For decades, Australians have flocked to Bali for inexpensive holidays, where a bowl of nasi goreng, Indonesia’s famous fried rice, sells for as little as a dollar and pool villas with staff start at only $100 per night. But with the cost-of-living crisis intensifying in Australia, more and more tourists are capitalising on their holidays in Bali by booking health and beauty treatments that can cost a fraction of what they cost back home. On a recent trip to Bali, I investigated. Here’s a rundown on the service, the results and how much we saved.
HAIRCUT
I’ve been going to the same daggy old barber shop in Australia for as long as I can remember. They do a good job but I can’t book in advance; I have to wait in line on broken old couches for half an hour like everyone else. And the price keeps going up; now it’s $28. If I went to a trendier place it could cost double.
In Bali, some barber shops do men’s cuts for as little as $2 though they’ll leave you looking like Milton the Monster, something I know from experience. But I got a sharp haircut at the Head Most Barber Shop in Seminyak, a tourist precinct. There were about 10 barbers on duty so I didn’t have to wait. I walked out of there half an hour later sporting the same hairstyle as Daniel Craig’s James Bond. It cost $9.
My girlfriend got her hair done at Parlmour Me Beauty Salon in Jimbaran, a beach town south of the airport.
“The fit-out was daggy, like something out of the 80s,” she recalls.
“But it was spotless and the service was excellent. I asked for face-framing layers and got a beautiful head massage, cut, colour and blow, all for $40.
“The same thing costs me $215 at the salon in the shopping centre near our home in Sydney, but the service and attention to detail I got in Bali was on par with a more expensive salon I visit once a year when I want to splurge. You can’t walk out of there without spending $400.”
Cost in Australia: $400 for women, $28 for men Cost in Bali: $40 for women; $9 for men Savings: $360 for women: $19 for men
BOTOX
Botox is measured and sold in units equal to 10 per cent of a millilitre. To treat crow’s feet, wrinkles that form around the corners of the eyes, requires five to 15 units per eye. Men generally need more than women because our faces are generally bigger; I need 10 units on each eye to treat my crow’s feet. It works like magic but only lasts three to four months, meaning the cost can easily add up into the thousands per year. In Australia, the best deal I have found for 20 units of Botox is $200.
In Bali, I paid half that much at Jade Chen Aesthetics in Canggu, another popular tourist district about an hour’s drive north from the airport. The clinic was modern and clean. The receptionist was all smiles and gave me two options: 20 units of Botox for $130 or 20 units of Ellitox 100, a South Korean version of Botox that is just as effective, for $100.
The treatment was administered in a private room by a medical doctor who looked and dressed like a 16-year-old K-Pop fan. But she knew exactly what she was doing and the injections were practically painless due to her skill.
The following day, my girlfriend went too. She got 40 units of Ellitox 100 for $200, whereas she normally pays $650 for 40 units of Botox at her GP in Sydney. There are plenty of clinics in Australia that will give you 40 units for as little as $400, though it won’t necessarily be with a doctor, just a nurse.
Cost in Australia: $650 for women; $200 for men Cost in Bali: $200 for women; $100 for men Savings: $450 for women; $100 for men
DENTAL CHECK-UP
The Australian Dental Association recommends dental check-ups every six months. But only 30 per cent of Australians over age 15 do so, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Around half of all Australians only go to the dentist once every 12 months, while one in three Australians either delay or completely put off dental check-ups.
The most common reason for not going to the dentist is cost, as the average price of a dental check-up in Australia is around $219, according to Google AI. But in Bali, a check-up and clean at a modern dental clinic is $50 to $100.
I had a check-up, scale, polish and X-ray at the ARC Dental Clinic in Kuta, a beach town close to the airport, for only $60. The waiting room was bigger and more comfortable than the waiting room at any dental clinic I have visited in Australia, and the treatment rooms were modern and spotless. My check-up was done by a dentist, who gave my teeth a clean bill of health. A dental assistant then took over for the scale and polish.
I also went to a place called The Teeth Whitener Bali in Kuta, which uses a teeth-whitening peroxide gel that is activated by a blue LED light to whiten teeth. I paid $55 for an hour-long session, which is about the same as the cheapest deals you can find for teeth whitening in Australia.
Cost in Australia: $219 Cost in Bali: $60 Savings: $159
MANICURE
Many men get manicures nowadays though I do not. My girlfriend however gets them all the time. There are scores of nail salons in Bali she could have visited but she tried a mobile nail technician who was recommended by a friend and who came to our villa.
“She couldn’t speak much English, but she spoke enough to get the job done,” my girlfriend recalled.
“I got a 45-minute manicure with an Ombre gel polish. It cost $7 but I gave her double that because she did such a fantastic job.
“She was so proud of her work that she asked me permission to take a video at the end and upload the results onto her Instagram page @luckynails15_. And because she came to our villa, I didn’t have to step out into the traffic which can be pretty bad in Bali, so I saved a lot of time.
“With all the treatments I had in Bali that also included eyelash extensions (I pay $125 in Australia; in Bali it was $55), I saved more than $900. That’s about the same I spent on airfare, so I basically got free flights to Bali by getting all of this done there.”
Cost in Australia: $90 to $140 Cost in Bali: $7 Savings: $83 to $133
https://thewest.com.au/travel/cost-of-health-beauty-crisis-not-in-bali-c-17140683
