Korea

Getting a hair cut in Seoul

16 May 2014

One of the the things that Fu really wanted to do on our trip to Korea was to get a hair cut. Considering he had a grand total of only 3 things he wanted to do in Korea (the other 2 were eating and buying cool jackets and shirts), it was quite high up in priority on our to-do list!

We’ve been marathoning Korean drama after Korean drama lately and the male actors all have such nice hair! That’s one of the main reasons why Fu wanted to have a hair cut in Seoul, haha.

SEE WHAT I MEAN???

I’m convinced that any guy with bangs will definitely look like the best version of himself. The Korean entertainment industry has demonstrated so.

Hair up, so-so. Maybe even crossing into meh.
Hair down, BAM. Instantly better-looking.

Need pictorial proof? Look at the comparison photos for the male leads of this drama!

I did a bit of research on which salon to visit in Seoul and eventually decided on Juno Hair.

Reasons for choosing Juno Hair?

  • Big salon chain with many branches =  Accessible!
  • Affordable prices = More money for shopping! :D
  • Good reviews online = Lesser chance of bad experience
  • Appears to be quite foreigner-friendly = Won’t be screwed over (too badly)

We absolutely wanted to visit the salon on the second day, because Fu not stand a moment longer his unbecoming hair that was starting to resemble a shaggy dog, but the first day of arrival was too rushed to make a trip to the salon.

Making an appointment

Before we arrived in Korea, we called the main number listed in the footer of the Juno Hair website to make an appointment, but it was a most perplexing experience. Someone answered our call and spoke in Korean, and when Fu asked in English if she could speak English, she giggled and then after a thud of the phone (on the table?), there was silence.

After about 10 seconds, someone else came to the phone and rattled off something in Korean again. Fu repeated the question. Met with more giggles, another thud, another stretch of silence.

WHAT THE HELL.

We decided there was no one who could communicate with us so we cut the call. Fu had a Korean friend (incidentally, she’s living in Singapore! People are really all over the world nowadays!) and she was super nice and called the branch and made reservations on our behalf!

The Juno Hair branch we went to is Ewha 1st Branch [website].

Here are the before and after pictures!

I like the positioning of the text, because that it nicely reads “Before Juno Hair” and “After Juno Hair”! :D

Ok la, not much difference for me, since all I did was trim my hair (planning to grow it out!), but the stylist curled my hair quite nicely for me :)

Fu on the other hand, went from limp straight hair to voluminous wavy hair!!! His hair is a tad bit too short compared to the celebrities earlier on (also, he genetically just doesn’t have the hair qualities required of the thick hair look), but I absolutely love the volume and texture!

The TEXTURE! Super love! His hair is so 3D now. Previously it was just a flat plain and you could see his scalp LOL.

The overall experience at Juno Hair was pretty good!

Although we couldn’t speak a shred of Korean beyond the vocab we picked up from K-dramas – pretty useless in a hair salon, I’d say – the staff were all very patient and nice as we communicated with each other in broken English, wild hand gestures and facial expressions.

I’d say the best service I got in Seoul was from this hair salon! I guess you could almost count n.Grill too, although they’re tend more to the purely professional type. Besides, I didn’t get any feeling of personalized service from n.Grill.

Apart from that, the prices are also reasonable. They also give KILLER HEAD MASSAGES. No kidding. It’s SO bloody good! Fu even contemplated returning every other day for a hair wash just for the massage! Hair wash is just 10,000 won by the way. Yes, we asked.

A summary:

  1. They took our bags and locked it in the lockers
  2. They passed us the locker keys and helped us put on our salon cloaks
  3. They lead us to the waiting area
  4. They served us our choice of drinks, along with snacks
  5. The stylist approached Fu and using pictures and gestures, had an in-depth discussion about the hair style he wanted, patiently listening and reiterating to make sure she understood him correctly
  6. Wash, haircut, perm, dry, etc

At the waiting area in our cloaks

The long table is the waiting area, and the free bar (loaded with snacks and drinks) is in the corner!

Did I mention that this salon is HUGE? I think this branch was a 4-storey building!

Prices?

Reasonable! Mine was about 20,000 or 25,000 won for a wash, cut, blow. Sorry, don’t remember the exact price. But most definitely in that range.

Fu’s was 85,000 or 90,000 won for a wash, cut, perm, blow. (again, don’t remember the exact price)

Do you HAVE TO make a reservation?

I’d say nope! When we walked in to the salon, we couldn’t get the staff to understand we had a reservation and he started punching numbers on the calculator and showing it to us.

*punch punch punch*
*shows it to us*
“Cut.”

*punch punch punch*
*shows it to us*
“Color.”

This action-packed-minimal-speech act was kinda cute actually haha.

