower the revs is welcome:
“They come here from girls who give it to their mothers because they have seen it on TikTok, women aged 30-40 who come accompanied by their partners or grandmothers with their granddaughters. Nowadays, when we have cortisol through the roof and we are going a mile an hour, everyone needs to stop, that is why a hair spa treatment is super giftable,” explains García.
This trend around the globe has meant that the endless skincare routines with ingredients such as hyaluronic acid or niacinamide are also transferred to scalp care. As an example, the term “scalp serum” recorded, for much of 2025, a monthly average of more than 910,000 results on social networks such as Instagram or TikTok; assuming an increase of 77% compared to the previous year.
Furthermore, if we focus on the global market, sales of products and treatments dedicated to the scalp grew by 4.2% in 2024 and the trend continued upwards in 2025, the year in which items destined for this area of the body reached $9.6 billion.
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South Korea is not far behind in this trend, honoring its deep cult of beauty. What’s more, the debate about hair loss has transcended the merely aesthetic and has become a public policy issue thanks to the South Korean president and his proposal to cover baldness treatments by the national health insurance.
According to Lee, for many young people the problem has stopped being aesthetic and has become “a matter of survival.” On the other hand, when it comes to the viral, there are many spa centers in the country where celebrities and influencers enjoy those 15 or 18 steps that the Head Spa treatment includes, promising to cleanse, revitalize and balance the scalp.
Indeed, the entire experience of this ritual, if we focus on its relaxation aspect, is something positive and can benefit us. However, it is when it comes to hair diagnosis and the avalanche of products with active ingredients where we have to put the brakes on and be more cautious.
There are no shortcuts to healthy hair
The truth is that although these spas claim that in general they are treatments suitable for all types of hair and scalp, they always urge people with specific conditions such as psoriasis to consult with a dermatologist first.
And that’s what we have done, although to satisfy all our doubts: “People have a profound lack of knowledge about health in general, and about the aesthetics and health of the skin and hair in particular, it is something that I see a lot in consultation, that false sense of information. Sometimes they make cherry-picking and they do not know how to relate the concepts, which in the end is the most important thing,” says Dr. Silvia Berjón, a specialist in trichology.
The Glowmour Clinic doctor agrees with the sensory and well-being benefits that these treatments provide. Emphasizing “the value of human contact and the release of oxytocin that can cause this relaxation process.”
Furthermore, from its focus on longevity medicine emphasizes that not only healthy habits influence a longer and fuller life but, as supported by science, “also activities that nourish emotionally and help reduce stress”, such as these types of rituals. Even so, as he tells us, we should never take these centers as the solution to a hair problem.
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“It’s like when you feel stressed and you go to the Oriental Spa, which is an aesthetic concept analogous to that of hair, to solve a contracture… that’s the job of a physiotherapist. Well, this is the same thing. The scientific evidence that massaging the scalp has is super limited. It can somewhat stimulate capillary flow and the arrival of blood to the follicles, but to a very low extent,” he adds.
Therefore, perhaps we should reflect before buying thousands of serums without knowing the effect that certain peptides or alphahydroxy acids. In this sense, Berjón warns that “many patients stumble and, typically, follow trends and end up wasting their money,” and adds that, even from an economic point of view, “it is much more profitable for the patient to go to a hair doctor.”
Although we often approach hair care from an aesthetic perspective, the specialist insists that we must treat it with the same medical rigor as any other part of our body: “I will always recommend that a patient consult with a trichologist at some point in their life. The ideal is to always do analyzes to evaluate the overall state of the patient, their health and their skin, and understand how their body is functioning.”
So before considering these Head Spas as the definitive salvation for our hair, we have to be aware that, no matter how good a specific session feels, it’s not miraculous. As Berjón reminds us, “having lustrous, beautiful, shiny hair that does not break, that also starts from within”, so yes, correct nutrition, rich in antioxidants and, when necessary, personalized supplementation recommended by professionals is ideal to optimize results.
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