Lifestyle

Is this $130 ‘head orgasm’ in Orange County worth it? We tried it

Published

1 week ago

February 2, 2026

Is this 0 ‘head orgasm’ in Orange County worth it? We tried it

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

I’m lying on a heated massage bed, cocooned in a soft, weighted blanket, as Kayla Faraji caresses my cheeks with billowy, pink goose feathers. She slides them down the sides of my neck and around my bare shoulders, sending chills up my spine.

“Now I’m scratching, scratching your chest,” Faraji whispers into my ear, especially breathy. “These are golden nails.” She drags long, prickly iron nail tips up my arms and along my collarbone, filling my ears with a raspy scraping sound.

Kayla Faraji tickles reporter Deborah Vankin’s hands with pink goose feathers.

(Ariana Drehsler / For The Times)

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

“It’s deeply relaxing and restorative — and there’s such a need for that 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 pleasurable tingling feeling brought on by gentle auditory, visual or tactile stimuli — think the sound of cellophane wrap crinkling, oil droplets sizzling, fingernails rhythmically tapping a desktop or a hairbrush swooshing through thick, wavy locks. The feeling is sometimes called a “head orgasm” because, for those who respond to it, ASMR can not only calm the central nervous system, but may bring on a sense of euphoria, giddiness or acute alertness.

Only about 20% of the population, however, experience “the tingles,” as the sensation is often referred to. But for those who are ASMR-sensitive, studies show there are health benefits: It may temporarily alleviate stress, sleeplessness, low mood and chronic pain as well as aid focus. People who experience ASMR also show lowered heart rate and blood pressure because it activates the parasympathetic nervous system for relaxation.

Over the last decade, ASMR has exploded in popularity — the term was coined in 2010 by cybersecurity analyst Jennifer Allen and in 2025 “ASMR” was a top search term on YouTube. But until recently, the ASMR community has primarily coalesced online. ASMR enthusiasts — a.k.a. “Tingleheads” — typically have watched videos online of a practitioner whispering while combing a client’s hair, for example, or dipping rose petals into paraffin wax and, after they harden, tapping the edges on a hard surface to trigger a sense of relaxation or bliss.

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

But ASMR‘s online dominance is changing as more and more brick-and-mortar ASMR studios pop up around the country.

“There’s been a lack of real-world opportunities for people to intentionally have their ASMR triggered by 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 go and explore it through an intentional ASMR practitioner, like you can walk in and get a massage.”

As the founder of ASMR University, which compiles and shares research findings around ASMR, Richard keeps an updated list of in-person ASMR studios internationally — and they’re still rare, he says. “As of January, there are 16 businesses that stimulate ASMR in person in the U.S., four in Canada, 11 in Europe and one in South Africa,” he says.

In addition to Kas Wellness, the L.A. area also has Soft Touch ASMR Spa in Pasadena, which caters to women and nonbinary clients. But little else.

Faraji says she conceived Kas Wellness as a full-scale “luxury ASMR boutique” with spa vibes. The space is a mash-up of textures: Rows of warm, flickering candles illuminate a cool, polished concrete floor; velvet curtains ripple by plush and furry throw rugs. There’s a candy dish in the lobby, which is awash in hues of cream and white, offering visitors gummies infused with passion fruit and the calming herb ashwagandha.

Kas Wellness offers one signature ASMR service — or “sensory journey” — for one hour, 90 minutes or 100 minutes. Clients may upgrade to a “four hand session,” in which two practitioners work on them simultaneously. As in a massage, guests undress “to the level of their comfort,” Faraji says (I did from the waist up) and slip beneath crisp white sheets on 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 “tingle tools,” as they’re sometimes called, or “triggers.” One is a so-called “sparkle brush,” filled with tiny beads that rattle as the brush sweeps through hair; another is a soft “sensory brush” that provides a form of white noise when swooshing over skin; jade stone combs feel cool to the touch and give off a hollow scratching sound.

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

“The human connection is such a part of this,” she says. “We try to spend time incorporating real touch as much as possible.”

That said, the ASMR experience is distinctly different than a massage, Faraji explains.

“Fundamentally, the concept of a massage is manipulating your tissue and muscles through pressure,” she says. “ASMR is the complete opposite — we use light sensory touch to relieve stress. We’re not kneading or applying pressure or manipulating your joints. It’s surface touch. We have so many nerves in our body and they’re all firing — it takes your body out of fight or flight.”

For an additional $20, guests can don robes 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 troubles dissolve. Then they’re encouraged to light a candle and meditate on positive intentions they want to bring into their lives.

A practitioner uses green jade combs on a client.