He didn’t reject us when he thought we didn’t have appointments and thought we were walk-ins, so I’d say just walk into one if you can’t make a reservation! Unless they’re really packed, they probably won’t turn you away!


Looking for your own Korean hair salon experience? Give Juno Hair a try!

Disclaimer: I’m not paid or sponsored to write this! I’m just sharing my experience since online reviews is one thing I rely on a lot, and thought someone else might find this helpful :)

Edit: Adding a Google maps to aid you haircut-goers. It’s accurate! If you use street view, you’ll see Juno Hair right there. You’re welcome. :D

For other Seoul posts, check out the master post!

22 Comments

  • Reply Yen 16 May 2014 at 12:02 pm

    Thanks a bunch Rin – you both look great…will be heading there!

    • Reply Rin 17 May 2014 at 2:34 pm

      You’re welcome :D
      Enjoy your trip (both the hair salon and Korea in general ;)

  • Reply Seoul 2014 Itinerary - Super free & easy - tripleRIN 24 August 2014 at 7:07 pm

    […] Hair cut […]

  • Reply Renee 27 August 2014 at 11:40 pm

    ur review is really helpful for me! im going seoul in oct and i was thinking of getting a perm there but i cant find any price range online. do u have a rough idea for ladies, long hair round how much will the perm be?
    Thanks a lot!

    • Reply Rin 28 August 2014 at 5:37 am

      Hi Renee,

      Glad you found this helpful! I think a perm is in the range of 150,000 won or so (although I’m not 100% sure), but really depends on the kind of perm, etc so it’s best to double check when you’re there :)

  • Reply May 1 September 2014 at 11:42 am

    Hi babe!
    May i have the directions to the Juno hair salon in Ewha? I’m intending to visit that outlet in my upcoming trip to seoul. Would be lovely if you could help me with it!^^ Thanks!

    • Reply Rin 3 September 2014 at 4:04 am

      Hi May,

      I’ve edited the post and added the google maps. You can easily find your way now with the map! :)

  • Reply Where to shop in Seoul (and some tips!) • tripleRIN 11 September 2014 at 1:20 pm

    […] though, you can take the time out to feast on affordable and delicious street food! Or pop by a hair salon (same one that we went to) to get a super good head massage or […]

  • Reply Lene 16 September 2014 at 4:21 am

    Hello~ any idea how much hair color services would cost at this salon? thanks!

    • Reply Rin 16 September 2014 at 11:46 am

      HI Lene,

      No idea about hair color prices, since we didn’t color our hair. But I vaguely remember reading somewhere that it’s in the range of 100,000 won, give or take. Use this information from my jumbled memories at your discretion :D

  • Reply More than the numbers • tripleRIN 17 September 2014 at 3:02 am

    […] actually quite proud about it LOL First result on google leh! (if you’re curious, this this and this are some of my posts that gets the most hits from […]

  • Reply Jaslyn 13 October 2014 at 2:32 am

    Hi Rin

    Do you still remember the operating hours?

    Thanks….

    • Reply Rin 13 October 2014 at 12:31 pm

      Hi Jaslyn, the opening hours are actually stated on the website link above :)

      • Reply Jaslyn 13 October 2014 at 10:03 pm

        Hahha. Got it.. :P
        Thanks….. :)

  • Reply Ann 13 March 2015 at 8:41 pm

    Worst experience ever in Juno Hair salon!

    So we read about how good they are on internet and all the blogs that recommend them. So me and my friends went to one of there salons , the one in Myeong- dong. We went with high expectation and ofcourse ready to get a real korean hair makeover.
    The place was nice, seems professional and great service. So we meet up with one of the head stylist Name KO EUN. Seem really nice and ask us what we wanted. My friend wanted a short hair cut with perm so it would look like all the korean Kpop male singer. Me I wanted cut my hair little bit shorter like chest length and perm that are big wawes/curls. So she asked us if we wanted the perm with extra treatment for the hair wich would cost some extra so we did.
    For my firend who had a male cut and perm it costed 240 000 won
    And for me chest lenght cut and perm with big waves 360 000 won

    It was really pricy I thought but then again you will have the most beautiful hair like all the korean actress/singers so we thuoght it would be worth it and also because this place is so famous and had such good reviews! But oh so wrong we had!!!

