Bangkok self-care, but not as you know it

If taking care of yourself means lying in a warm bath and doing absolutely nothing for half an hour, I think we can all get behind that. But at Oasis Spa Thailand, you can make the experience a little more interesting by swapping your regular bath for an Aromatherapy Milk Bath.

For 30 minutes, forget the world and soak in a warm, milky bath infused with essential oils of citrus and lavender, as well as prai, a Thai herb commonly used in traditional wellness treatments. The combination turns what would otherwise be a simple bath into a full aromatherapy experience. 

Oasis Spa describes the treatment as designed to help relieve stress and anxiety while easing muscular discomfort. And after hours of walking, shopping and navigating Bangkok traffic in temperatures that can make even a ten-minute journey feel like exercise, sinking into a warm bath suddenly sounds like a pretty reasonable life decision.

And yes, bathing in milk might sound more Grecian goddess than deep treatment – and honestly it is – but that’s exactly why it belongs on this list. Sometimes self-care doesn't need to involve complicated treatments or someone doing mysterious things to your face. 

The treatment starts from B650+, making it one of the easier unusual wellness experiences to add to your Bangkok itinerary. You can currently try it at three Oasis Spa locations in the city.

GAAYA by Oasis Spa. 47/7–8 Sukhumvit Soi 39. Open daily 10am–10pm.

Urban Oasis Spa. 59 Soi Ekkamai 21. Open daily 10am–midnight. 

Oasis Spa Bangkok. 64 Sukhumvit 31 Yaek 4. Open daily 10am–midnight.

If you’re anything of an impulse shopper like our Time Out editorial team, you’ll likely already have a Gua Sha tool sitting somewhere in your bathroom, probably unused. And while it sounded like a good idea, god knows how to use it.  Having the treatment done professionally is, we think, a good way to learn.  

At Chandee, the Gua Sha Facial combines the ancient stone technique with deep cleansing, lymphatic drainage massage and cooling ice therapy. The smooth stone is gently moved across different areas of the face, turning something that might look slightly intimidating into a full facial treatment. Chandee describes the combination as helping to create a more lifted and contoured appearance while leaving the skin glowing.

And while social media might have convinced you that a few strokes of Gua Sha will magically give you an entirely new jawline, we’d approach this one with slightly more realistic expectations. If anything, it’s an opportunity to experience a traditional technique as part of a proper facial – while letting somebody else do all the work instead of standing in front of your bathroom mirror wondering whether you’re even moving the stone in the right direction.

You can choose between a 60-minute treatment for B1,700 or give your face a little more attention with the 90-minute version for B2,300. Either way, your forgotten Gua Sha stone at home might see some use after you’ve seen it in action.

Chandee Silom. 60 Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra Road.Open daily 10am–11pm.

Chandee Sukhumvit 39. 6/7–8 Soi Phrom Si 1, Sukhumvit 39. Open daily 10am–11pm.

Apparently, taking care of your face and body isn't enough anymore. With all the pollution in the city, we often forget about how much it affects our scalp.  At HEAD ONSEN, a Japanese-style head spa in Thonglor, you can give it exactly that.

Rather than simply washing your hair and calling it a day, HEAD ONSEN focuses on the scalp, hair and all the tension that somehow manages to accumulate around your head, neck and shoulders. Treatments combine scalp cleansing, hair care and massage, with the whole experience taking place in private rooms. You can also add the actual onsen element – warm water flowing continuously over the scalp while you lie back and question why washing your hair at home has never felt remotely this relaxing.

There are a few levels depending on how badly you think your head needs rescuing. The After-Work Reset lasts 60 minutes and costs B1,700, combining a scalp detox, hair treatment and neck care. The Deep Reset is 80 minutes for B2,700, while those ready to fully commit can opt for the 100-minute Anti-Aging Care Yuzu Spa for B3,990, which adds deeper scalp cleansing, hair treatment and aromatic massage into the experience.

Considering what Bangkok’s heat and humidity can do to your hair – not to mention what hours spent staring at a laptop can do to your neck – giving your scalp its own wellness appointment suddenly doesn't sound quite as excessive. 

HEAD ONSEN. 3/F DONKI Mall Thonglor, 107 Sukhumvit Soi 63. Open Wed–Mon 10am–8pm; closed Tue.

If a regular facial massage feels a little too predictable, Maison Ysaé has another suggestion: let the therapist put their hands inside your mouth and massage from the inside out. No, we’re not joking. 

It’s known as ‘Buccal massage’ and is an intraoral facial technique, meaning part of the massage is actually performed from inside the mouth (while wearing gloves, thankfully). 

By working on the cheeks and jaw from both the inside and outside, the therapist can reach facial muscles that are considerably harder to access during a regular massage. Maison Ysaé incorporates the technique into its facial sculpting treatments, alongside other manual massage methods.

The experience is certainly more intimate than lying back with a face mask on, and having someone massage your cheeks from inside your mouth might take a minute to get used to. Maison Ysaé presents the technique as a way of releasing facial tension and creating a more sculpted appearance. Personally, we’d be curious about the tension part alone – especially if you're someone who regularly catches yourself clenching your jaw after spending an hour in Bangkok traffic.

The studio offers several facial-sculpting programmes that incorporate techniques such as buccal massage, so the exact price and duration depend on the facial you choose. One example is its Signature Facial Sculpting Massage, which lasts 75 minutes and costs B2,500, giving you plenty of time to discover just how strange – or surprisingly relaxing – having your face massaged from both sides can actually be.

Maison Ysaé. 45 Sukhumvit Soi 31. Open daily 10am–9pm.

Not every beauty experience needs to involve changing something about your face or body. Sometimes the problem might simply be that the shade you've been confidently wearing for the past five years isn't doing you any favours.

