It all started when I got a virtual haircut.

About three years ago, I stumbled upon this strange YouTube video on my Tumblr. It told me to plug in my headphones and close my eyes, and I could get a virtual haircut. I didn't see why not, so I tried it out.

It's a cool little video. It sounds like the barber is in the room with you, and there are clipping noises that are right near your ear so it sounds like you're getting a real haircut. It gives you the tingles too, just like if it were real.

After I was done, I scrolled right past it and never thought about it again.

Until early last year, when my YouTube page told me to "Watch It Again" and there was the video for the virtual haircut.

I hadn't thought about that virtual haircut since I'd listened to the video last time, so I watched it again, and remembered how cool and relaxed the haircut made me feel.

The original virtual haircut video is a really good introduction to ASMR, so I'll put a link below:

(One important note: it is imperative that you use headphones, or else the binaural technology will not work.)

So I wondered if there were any other virtual haircuts or anything else out there that I could listen to.

And that is when I discovered the wonderful world of ASMR.

ASMR stands for autonomous sensory meridian response. What it describes is the tingly sensation that you feel, like bubbles under your skin, when you hear a certain sound, like someone whispering in your ear, or someone, say, cutting your hair.

These videos are made with binaural sound technology. The YouTubers that make these videos have special dual microphones that they'll put on either side of a "dummy head," so that when you put your earphones in, the sounds will come into your ears separately. These sounds are really very relaxing, and have been found to help with depression, anxiety, and trouble sleeping.

In my exploration of the ASMR world on Youtube, I've found that it is truly a genre of video. There are two main types of ASMR video, and while they're both meant to do the same type of thing, relax you, they go about it in very different ways.

Trigger videos.

The first type of videos that I will detail are trigger videos. These videos take specific ASMR triggers (such as head scratching, pages turning, crinkling plastic bags) and make entire videos of such triggers, usually with little to no talking.

While these trigger videos aren't my cup of tea, a lot of folks out there know exactly what their ASMR triggers are, and it relaxes them to only hear the specific triggers that they like.

I haven't tried out a lot of these, but my recommendation for a channel where the YouTuber does a lot of trigger videos is ASMR Psychetruth.

Here's a link to her Top ASMR Triggers if you'd like to try out a trigger video:

Role-play videos.

The other broad category of videos in the ASMR universe are role-play videos. These are my favorite. These are more like the virtual haircut type videos. In these role-play videos, you can go to the doctor, the dentist, to get a massage, to get a haircut. Honestly probably any service that you could possibly think of. These videos range from a lot of talking to no talking at all, depending on your preference.

Here I'm going to put a couple of links to my favorite videos.

One of my favorite channels is Listening Point. This channel does all of the funny virtual barbershop videos. But they also have a really good no-talking haircut video, so I'll put a link to that below:

I think my favorite role-play video of all time is Duff the Psych's trip to see the chiropractor. I'm a low-key hypochondriac, so "going to see the doctor" and having them check me out and tell me that I'm healthy really relaxes me, without sending my medical bills through the roof. This is a really good medical role-play, here's the link:

ASMR videos come in all different shapes and sizes. You can find men's voices, women's voices, whispering vs. softly spoken, lots of mouth sounds vs. few mouth sounds. You truly just have to try it out to see what is the right type of ASMR for you.

Full disclosure, it's not for everyone. If you don't like the thought of people being in your personal space, this is not the type of video for you.

I, on the other hand, have anxiety and trouble sleeping. These videos really were a lifesaver for me. I listen to them as I fall asleep almost every night. Before I found ASMR, it could take me up to an hour to fall asleep. Now, most nights it's 20 minutes or less.

Most of these ASMR videos have 10s of thousands of views, and there are thousands of videos out there. ASMR helps me sleep soundly every night.

So all I have left to say is: sweet dreams.