---
type: Video
title: "I Tested 5 Star Korean Treatments in Seoul 🇰🇷"
description: Five treatments in Seoul's wealthiest district — a scalp treatment with a camera diagnosis, a 33,000-won shave, acupuncture and cupping for bad posture, a skin fade, and a facial with numbing cream.
tags: [south-korea, seoul, gangnam, grooming, skincare, korean-medicine, barbers, prices]
timestamp: 2026-08-05T16:00:00Z
resource: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIi8IIkYyN0
video_id: QIi8IIkYyN0
upload_date: 2025-02-08
duration: 1590
---

# I Tested 5 Star Korean Treatments in Seoul 🇰🇷

A price-and-process video: five treatments in the wealthiest district of
[Seoul](/places/seoul.md), [South Korea](/countries/south-korea.md), with the
cost of each and a verdict on whether it was worth it.

The finding that surprises him is that it is **cheaper than advertised**. The
facial was described to him as costing the same as a business-class flight home;
the shave costs 33,000 won and the scalp treatment a bit over $100.

*Obs: per the bundle's rule on commercial content, the salon, barber shop and
clinic are not named here — the video links them and the processes and prices are
the information. The video also carries a VPN sponsorship and affiliate links.*

## Key moments

- [00:00] The framing: the beauty capital of the world, the most expensive
  treatments he can find, in the country's wealthiest neighbourhood.
- [00:33] **The scalp treatment, 100,000 won.** A salon with a coffee shop inside
  it, and the nicest barber's he has ever set foot in.
- [01:05] **A camera diagnosis of his scalp** on an iPad: dry, sensitive, red spots.
- [01:36] Ten minutes of steam, then a device that he's told relieves clumped
  muscle and sterilises the scalp. Mildly painful.
- [03:16] **The chair massages his back and legs the entire time** — three parts of
  him being worked on at once.
- [03:48] A high-pressure water massage of the scalp, which goes to turbo.
- [04:20] **Essence and a stem-cell treatment** for the roots.
- [04:52] What he actually rates: the attention. He compares it to a British
  haircut where the barber isn't looking at what he's doing.
- [05:24] The after picture — clean, moisturised, no red spots — and the honest
  upsell that isn't one: asked how often he should come back, they tell him his
  scalp is fine now and to look after it at home.
- [05:59] A free gift of scalp shampoo on the way out. **Just over $100 total.**
- [06:20] **The shave.** Hot towels to open the pores, then something cold enough
  to take his breath away, then a hydrating treatment that works better on a bare
  face.
- [08:15] They shave the back of his neck and head as well, then massage the beard
  area, then style his hair — none of which he asked for.
- [09:05] **33,000 won**, which he calls reasonable for the city.
- [09:42] **The Korean medicine clinic.** A doctor's check-up first, which
  diagnoses bad posture worse than he thought.
- [10:19] **Cold therapy, then electrical stimulation** pads on the back.
- [10:49] **Cupping**, which he has had before on the street and calls much more
  professional here, and a bit painful.
- [10:49] **Acupuncture for the first time in his life** — an aching rather than
  sharp sensation.
- [11:25] **Then the needles are electrified**, producing a tapping feeling in the
  lower back.
- [11:58] **Manual therapy last**, and the most painful thing in the video — his
  neck cracks and he swears.
- [13:12] Verdict: 5/5, genuinely less pain afterwards.
- [13:42] **A practical aside worth more than the treatments**: Google Maps does
  not work properly in South Korea. There is a domestic mapping app; he gets by on
  Google Maps for public transport and recommends taking it, because taxis are
  expensive and the traffic is bad.
- [13:42] Public tourist-information terminals in the street covering transport,
  lodging, sights, food and entertainment.
- [14:12] **The haircut**, from a barber well known enough that he'd seen her work
  on YouTube first.
- [14:42] **Why so many Korean barbers are women**: Korean men mostly wear longer
  styles and prefer a hairdresser to a barber. His skin fade is the exception.
- [16:24] **Facial hair is rare** — partly can't, largely don't. He notes it was
  normal historically.
- [16:54] **Style matters here more than anywhere he has been.** Looking young and
  well turned out is the norm, and he rates Korean men the best-dressed of any
  nationality he has filmed.
- [17:28] **Nobody rushes.** The reason a Korean barber is reliably good, in his
  account, is that a five-minute in-and-out simply doesn't happen.
- [18:03] On his receding hairline, unprompted: it's called getting old, he isn't
  especially insecure about it, and he'd take a hair transplant if someone offered
  a collaboration.
- [18:36] **Scalp tonic and seaweed oils** as part of a haircut.
- [20:29] No beard trims offered at all, for the reason above.
- [21:03] A parting gift of tonic — Korean hospitality, in his framing.
- [21:34] **The facial**, which he'd been told costs as much as a business-class
  flight home. A consultation first, then treatments spread across several floors.
- [22:07] **Suction, then blackhead extraction.**
- [23:14] **Numbing cream**, ten minutes, then a lounge to wait in.
- [23:50] **Why this clinic is cheaper than the others**: you do part of the work
  yourself — cleaning your own face — and see a consultant only for the parts that
  need one.
- [24:22] The painful part, with a numb face: **6 or 7 out of 10, and 8 or 9 on the
  nose.** Less bad than he expected, and they check on him throughout.
- [25:56] Finishing machines he can't identify — *a gym session for your face* —
  which tighten, lift and shrink pores.

## Extracted pages

- Country: [South Korea](/countries/south-korea.md)
- Place: [Seoul](/places/seoul.md)