Seoul

The capital of South Korea. Harry’s day here is spent almost entirely indoors, in the wealthiest district of the country, testing what the city is best known for.

Obs: per the bundle’s rule on commercial content, the salon, the barber shop and the clinic are not named. The video links all three; the prices and procedures are what is recorded here.

The treatments, in order and with prices

• Scalp treatment — 100,000 won, a little over $100. A camera diagnosis on an iPad (dry, sensitive, red spots), ten minutes of steam, a device to sterilise the scalp, a high-pressure water massage, then essence and a stem-cell root treatment. The chair massages his back and legs the whole time. Around 40 minutes, and free shampoo on the way out.
• Shave — 33,000 won, which he rates as reasonable for the city. Hot towels to open the pores, something cold enough to take his breath away, a hydrating step that works better on a bare face, the back of the neck and head done as a matter of course, a beard-area massage, and then his hair styled.
• Korean medicine, for posture. A doctor’s check-up, cold therapy, electrical stimulation, cupping, acupuncture with the needles subsequently electrified, and manual therapy last — which is the most painful thing in the video and the part he credits. 5/5.
• Haircut — a skin fade, from a barber he’d seen on YouTube before arriving. Scalp tonic and seaweed oils included, plus a tonic as a parting gift.
• Facial. Consultation, suction, blackhead extraction, numbing cream, then the painful part — 6 or 7 out of 10, and 8 or 9 on the nose — and machines at the end he describes as a gym session for the face.

What he concludes about the money: less than advertised. He’d been told the facial cost as much as a business-class flight home; the clinic he used is cheaper because clients do part of the cleaning themselves.

Getting around

• Google Maps doesn’t work properly. A domestic mapping app exists; he manages on Google Maps for public transport only.
• Take the metro. Taxis are expensive, and the traffic is bad enough that he says public transport isn’t really optional.
• Street terminals with transport, lodging, sights, food and entertainment information, which he finds genuinely useful.

Harry’s tips

• Book the shave, not just the haircut. At 33,000 won it includes several things he didn’t ask for and rates highly.
• Expect not to be upsold. Both places told him what he didn’t need and gave him a product for free.
• Ask which clinic makes you do part of it yourself — that is where the price difference is.
• Don’t rush, and don’t expect to be rushed. His explanation for why the quality is reliable.

Source

• I Tested 5 Star Korean Treatments in Seoul 🇰🇷 — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIi8IIkYyN0