---
type: Country
title: South Korea
description: The beauty capital, priced — what grooming and skincare actually cost, why the barbers are women, and the practical trap that Google Maps doesn't work here.
tags: [south-korea, seoul, grooming, skincare, korean-medicine, style, transport]
timestamp: 2026-08-05T16:00:00Z
---

# South Korea

Harry's coverage so far is a day of treatments in [Seoul](/places/seoul.md) — a
price-and-process video rather than a country portrait. What generalises beyond
the city is below.

*Obs: per the bundle's rule on commercial content, the businesses in the video
are not named. The prices and procedures are the information.*

## Practical

- **Google Maps does not work properly here.** There is a domestic mapping app;
  Harry gets by on Google Maps for public transport alone and flags the problem
  as one to plan around.
- **Take public transport.** Taxis are expensive and the traffic in Seoul is bad
  enough that he calls the metro not optional.
- **Street terminals** provide tourist information — transport, lodging, sights,
  food, entertainment — which he finds genuinely useful.

## Grooming, style and skincare

The reason people come, and the reason it is cheaper than its reputation.

- **A shave costs 33,000 won**, and includes hot towels, a cold treatment, a
  hydrating step, the back of the neck and head, a beard-area massage and hair
  styling — most of which he didn't ask for.
- **A full scalp treatment is around 100,000 won** (just over $100): a camera
  diagnosis, steam, a sterilising device, a high-pressure water massage, essence
  and a stem-cell root treatment, with the chair massaging your back and legs
  throughout.
- **The facial is not the business-class-flight price he was warned about.** The
  clinic he uses is cheaper than others because clients do part of the work
  themselves and see a consultant only where one is needed.
- **Nobody rushes.** His explanation for why the quality is consistent: a
  five-minute in-and-out doesn't exist here.
- **They don't upsell.** Asked how often to come back for the scalp treatment, he
  is told his scalp is now fine and to look after it at home. Both places send him
  off with a free product.
- **Many barbers are women**, because Korean men largely wear longer styles and
  prefer a hairdresser to a barber. His skin fade is the unusual request.
- **Facial hair is rare** — partly can't grow it, mostly choose not to — so beard
  services are not generally offered. He notes it was normal historically.
- **Looking young and well dressed is the norm**, and he rates Korean men the
  best-dressed of any nationality he has filmed.

## Korean medicine

A single clinic visit, for posture, that turns out to be five treatments:

- **A doctor's assessment first.**
- **Cold therapy**, then **electrical stimulation** pads.
- **Cupping**, which he'd previously only had done on the street elsewhere and
  rates as far more professional here.
- **Acupuncture**, his first ever — an ache rather than a sharp pain — and then
  the needles electrified.
- **Manual therapy**, which is the most painful thing in the video and, on his
  own verdict, the one that worked.

## Source

- [I Tested 5 Star Korean Treatments in Seoul 🇰🇷](/videos/QIi8IIkYyN0.md) —
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIi8IIkYyN0