Friday, January 30, 2009

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. 


5 comments:

Julia Goolia said...

Kimmie, it's SO cute! I can't help but notice it's very similar to my own cut so maybe I'm biased:)

Hannah is still sleeping in the other room but I'll wake her up and make her see this. And then we are going to call you tonight sometime....so stay logged on if you are near your computer. We'll wait so it's at least 8 am there....since we are going skiing today. Wish us luck

Anonymous said...

We enjoyed talking to you last night which allowed us to get a good look at your new look. It is cute and you looked so relaxed. Really appreciate all your detailed description with the pictures. I wonder when Mark will get his five-hour treatment. Take care, dear. You look great!!!

Anonymous said...

Kim, I love your new "Do!" It's so cute and I think it makes you look younger! Words every one likes to hear. I'm so glad that Mark, Emily and Sankwan were there to give you moral support. I would have been nervous too, wondering what was coming next. All the more reason to keep tackling that Korean lan-guage. Thanks for Skyping last night. Can you believe we are becoming so high-tech!! Love you!

Anonymous said...

Kim, your story is hilarious! I would have been freaked out too! You have more courage than I would ever have had. It looks GREAT!

Lindsey said...

Kim, SOOOO CUTE!!!!