A beauty lover’s tour of Tokyo: hair, nails, shopping and bathing

Tokyo is a city where a beauty obsessive, such as me, can thrive. Whether this is achieved through trying its local treatments, dipping into a sento or stocking up on the best products J-Beauty has to offer, I’ve compiled a list of tested spots and recommended locations to look out for if you’re travelling there this summer.

Tokyo’s best beauty destinations

Hair

The first recommendation I received was for scalp massage. Several people name-checked Ritts, a headspa in Shibuya that provides both wet and dry scalp massage, but I was tempted by the offering at Junka Dry Head Spa (also in Shibuya), a stone’s throw from where I was staying. The massage here had a keen focus on the scalp and back of the neck, inducing an immediate need for sleep to an otherwise very jet-lagged brain.

I’d also heard from those in the know that a haircut from Tokyo is the haircut to have. Local favourite Stoop, in Setagaya, combines a hair salon with a coffee shop. Having trained in NYC, the hairdressers there welcome non-Japanese speaking clientele and are deft at cuts, colours and treatments. Salon LAND also came highly recommended, as a spot with excellent technicians able to quickly achieve slick styles in just as slick a space.

Bathing

Unlike onsen baths, which normally exist outside the city built around hot springs, sento are public bathhouses with different kinds of bathing pools. Said pools can range from herbal baths or jacuzzi-style pulse baths, or saunas, and sometimes incorporate exercise equipment. (Some sento take a strict no tattoos policy and most are split by gender.) The two recommended to me were Bunka Yokusen, in Meguro, and Daikoku-yu, in Sumida City. A third is Yoshino-Yu, which is a little way out of the city. But its interiors – by Kentaro Imai Architectural Office – are well worth the trip.

Nails

Personally, I couldn’t imagine leaving Tokyo without a manicure, and quickly got four amazing recommendations. An editor friend shared her go-to, Disco, founded by Nagisa Kaneko and located in Shibuya. Also in Shibuya, Nail Maison crafts designs with all the rosettes, pearls, gems, bows and plaid I was looking for, executed by supremely talented nail technicians. Another friend who lives locally also recommended Naononails, whose hand-painted designs are expertly achieved, taking inspiration from Hello Kitty or Japanese calligraphy alike. One I’ve bookmarked for the next visit is atelier Sucre, in Shinjuku. Whichever nails you choose, I would advise knowing exactly what you want on arrival and providing your technician with a visual reference.

Shopping

Shopping

The store of all Japanese beauty stores is @cosme, in Harajuku. Seasoned shoppers head there before nipping over to Matsumoto Kiyoshi, the drugstore next door. Since the massive Shiseido flagship store in Ginza has now closed (though I did make a trip over to the Shiseido Corporate Museum – read my review), I stocked up on Shiseido sunscreen and their Eudermine Activating Essence, a hero product since its debut in 1897.

Another destination with a storied past is LISN incense. Established in Kyoto in 1705, it stocks a 150-stick selection of incense in a rainbow array of colours and scents, with sleek contemporary holders on offer too. The retail experience was beautiful, and the winding down after a big day out in the city with citrus-scented incense certainly brought bliss. Last – but no means least – Shu Uemura’s first global flagship store in Omotosando is not to be missed; the building itself is shaped like a giant make-up box (inspired by one owned by Mr Uemura himself) and contains a wealth of products, tools and services unlike any other in the world.