Kas Wellness also offers custom sound baths for up to eight guests at a time. Faraji leads the sound bath experience and, by request, ASMR practitioners will gently brush clients’ hair or scritch-scratch their arms while they listen to her play the 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 anchoring modality,” Faraji says of her new boutique. “It’s equally important to have the gratitude breathwork at the end [of a session] for mindfulness. Because if your mind isn’t well, your body will never feel calm.”

After my treatment, I lingered in the lounge, where everything felt especially pronounced: my bare feet on the cool cement floor, my toes sinking into the plush rug, even the scent of my hot peppermint tea. I’m not sure if I’d felt the tingles, per say, but I was relaxed for the rest of the day.

“ASMR is such a universal thing,” Faraji says. “When we’re younger, physical touch is such a big part of our creativity — girls will sit and braid each other’s hair and there was that rhyming game, where you tickle each other’s backs [like] spiders crawling up your back. But as we get older, we have less access to soft nurturing touch, especially if you’re single. I think that’s why ASMR resonates with so many people. It’s just comforting.”

Lifestyle

‘E-bike for your feet’: How bionic sneakers could change human mobility

Published

33 minutes ago

February 10, 2026

Press Room

‘E-bike for your feet’: How bionic sneakers could change human mobility

Chloe Veltman evaluates Nike’s Project Amplify system on a steep incline at the LeBron James Innovation Center in Beaverton, Ore., on Jan. 14. She says that after “getting over the surprise” of initially wearing the Project Amplify shoes, “it kind of feels like my feet are being pushed more aggressively forward.”

Gritchelle Fallesgon for NPR

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Gritchelle Fallesgon for NPR

The buildings at Nike’s world headquarters — the Philip H. Knight Campus in Beaverton, Ore. — are named after the likes of Serena Williams, Jerry Rice and Mia Hamm. But the company doesn’t recognize only sports superstars as athletes.

“If you have a body, you’re an athlete,” said Mike Yonker, who heads up the team developing Project Amplify — Nike’s new bionic sneaker.

Accordingly, the Project Amplify footwear system is aimed at a broad audience. “Amplify is designed for that everyday athlete to give them the energy they need to go further, to go faster, with greater levels of confidence,” said Yonker. “It’s like an e-bike for your feet.”

Even as some elite athletes are strapping skis and skates to their feet in an effort to move ever faster at this year’s Winter Olympics in Italy, Nike and other companies in the footwear and mobility sectors are on a quest to help humans move farther and faster in everyday life — using digital technology.

Nike said it plans to launch Project Amplify commercially in 2028. The system, tested in prototype form by NPR at the company’s headquarters, consists of fairly standard-looking sneakers with a carbon fiber plate running through the soles. These sneakers are attached at the back to close-fitting, 3D-printed titanium leg shells that cinch to the calves. The battery-powered contraptions, containing complex motors, sensors and circuitry, weigh a couple of pounds and look like something out of Terminator or RoboCop.

Nike’s Project Amplify prototypes are displayed from earliest to latest at the Nike Sport Research Lab in Beaverton, Oregon, on January 13.

Nike’s Project Amplify prototypes are displayed from earliest to latest at the Nike Sport Research Lab in Beaverton, Ore., on Jan. 13.

Gritchelle Fallesgon for NPR

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Gritchelle Fallesgon for NPR

The latest iteration of Nike’s Project Amplify at the Nike Sport Research Lab.

Gritchelle Fallesgon for NPR

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Gritchelle Fallesgon for NPR

“What it’s doing is learning how your ankles are moving, how long your steps are, taking the algorithms and customizing them for you,” said Alison Sheets-Singer, Project Amplify’s lead scientist. “So that when it turns on, it feels natural and smooth.”

A phone app powers the footwear system on and off and can be used to toggle between various speed settings in “walk” and “run” mode. When activated, the leg shells pick up the heels and propel the feet purposefully forward.

A long quest for speed

Human beings have an innate desire to move faster on foot, whether for practical reasons or thrills and pleasure, said Elizabeth Semmelhack, director and senior curator of the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto.

“The Nike Amplify comes from this long legacy of trying to increase speed and use science to help us get there,” Semmelhack said.

Semmelhack points to ice skates made of bone from the 1600s, 19th-century in-line roller skates and an iconoclastic pair of crescent-shaped, metal rocking-shoes patented in the early 20th century.

A 16th-century bone skate, 19th-century in-line roller skates and a drawing of a patent for metal rocking-shoes from the early 20th century.

A 1600s bone skate, 19th-century in-line roller skates and a drawing of a patent for metal rocking-shoes from the early 20th century.