    The stylist( same Ko Eun ) cut both me and my firends hait, then she starts helping my friend with the perm, and for me she let one of the traine(!) works with the perm, I didn’t realize it first because I thuoght she would do the perm and the traine was only there to help her, but then she did came to me for about 5 minutes and then leave the rest to the trainee again. And when it all was done 2 traniees blow dry my hair and wel itt looks nice I guess, not really super nice like I hoped but ok. I had better with so much less the price.
    But still I was ok with it and my firends hair was really nice and she was really happy with her hair,
    We paid the money total 600 000 won( = 530 usd maybe)

    So this was on saturday and they told us not to wash the hair until the day after.
    So on monday I was my hair and blow dry it and BAM! It was Straight!! Like my natural hair which is always straight like that. No curls or any Waves at all!
    I new that something was not right, I had done perms before couple of times both with big waves and smal curls and never has it disappear like this just after 1 shower? Just like when using a regular curlmashine and when u whashed it it will disapear.
    I was really disapointed and wanted to go to them right away but couldn’t becoz I was going to have a surgery on that day and after the surgery I had to rest couple of days.
    And about my friend it was the same the waves was gone after one shower and she couldn’t go to them right away neither coz she had surgery too. So on friday we went to the salon again and meet the stylist Ko EUn .
    This is when the service went from 5star to zero!
    She regonize us and I told her about the problem. And this is what her excuse was my hair was yo dry and I shouldn’t blow dry it becoz the curls will be straighten out she told me to let it airdry!? I told her i don’t have time for that, Im a busy woman who wants to do the perm so I will have nice hair after the shower, do a little blow dry and then go to work. i dont have time to do any styling or put any wax on to make the curls be curl? I mean i had have perms before and ofcourse it will look nicer if you put some effort and time to it when blow dry your hair but if you only blow dry it it will still be curly not straight! She had tons of excuses and told me its not god if i would do the perm again and when i wanted my money for the perm back she suddenly couldn’t understand me and then have her phone to me so I could speak to one of her own costumer who could speak a little bit english. The costumer of course said same thing as the stylist and also told me that te stylist would do the perm for me again for free but. I have to pay the extra treatment so i wouldn’t damaged my hair! I refused and also when I told about my friends hair ( she was there to but was to tired after the surgery to argue) and she just had bad excuse that my friends hair was to thin?? Like first she had excuse for my hair was damaged and now my friends hair is to thin? And the she just didnt mention anthing more about my friends hair. And didn’t talk to me and just went to work with her costumer. and I even let then was my hair and they said it is waves anf curls when the hair is wet! But not when its het dry! The saw it with their own eyes yet they refused to pay us back! Or even wanted us yo pay extra if we wanted a treatment! It feels like the thuoght we where tourist and wanted to ripped us of and let the trainee do the job and then charged us overprice!

    So now Im really mad and don’t know what I should. Do , coz if. I do the free perm but no treatment then my hair will be so dry and if I don’t i feeel like im being ripped off!!

    I m really mad and just want to let you guys know before you chose a saloon like this!!

    • Reply Rin 14 March 2015 at 1:35 am

      Hi Ann,

      Wow, it sounds you really had a poor experience at the Myeongdong branch! It is worlds apart from our experience at the Ewha branch. My husband’s perm lasted him till it grew out (which is at least a month).

      If I’m not mistaken you’re from Sweden? It might be that Koreans do not really know how to handle non-Asian hair. But of course, that is no excuse for their poor customer service and how they treated you. It must be terrible spending so much money and with nothing to show for. I hope things will work out for you!

      • Reply Ann 14 March 2015 at 4:38 am

        Thanks for reply me! Yes i from sweden but im a asian to so. I have just regular asian har and done perms alot of times before and it always stays, and now my hair is all grown out with new hair so the old perms are cut of so it shouldn’t be any problem. And yes i see that your husbands perm is exactly like my friends and so don’t know why it just dissapear over 1 shower.
        And for me they let a trainee do the perm so maybe that was the problem? Also you guys had a good price for your husband but they charged my friend 240 000? Don’t know if there is anything you can do, maybe i’ll let them do the perm again but without a treatment because ibrefuse to pay anything extra :(

        • Reply Rin 15 March 2015 at 5:44 pm

          Oh, you’re asian too? That’s really weird then!

          And even if it’s a trainee doing it, the chemicals used should be the same so I don’t the results will be so drastic (lasting one month vs one wash).

          This situation sucks :( I hope things are resolved soon!

  • Reply Etalo 31 December 2015 at 1:24 pm

    Your blog is interesting and help me alot for my planning to seoul next month! Happy new year!=)

    • Reply Rin 2 January 2016 at 2:52 pm

      Glad it helped! Enjoy your trip and Happy new Year! :)

  • Reply Reanna Averill 11 May 2016 at 10:34 am

    Hello,
    I will be at Ewha Womans University in June and I am looking to get the Magic Perm. Do you happen to know if this is a good place to get this done? And how much it may cost me? I want to go someplace close, with somewhat English-speaking staff and affordable. Everyone I speak to says it could cost up to $300 at other salons.

  • Reply Abc 9 April 2017 at 7:30 pm

    Hi, great recommendation. Staff was v helpful and service oriented like u said. Massage was awesome but could have lasted longer (mine lasted for abt 3 mins) . Just wondering if the massage u & ur husband got was also that short? Haha. Thanks

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