Seoul: The city where spas never close

In a dustless, clinic-like room, workers in white lab coats get to work on their customers, stretching and pulling their faces with colorful elastic bands.

“It’s time for some facial Pilates,” says Alicia Yoon, a K-beauty wizard and founder of one of the South Korea’s most influential beauty sites, Peach and Lily.

“It doesn’t hurt but it is this interesting feeling because your muscles are getting like worked out in a way that you’re not used to. A lot of their clients will come here once a week, it’s like going to the gym.”

With an estimated worth of $13.1 billion in sales in 2018, South Korea is one of the world’s top 10 beauty markets.

Here, many believe that regularly nurturing skin is a necessity, rather than an indulgence.

As a result, the capital city of Seoul offers a wide array of traditional and innovative spas.

“It’s not this idea that you have to be so flawless and so beautiful but it’s part of self-care,” says Yoon.

“It’s like a thing that you do, that a part of everyday life.”

Much like many of us have a family doctor or dentist, many Koreans have family facialists as well.

Korean scrubs

These women have secrets —

Korean bathhouses (jjimjilbang) have earned recognition overseas, not for being flashy or luxurious (though they can be), but for the communal experience they offer. Though many feature restaurants, computer rooms and small theaters, one thing remains simple -- the scrub, or "seshin."

First, soak —

Before getting worked on by a scrub mistress -- who work in black, lace underwear, by the way -- patrons soak in a pool for at least 30 minutes, preferably in medium-hot water.

Skip the shower gel —

Scrub mistresses say bar soap, not liquid shower gel, should be used in the pre-soak shower. "If you use body shampoo, the skin gets too slippery to scrub properly," says one veteran scrubber.

Pick a pool —

All jjijilbang have different pools. Water temperature ranges from arctic cold to molten hatefulness.

Bed time —

When it's scrub time, customers lay down naked on plastic beds and wait for the scrub mistress to work her painful magic.

Weapon of choice —

The "Korean Italy towel" has a sandpaper-like texture that scours dead skin off the body. Imagine you're the engine block of a '92 Hyundai -- now how would you clean that?

Relax! Relax! —

Although the process can be awkward and painful, relaxing the muscles helps the scrub mistresses get at every nook and cranny.

It's fruity vinegar time! —

After the scrub, weary customers can reward themselves at the snack bar. Fruity vinegar drinks are popular -- they're said to be good for the skin.

Secrets of a Korean scrub mistress

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Cutting-edge technologies aside, jjimjilbangs are another beauty tradition every South Korea tourist should experience.

It’s a 24-hour bathhouse/beauty arcade that offers sauna treatments as well as a seshin, or a thorough Korean scrub.

“What I love about Seoul the most, is that you feel that the city is alive,” says Yoon.

“The spas are usually open 24/7 and it’s not so much everything is open late or 24 hours but its more that there is a hustle and bustle about the city.

“There’s a real sort of entrepreneurial spirit here. There seems to be this real appetite for life.”

To follow Yoon on a spa tour around Seoul, from the city’s most loved jjimjilbang to a cutting-edge beauty laboratory, check out the above video.

Dragon Spa, 40-712, Hangangno 3-ga, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, South Korea; 010-4223-0001

Skin Lab L, multiple locations