Bata Shoe Museum

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Bata Shoe Museum

Athletic-shoe manufacturers initially worked to increase the wearer’s speed in the 1970s by using lighter materials — switching out rubber and leather for nylon and foam. Electronics started appearing in sneakers in the 1980s. The Adidas Micropacer and Puma RS-Computer shoe used sensors to track a runner’s distance. Nike even came out with self-lacing high-tops a decade ago — the Nike Air Mag. The limited-edition product brought to life the futuristic sneakers featured in the 1989 movie Back to the Future Part II.

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But none of these innovations used digital technology to increase velocity, because of power constraints. “The energy needed to propel a human being forward is so significant that we do not have an energy source yet that is small enough that can be placed within a shoe,” Semmelhack said.

That’s why Nike and others working on electronic-assisted running and walking systems today, such as the Massachusetts-based startup Dephy — which collaborated with Nike on Project Amplify and also recently launched its own similar product, Sidekick — include ergonomic leg shells to power their products. Some of these systems avoid shoes entirely; for instance, the Ascentiz H+K takes the form of a motorized knee and hip exoskeleton. (According to Nike, Project Amplify is designed to have enough battery life, roughly, to enable the wearer to complete a 10-kilometer run. The batteries are rechargeable and can be switched out for a fresh set if the wearer wants to go for longer.)

Expanding mobility horizons

Despite the power challenges, the electronic-powered, motorized footwear space is a busy one. More than a dozen startups were exhibiting their innovations in the “bionic, footwear, exoskeleton” category at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, one of the world’s most prominent annual showcases for tech innovation. Many of these products are focused on helping people solve mobility issues, rather than necessarily aiding those who already walk and run with ease to do so faster.

“We’ve described a phenomenon called ‘personal range anxiety,’ where people are now making decisions about which activities they opt in and out of based on asking themselves, ‘Will I be comfortable? Will I be in pain? Will I be able to keep up with my friends and family?’” said Dephy co-founder and CEO Luke Mooney. “And so we’re helping them restore that confidence.”

Chloe Veltman walks outside wearing the Nike Amplify system at the Nike campus in Beaverton, Oregon.

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Gritchelle Fallesgon for NPR

Some experts see a future where these footwear systems make a similar impact on walking and running as electronic bikes have made in recent years on mountain biking.

“E-bikes have changed the landscape of mountain biking for people that maybe didn’t have the ability or were getting older and still wanted to participate,” said Mark Oleson, a former Adidas executive who has worked on many innovation projects in the athletic shoe sector and who currently heads up the women’s volleyball footwear and apparel company Avoli. “There’s a huge opportunity where companies are asking, ‘How do we get someone into a sport or into a recreational activity that they normally wouldn’t have the ability to do?’”

Lifestyle

Epstein Files Include Provocative Videos, DOJ Says No Crimes on Camera

Published

2 hours ago

February 10, 2026

Press Room

Epstein Files Include Provocative Videos, DOJ Says No Crimes on Camera

Epstein Files
Videos Of Nearly Naked Women Unearthed …
But DOJ Says Not Criminal

Published
February 10, 2026
1:00 AM PST

DOJ

Jeffrey Epstein had a massive stash of videos depicting young, scantily clad females — and we’re now getting a glimpse into the pedophile’s perverted world — although none of it is criminal, at least according to the Department of Justice.

The DOJ recently released roughly 2,000 redacted videos as part of the latest dump of the Epstein Files … and while you can see several of the victims in their underwear … at no point do you ever see Epstein, or anyone else, touching or engaging with them in any way.

Check out the video showing a compilation of women whose faces the DOJ has concealed to protect their identities. Most of them are striking various poses or mimicking models walking a runway.

jeffrey epstein getty

Considering Epstein’s reputation, there’s an obvious reason for concern … but the feds say there were no crimes committed in these videos. In a 2025 memo, an FBI agent wrote they confiscated videos and photos from Epstein’s electronic devices at his residences in NYC and Palm Beach.

After reviewing all the content, the FBI found no evidence the women were abused in the videos or in the pics. It’s not clear how old they are, but the FBI agent on the case wrote … some of the females could be in their late teens.

Earlier this month, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche voiced similar rhetoric about the files, in general, telling CNN’s Dana Bash, the DOJ “reviewed the files, the quote Epstein files, and there was nothing in there that allowed us to prosecute anybody.”

Almost everyone else disagrees with Blanche and the DOJ, believing Epstein’s alleged accomplices should all be prosecuted and sent to prison. As you know, Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s cohort, is the only Epstein associate to be convicted for conspiring with Epstein to sexually abuse minors. She’s currently serving her 20-year sentence in federal prison.

