Imagine lowering your guard, body completely jelly-like. You rest on a soft bedding, eyes closed, your other senses heightened. The pleasant scent of rosemary, tulsi and peppermint oil circulates the room, drowsiness gradually building up as meditation music and the sound of soft tracing on the skin softly chime in the background.

Brain placid, free of thoughts. All your attention concentrates on the fingers gently caressing your scalp, tracing down the nape of your neck to your shoulders.

The pair of magic hands planting sleepy seeds into your system belongs to Mel Crawford-Reed. Alongside them, she has her very own toolkit of implements: different hair and makeup brushes, to comb and brush the pressure away.

Bright and welcoming upon first meeting, Crawford-Reed’s energy shifts from jolly and lively to composed and steady as she enters the zone, doing her best to deliver a sleep-inducing session to her client.

Crawford-Reed has always yearned for and enjoyed physical touch, and she knows there are people out there who find it relaxing.

Describing what she does she recalls fond memories from her childhood. As a kid, she loved getting her hair brushed so much she would always find a way to wrangle her babysitters into brushing and styling her hair.

A sweet smile blooms on her face as we walk down memory lane: “I have people say to me: ‘Oh my God, I love getting my hair brushed all the time’, and I do too.”

Crawford-Reed knew the benefits of slow, gentle touches and how comforting they can be. It led to her lightbulb moment — tapping into a niche market, offering a mobile ASMR massage services in the convenience and safety of the clients’ own homes, catering exclusively for women.

ASMR, short for Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, is typically a tingling sensation, triggered by soft sounds and movements. ASMR can help trigger the release of dopamine, relieving stress levels and anxiety, according to the Hunter Medical Research Institute.

An increasingly widespread sensation, more than 13 million ASMR videos have been posted on YouTube. Research also suggests ASMR makes people feel more connected through the recreation of the feeling of being cared for by another person. However, it’s a subjective reaction and it does not feel the same to everyone.

Curtin Associate Professor and sensory processing researcher Welber Marinovic describes a person’s brain as “never in a static mode,” meaning people react to a stimulus differently depending on their state, while personal experiences also shape how individuals perceive and process sensory information.

To Crawford-Reed, tumbling upon ASMR content on the internet around four years ago was a blessing. She remembers falling in love with it after the serendipitous discovery.

“I’m chronically bad at falling asleep without something there, and sometimes I’m just a bit wired and I need something to focus on to calm me down. I found that worked really well.”

She started watching videos on YouTube, moving from hair play and makeup videos to roleplaying ones with stunning production quality, in which viewers are treated as characters and offered sensory services, like getting their makeup and hair done virtually through a screen.

Professor Marinovic mentions attention as a crucial factor affecting an individual’s sensitivity to any stimulus. This “top-down influence” affects how the sensations are interpreted. For Crawford-Reed, her experience of getting her hair brushed is meaningful, therefore her attention to those familiar sensory cues could help contribute to how strong her response is.

With a background in corporate massage, Crawford-Reed describes it as a time when she was trained to go out to clubs and office buildings, giving people a standard five-minute massage service. Having also worked in hospitality and teaching, Crawford-Reed says caring about other people is a large part of who she is.

Her background, passion for relaxation services and love for ASMR all fuelled the idea of starting her own service, including hair play, soft touch or a combination of both in one session.

In-person services, like back scratching and sound healing, have been a huge sensation across countries like the US and Canada. Various cities in Australia also have their own developing ASMR industries, while Perth is slightly behind.

Crawford-Reed saw this as an opportunity and grasped it.

“I identified it initially a couple of years back.” She first tried putting out information on Facebook, just to gauge the response and people’s interest.

Crawford-Reed shows her steely determination and optimism when asked about doubts or misunderstandings about what she does.

So far, she doesn’t recall any negative remarks. But if she had any, she says: “I probably just went on, whatever. If someone doesn’t believe in it, then that’s fine, don’t do it, but there’s people that I’ve experienced getting a lot of benefit out of doing it for them.”

She has people showing interest, but reluctant to continue, due to what she speculates to be social stigma, apprehension and the rising cost of living.

“It’s just some people are still a bit unsure about it, because it’s a niche thing that people don’t necessarily understand.”

Vismaya Nediyeadath first experienced Crawford-Reed’s tingly magic in a 15-minute session, and it was eye-opening for her.

Nediyeadath describes that on first meeting Crawford-Reed,she felt a refreshing shift in the energy around her.

“Working in a high-stress environment, everyone has the same energy, but hers felt so calm and positive,” she recalls.

She compares ASMR massage to a traditional deep tissue massage, “Those massages are really hard on you, but soft touches are not too overstimulating. It helped with my mental stress.”

The hair combing stands out the most part for Nediyeadath. She feels like she’s in a safe space, as her stiff, guarded shoulders and whole body progressively loosen up.

“It felt like my mum is combing my hair, it’s so nice and comforting.”

During sessions Crawford-Reed remains in a clear minded state. Producing tingles in other people is just as relaxing to her. She describes focusing on her energy, “putting that out” and channelling into her client.

She recalls a client interaction that inspires her. A client who has her own massage table.

“She was happy to just be in her bra, lying face down. So obviously the touch was skin to skin, and the sensations she got were a bit stronger.”

The session lasted for 45 minutes. As it ended, Crawford-Reed remembers seeing the client with an intoxicated-looking daze.

“I think she fell asleep during it,” she chuckles while reminiscing.

After hearing about it I had to try it myself. At the end of our session, I tell Crawford-Reed how mind-blown I feel. I confess to her about my initial scepticism when the concept of ASMR was first introduced to me. She flashes me a huge smile and laughs.

“I am glad you enjoyed it,” she says.