My First Trip to a Korean Salon

Yesterday after class, SanGwan and Emily planned to go get their haircut and asked if I'd like to also. I'd been wanting to for awhile, so walked into Salon Uno (at the bottom of the Technomart) with every intention of keeping my hair long and just adding some long bangs.

Well, when we arrived, they sat us down with books of hairstyles and told us to pick one. Mark, Emily, and SanGwun convinced me to go short. Emily was particularly convincing as she kept telling me that short hairstyles are "very very popular" in Korea. When in Rome...

Here's the guy who cut my hair. He spoke no English, so SanGwan had to explain to him how I wanted my haircut. Talk about nerve-wrecking having two guys discuss how to cut my hair and having no idea what they're saying!

You should've seen this guy with his scissors though, he was spinning them around his fingers and flipping them up as he cut my hair. Made me a bit nervous, but he obviously seemed to know what he was doing.

This is me right after the haircutting portion. I think I'm finished and getting ready to head back to Mark when this girl walks up with a robe and tells me to put it on over my clothes. Then she lead me over to the sink where she washed my hair.

After the hair washing, they led me to another seat, where they handed me a magazine and began putting some white goop in my hair. Kind of looked like hair dye, but smelled funny. I was in full freak-out mode at this point, with no idea what was happening. And there was not a person in sight who spoke English to explain!

After they put the goop in, they covered it with this sexy showercap and sat me under a heating device for about an hour. Finally Emily came over and took this picture, and told me I  was getting a perm. I think I literally stopped breathing at that point (a PERM?!??!). Here I am right after receiving the news.

A few minutes later Mark came over and assured me that he talked to Emily and SanGwan and I wasn't getting a curly perm, but more of a controlling perm. Apparently this process would make the haircut wash and wear friendly, eliminating the need for a flat iron, etc. Sounds interesting, but I'm still very scared.

Then I got yet another hair washing (I think there were 3 total).

Then they blow dried my hair with 4 hairdryers. FOUR. There were two people who each had two dryers in a hand and went to town. I've never seen my hair dry so quickly.

Then they started curling my hair and putting in curlers. Um, I thought this wasn't a curly hair perm?!??!!??! (Don't I look like I'm going to cry in this picture?)

Finally, I got another hairwashing and they dried my hair. The stylist came over to make a few additional cuts, and here's the finished product...............

It's still kind of an adjustment for me, but at least I didn't end up with a 'fro! And it's kind of a cool experience to go to hair stylists who truly understand my hair, it's texture and what will and won't work.

The jury is still out on whether or not I like this, especially the bang part, but I see a ton of girls walking around here with this haircut, so at least I'll blend in and won't look out of place.

Emily and SanGwun also got their hair cut, so here's the crew with their new 'do's.