Have you ever had a braingasm?

The other day a friend of mine was using my laptop to look for a music video on YouTube. Amidst his typing, his gaze must’ve wandered over to Recommended Videos in the sidebar, because he started sniggering.

“Head massage videos? WHISPERING?! Gail, what are you on?”

My dirty secret was dangerously close to being uncovered so I thought I might as well write about it here and tell you all.

I like to watch videos on YouTube of people having their hair washed. No. I LOVE to watch videos of people having their hair washed. And head massages. And sometimes hair brushing. Especially if they’re accompanied by a softly spoken narrator.

For as long as I can remember, I've been aware that certain actions and sounds, or features of particular voices, affected me in a way like nothing else did. Be it the way a teacher at school pronounced the letter ‘s’, the sound of a hairdresser’s scissors snipping, or someone painting my nails - even seeing it being done to other people - brought me out in what I what I called ‘the tingles'.

So how did the YouTube watching start? Well, being a fan of all things beauty, I was searching for hair tutorials on YouTube one evening when I stumbled across a whole channel of videos with ASMR in the title. I didn’t know what the ASMR bit referred to, but the channel in question was packed with tingle inducing footage. Basically, video after video of people having their hair brushed by a quietly spoken American lady.
It was a revelation I now struggle to ignore. I’m addicted, and as a sufferer of insomnia I regularly seek out the videos to lull me off to sleep. It does the job far better than counting sheep ever could.

A bit of research informed me that ASMR is the common abbreviation for Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response; 'an alleged biological phenomenon characterized as a distinct, pleasurable tingling sensation in the head, scalp or peripheral regions of the body in response to visual, auditory, olfactory, and/or cognitive stimuli.' Thanks Wikipedia, where would I be without you?!

If you’ve never experienced the ASMR tingles, I offer my sincerest condolences. It’s one of the most pleasurable and relaxing sensations, and takes zero effort to achieve. In my case, it originates in the left side of my scalp. It feels like goose pimples, but inside my head. This feeling tends to end up in my legs, specifically the bottom of my thighs where it lingers and then disappears. Despite there being nothing sexual about it whatsoever, I can understand why people often call it a ‘braingasm’.

Some people experience these ‘braingasms’ several times whilst watching hair brushing videos like I do. Others prefer ‘being at the optician’ type role plays or listening to someone whispering about something mundane like filling the dishwasher. There are even hour-long recordings of a pencil scribbling on sandpaper.

Despite being the subject of numerous discussions on the internet, Facebook groups and YouTube channels, scientific research continues to find definite proof of, or reasoning behind, the phenomenon. David Huron, of Ohio State University suggests “the [ASMR] effect is strongly related to the perception of non-threat and altruistic attention," and likened it to the way primates groom each other for pleasure rather than to clean. It’s still unknown why some (lucky) people are susceptible whilst others aren’t.

It’s all very bizarre really and I’d love to know if anyone reading this also experiences ASMR, or perhaps recognises the sensation but until now, didn’t know what it was.

Right, it’s 25 minutes past midnight as I type, and I must go. I have an appointment at a Japanese hair salon.
Sweet dreams.

By Gail.