Lifestyle

Ilia Malinin’s Olympic backflip made history. But he’s not the first to do it

Published

13 hours ago

February 9, 2026

Press Room

Ilia Malinin’s Olympic backflip made history. But he’s not the first to do it

Ilia Malinin lands a backflip in his free skate in the team event on Sunday. His high score pushed Team USA to the top of the podium.

Andreas Rentz/Getty Images

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Andreas Rentz/Getty Images

Want more Olympics updates? Subscribe here to get our newsletter, Rachel Goes to the Games, delivered to your inbox for a behind-the-scenes look at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.

MILAN — Ilia Malinin’s skyward jumps have earned him the nickname the “Quad God,” but it’s his backflip that everyone seems to be talking about.

The U.S. figure skater performed the move in his first two programs on Olympic ice, landing the latter on a single blade and sending the arena into a frenzy.

“It’s honestly such an incredible roar-feeling in the environment — once I do that backflip everyone is like screaming for joy and they’re just out of control,” Malinin said. “The backflip is something that I’m sure a lot of people know the basics of … so I think just having that really can bring in the non-figure skating crowd as well.”

Malinin, who trained in gymnastics when he was younger, first debuted his backflip in competition in 2024 — the year the sport’s governing body lifted its ban on the move.

His moves in Milan aren’t just awe-inspiring, but historic: Malinin is the first person to legally land a backflip at the Olympics in five decades.

It was controversial from the start

Terry Kubicka, also an American, became the first skater to land a backflip in international competition at the 1976 Innsbruck Olympics.

“There was a lot of controversy leading up to the Olympics, because I did it for the first time a month before at the U.S. Championships,” Kubicka told U.S. Figure Skating decades later. “At the time, there was no ruling on as how it would be [scored] and the feedback that I got was that judges did not really see it as a pro or con because they didn’t know how to judge it.”

The International Skating Union, the sport’s governing body, banned the backflip the following year, in part because of the level of danger and in part because it violated the principle of jumps landing on one skate.

But the backflip didn’t totally disappear. Some elite skaters — including 1984 gold medalist Scott Hamilton — continued landing the move in non-competitive settings, like exhibition shows.

And one skater even dared to bring a banned backflip on to Olympic ice.

Surya Bonaly of France performed an illegal backflip at the 1998 Olympics, figuring if she wasn’t going to medal she could at least make history.

Eric Feferberg/AFP via Getty Images

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Eric Feferberg/AFP via Getty Images

France’s Surya Bonaly landed a backflip on one blade at the 1998 Nagano Games, even while injured, in what is widely considered a brave act of defiance.

She knew she couldn’t get the scores she needed to win, but was determined to make her mark on history anyway. It did cost her points but it also cemented her trailblazing legacy, especially as a Black athlete in sport with a relative lack of diversity.

“I appreciate more and I feel more proud of myself now, today, than years ago for when I did it,” Bonaly said in 2020.

The backflip comes back

In recent years, a handful of skaters — including U.S. defending Olympic champion Nathan Chen — have backflipped at exhibition galas, much to viewers’ delight.

France’s Adam Siao Him Fa pictured in October 2025, once the backflip was legal. He performed it in competition the year before, when it was not.

Jean-Francois Monier/AFP via Getty Images

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Jean-Francois Monier/AFP via Getty Images

The move reached an even bigger crowd at European Championships in 2024, when French skater Adam Siao Him Fa landed one in his free skate program, enjoying such a comfortable lead that the deduction wouldn’t matter. He did it again at the World Championships the same year, and still walked away with a bronze medal.

In a full-circle twist, Kubicka — the first to land an Olympic backflip — was a member of the technical panel that watched Siao Him Fa do it at worlds, and gave him the requisite two-point deduction, almost exactly 50 years later.

Later that year, the International Skating Union officially reversed its backflip ban starting in the 2024-2025 season, explaining on its meeting agenda that “somersault type jumps are very spectacular and nowadays it is not logical anymore to include them as illegal movements.”

The backflip can no longer lose a skater points, but it doesn’t count toward their technical score either (it’s not a required move). It could, however, boost a skater’s artistic score and confidence.

“Oh, that’s my favorite part,” U.S. competitive skater Will Annis, 21, said after landing a backflip at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in January. “Every time the crowd goes crazy for it, and it’s actually easier than everything else I do, so it’s really fun.”

His definition of “easier” is that “you can be a little off and still land it” on two feet.

Annis told NPR he had long been able to do a backflip on the ground, but didn’t bother learning how to bring it to the ice until he saw Siao Him Fa do it. He was inspired by that protest but didn’t have time to rebel himself: He says the ban was lifted just days before his first competition.