Korean Job Discussion Forums

juliebaas · Joined: 19 Aug 2006 Location: Somewhere near Seoul

So, I want to dye my hair light blonde, but it is a little more difficult here...the hair dyes I have found in the stores are too dark and the salons, seem to all use bleach, not color, and are very expensive.

Is Itawon the place to go? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

piscin · Joined: 25 Nov 2006 Location: Seoul

If you have a friend who's an American soldier, he could bring you onto the base in Yongsan - they've a good hairdresser there.

Alternatively, you could go to Itaewon, hook up with an American soldier, and do as I said above Laughing

jmbran11 · Joined: 19 Jan 2006 Location: U.S.

Don't do it. (Ok, not helpful I realized). One of our teachers is currently partially bald from a bad blond dye attempt. I'm not joking.

However, she does know someone who does it well for around 120,000 won. My humble advice, don't go so light unless you are a blond. Itaewon has two shops that sell Loreal coloring products (Feria & Excellence), which are fairly good and safe, and I believe less than 20,000. Salon maintenance is expensive here, so I'm a big believer in self-help beauty.

discostar23 · Joined: 22 Feb 2004 Location: getting the hell out of dodge

hey, I dye my hair often with FERIA but i don't use the blonde dye, i actually use the brown. it is made for korean's black hair so when i put it in...wow blonde (sometimes it comes out a little pink but that lasts for only a couple of days).

In Apujeoung there is a toni and guy and they do it for about 250,000won. they do an excellent job.
good luck

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

Couldn't you just get someone back home to send a kit by post?

crazylemongirl · Joined: 23 Mar 2003 Location: almost there...

I second the advice of don't do it. Korea is not the place to change your hair as the stylists don't know what they are doing.

There's numerous sob stories on Dave's of women having their hair destroyed by Korean hairdressers. Yes, even at the fancy places like Toni and Guy, even in Itaewon and I once witnessed a rather nasty confrontation at the base hairdresser after she mucked up there.

Here's what I've done. On my last trip home I went to the salon and got them to write down the instructions. I then take it to Ming at Headrush who is the only person I'll let touch my hair in Seoul.

However if you are willing to travel, there's a poster called happy girl (I think) who is a former hairdresser. She does colors and stuff but lives in Gwangju. Maybe get in touch with kratz as I believe she's had her done there.

krats1976 · Joined: 14 May 2003

SunnyD · Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Location: USA

I tried to get my sis to mail me 6 boxes of my preferred haircolor from the US. The post office won't ship it at all, since it has both ammonia and bleach in it, so it's "hazardous". so she went to both UPS and fedex, and they said I had to get an import license (hassle) and the minimum charge would be around $85 for the shipping, just for 2 boxes of it. so that was a no-go.

I looked at the box color in the stores here, and yeah they all picture Asian girls so it's hard to tell how your own hair would turn out.

I have my formula from my hairdresser back home, in case I ever get to an Aveda salon, which can be found around Seoul. But I'm down in Yeosu... My hairdresser in the US is an educator for Aveda, and she apparently knows that the strongest hair bleach that's allowed here is 20 volume. That's not the super strong "make your hair white" stuff. However, if a Korean wants to lighten their hair, they have to use some strong stuff, and or leave it on a long time, or do more than one process. So the real problem is that the hairdressers here may not know how quickly lighter hair responds to bleach, and that they have to go really easy with it.

All that being said, I took the risk and went to a salon here in town, in Yeosu. I have naturally dirty blonde hair, but it's been bright orangey-red for years. My grow-out needed some color! They did a fantastic job, and I'll definitely go back there. Of course, they could see the grow-out, so it was obvious what I wanted them to do. It's called Kim Gyoum Hair Shop on the Yeoseo-dong Rotary, a few doors down from Paris Baguette. It's a pretty busy place for both women and men.

I realize that doesn't help anyone up North, but just wanted paint a not-so-dismal picture for you. Make sure you bring lots of pictures from magazines.

sunnyd