Hair salon: LAOS MOON

I had always admired the beautiful hair that Koreans (yes, commoners and celebs alike) sported, so I thought maybe I would try having my hair done in Seoul and see if it would look, well, better.

I was staying in Anam at that time, so I found this salon near Korea University that was not only having a summer promotion, but also had Chinese-speaking staff. I wasn’t very confident that I could communicate well in Korean, so it comes as a relief that I can find a salon with people who actually understood me (and vice versa).

I find that haircuts can be a bit pricey here, but then again it’s also because I’m too used to the SGD10 (now SGD12) quick haircuts I get back in Singapore.

The hairstylist who attended to me was called Chris Kim, I think he’s the boss (?) and he speaks very fluent Chinese. I think he could actually be Korean Chinese, idk.

I let him know that I wanted to perm my hair, and that I wanted my curls to be really big and bouncy – you know, the kind that K-celebs always have. Unfortunately, he told me that my hair was too thin and short to create that kind of hairstyle, and told me to leave it to him to do a perm that I would be satisfied with. I gave the okay, and hence began my 2-hr treatment:

The salon serves a variety of beverages, you can let them know whether you want iced Americano, tea, etc. and an assistant will prepare and serve it to you. Frankly, those 2 hours can be quite boring, but the good thing is that there is free wifi, so you can use your phone in between the (many) times that you have to go and wash the chemicals off your hair. Chris, who was the one mostly in charge, will also chat with you and ask you stuff like where you’re from, why you are in Korea etc. etc. to keep you entertained.

This was the end result! The curls were a bit smaller and tighter than I initially envisioned, but it did look very nice! I paid around SGD150 for this, together with pre-perming and post-perming hair treatment, which I think saved my hair from totally dying after all the treatments I do to it every year.

My curls have lasted since then – from 2017 to now (2019!) and although the curls are obviously a little less obvious, you can definitely still tell that it’s permed. I was really happy with the overall service, results, and price, so I decided to go back again just a few months later to get my hair dyed:

Okay so the back story was that I had initially dyed it copper brown exactly one year ago (December 2016) and all my black roots were growing out, so I decided to get a fresh colour. As usual, Chris will advise you on what works better for you, and so I ended up getting my hair dyed… without actually knowing what colour he was using.

The colour eventually became less red, but a bit of a golden brown. I actually wanted something more ashy, but Chris said that this colour would work better for me. I guess he wasn’t wrong, since my skin had warm undertones and would do a lot better with warm-toned hair. However, it may put some people off to not be able to go ahead with their style choices, so take note if you are planning to come!

I think my hair dyeing worked out to be about the same price as my perming, which is not bad, considering that I once paid more than SGD300 in Singapore’s Apgujeong studio (which, btw, is really not good) and got results that were way more satisfying. The cons, however, include the fact that Anam station is not exactly near most touristy areas; you’ll have to take the subway and travel quite a few stops from places like Myeongdong and Hongdae. However, if you happen to be staying here because of KU winter/summer school, you can definitely consider doing your hair here: results guaranteed!

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OPENING HOURS

10:00AM to 8.30PM

Last walk-in/appointments are at around 6 to 6.30PM, if you are looking to do perm and colour!