At The Perfect Image by Khun Rose Beauty, personal colour analysis is used to figure out which shades naturally complement your skin tone and overall colouring. During the consultation, different coloured fabrics are placed around your face to compare how various tones work with your features. From there, you’ll learn which colour palette suits you and how that can translate into choices such as clothing, makeup, hair colour and accessories.

There are a few ways to experience it depending on how deep you want to go. A basic ‘Personal Color Analysis’ takes 60 minutes and includes professional draping, your personal colour chart and recommendations for clothing, makeup, hair and jewellery. If discovering your colours suddenly becomes your new personality, the ‘Color Identity’ session lasts around three and a half hours and goes further into colour psychology, styling and even reviewing your existing makeup and wardrobe. There’s also a six-to-eight-hour ‘Personal Color & Makeup Mastery’ session combining the colour analysis with an everyday makeup lesson tailored to you. Prices are provided directly by the studio when booking.

And even if you walk in convinced that you already know your colours, there’s always the possibility of discovering that half your wardrobe has been working against you this entire time. At least you'll have a perfectly good excuse for your next shopping trip.

The Perfect Image by Khun Rose Beauty. Sukhumvit Soi 13. By appointment.

Apparently, hands aren't always enough for a massage. Maderotherapy – also known as wood therapy – uses specially shaped wooden tools that are rolled and pressed across different areas of the body. And yes, some of them look like they come straight out of the kitchen. These therapists be cooking, amirite? 

At Maison Ysaé, the treatment combines manual massage with a selection of wooden rollers and sculpting tools, each designed to work on different parts of the body. The technique originates from massage practices that were later developed into modern maderotherapy, and today you'll often see it associated with body sculpting and lymphatic drainage treatments.

Maison Ysaé describes its version as targeting circulation, lymphatic drainage and the appearance of cellulite. I'd keep expectations realistic when it comes to promises of dramatically reshaping your body, but as an unusual massage experience, this one definitely earns its place on the list. Watching someone approach you with an assortment of wooden objects might not immediately scream relaxation, but that's partly what makes trying it considerably more interesting than booking yet another standard massage.

The Maderotherapy Body Sculpting Massage lasts 75 minutes and costs B2,500. So, if you've ever looked at a rolling pin and thought ‘that might actually feel quite nice on my back’, Bangkok finally gives you an opportunity to test the theory.

Maison Ysaé. 45 Sukhumvit Soi 31. Open daily 10am–9pm.

If your regular sheet mask isn't feeling luxurious enough anymore, Bangkok has a fairly straightforward solution: put actual gold on your face.

At Loft Thai Spa, the Golden Facial takes the idea of treating yourself quite literally. The treatment uses two pure 24K gold masks, alongside cleansing, exfoliation, facial massage and skincare. The spa describes gold as the star ingredient of the treatment, with the facial designed around hydration and giving the skin a brighter appearance. Whether gold itself is the secret to eternal youth is another question entirely (we doubt it, honestly), but having your face covered in it certainly makes your average Sunday-night skincare routine look slightly underwhelming. It also looks great on the gram, not gonna lie. 

The whole experience lasts around 90 minutes, giving you considerably longer than necessary to embrace your temporary transformation into Bangkok royalty. And unlike some of the more intense treatments on this list, this one doesn't involve anyone putting their hands inside your mouth or approaching your body with wooden tools – you can simply lie back and enjoy being unnecessarily fancy for a while.

The Golden Facial costs B3,500+ for 90 minutes. Is covering your face in 24K gold something you desperately need to do? Probably not. But if the whole point is trying something you wouldn't normally consider back home, that's also exactly why it belongs here.

Loft Thai Spa & Massage. Sukhumvit 38. Open daily 10am–10pm. 

Loft Thai Spa & Massage. Sukhumvit 24. Open daily 10am–midnight.

You’ve probably heard someone talk about “good vibrations” before, but at Ice Sound Healing, they take the phrase quite literally. The practice uses Himalayan singing bowls to create different sounds and vibrations while you simply lie down, close your eyes and let the session unfold around you.

The studio offers Sound Bath Meditation as well as more personalised sessions involving practices such as chakra balancing and brainwave entrainment, all centred around using sound as a tool for relaxation and meditation. Basically, your main responsibility here is to get comfortable and listen – which might be one of the easier self-care commitments you’ll ever make.

I’ll admit, anything involving chakras and healing frequencies usually requires me to surrender a little bit of scepticism at the door. But there’s also something genuinely intriguing about experiencing sound as more than background noise. Worst case, you spend some time lying down listening to singing bowls. Best case? Maybe those good vibrations actually live up to their name.

Ice Sound Healing at Attuned Studio. The Upper Ground, A1, 4/F, Kamphaeng Phet 3 Road, Chatuchak. Open by appointment only.

If lying down while someone else takes care of you is starting to feel a little too easy, it might be time to get on all fours instead. At KROSS PARK, a rooftop training club in Phrom Phong, you can try Animal Flow – a workout based around ground movements inspired by the way animals move.

And yes, at first glance it might look like a group of adults collectively deciding to become very athletic monkeys, but there’s considerably more technique involved than randomly crawling around the floor. The bodyweight workout combines fluid sequences designed to challenge your mobility, coordination, core strength and overall body control. You’ll move through different positions close to the ground, linking them together until eventually you’re actually “flowing” between them.

Personally, I think this is exactly the kind of workout that could very quickly expose muscles you didn't know existed. But if your usual gym routine is starting to bore you, learning how to move your body in a completely different way sounds like a pretty good excuse to unleash your inner animal for an hour.

KROSS PARK. 5/9 Soi Phrom Si 1, Phrom Phong. Open daily 8am–10pm.