Last weekend was a disaster. Total disaster.
It actually started on a high note as I had just been paid and was looking forward to doing some serious damage in the shops around Seoul on Saturday. The weather has been changing pretty quickly and while Autumn has well and truly arrived, Winter also appears to be fast approaching. I have been prancing around in flimsy summer dresses for the past 3 months but now that every one around me has started covering up and starting wearing wooly jumpers and winter boots, I decided it was about time I started investing in a new winter wardrobe.
I have also not been to a hair dresser since I left home in June, so you can imagine how badly I need both hair cut and a color to cover up those awful brown roots! I made an appointment for Juno Hair Salon in Myeongdong as I has seen rave reviews online and a few of my friends had been to Juno hair salons and only had positive things to say.
Saturday arrived and I was excited about the day of shopping that lay ahead. I took the train to Myeongdong, which is the top destination for shoping in Seoul, with 100’s if not 1,000’s of clothes, shoe and beauty stores to choose from. The atmosphere alone puts a smile on my face. Well, it did up until last weekend anyway.
I headed straight to Juno hair and was seated in a waiting area where I was offered a drink of my choice and handed an iPad which had a huge array of photography of celebrities. I was told, in broken English, that I could pick any celebrity hairstyle I liked. Out of all 200 choice, there was not 1 curly blowdry, which is the exact style that suits me and the exact style I was looking for. I quickly browsed my phone and showed them what I wanted, saying I wanted a color and a cut.
The scene of the “Hair Humiliation”.
After a 20 minute wait I sat down with a stylist and explained what I wanted. He took one look at my hair and told me, “Your hair is dangerous. It is dangerous!”. Wow, thanks, just what i wanted to hear!! How on earth can my hair be DANGEROUS?! It seemed he wasn’t keen on dying my hair blonde (considering EVERY other person in the salon had black hair, I wasn’t THAT disappointed for fear they may also dye mine black!) so we agreed that a cut was all I needed.
I was handed over to another girl who washed my hair, continued to comment on how dangerous my hair was and complained that I had “too many hairs”. Now anyone that knows me knows that I have thick hair, but you know what it’s my hair and I love it just the way it is. To be sat in a Korean hair salon for over 2 hours and be repeatedly told negative things about my hair was far from the ideal Saturday I had imagined. About half an hour later I was informed that they were doing a treatment on my hair (yes, they had ALREADY started) and that it would cost me 90,000 won. I was pretty annoyed, as you can imagine, but as they know best I Iet it slide and hoped it would be a good treatment and help the condition of my hair. At this point I was told that the cut would cost 25,000 and the treatment 90,000.
After 2 hours of washing, treatments (part of which had me feeling like I was in a sci-fi movie!), discussing and a lot of waiting, it was finally time to dry my hair, Another woman (person number 4 so far!) was assigned to do this and she just kept saying I had “too many hairs” and making funny looks as she dried my hair in a way that made me look like Mufasa from the Lion King. Not quite the look I was looking for. She then took out a pretty crappy looking curling iron and spent the next 45 minutes, begrudgingly, curling my hair. A few more nasty comments here and there about the quality of my scalp, the quantity of my hairs and a few disgusted looks and I was ready to RUN out of the hair salon with my anger levels soaring and my self-esteem at an all time low.
But before I escaped from this hell hole I was given my bill, which was FAR more than the agreed amount. A questioned the discrepancy and the receptionist informed me it was because I had “so many hairs”. I reluctantly paid up but not before swearing to myself that I would write a damning blog about this salon and NEVER return for round two of “hair humiliation”.
My hair looked pretty good, but it was not the style I wanted and I knew it would not last more than a few hours without going frizzy, I still had my horrible brown roots, and I was 130,000 won out-of-pocket. 🙁
MUST READ: Tips For Curly Haired Travellers
I decided some retail therapy would cheer me up. I was heading out with some friends in Iteawon and Hongdae that night so went in search of some shoes and maybe a new dress. After enquiring in about 15 shoe shops if they had my size (Korean 160, UK size 7) I was told by one less-than-friendly shop owner, “No shop in Korea does that size. Too big”. Not only did I know that was a lie but I was less than impressed with her attitude.
Looking for Big Shoes? You’re in the WRONG country!
I finally went in search of Payless Shoes, an American shoe chain that sold shoes of a questionable quality but in BIG BIG sizes. After an hour of searching, and browsing various blogs for directions, I eventually found the shell that was Payless shoes up until October 1st 2013. That’s right, turns out a store that sells large sizes just couldn’t hack in downtown Myeongdeong. 🙁 Bad news for all you fellow big-footed expats!
I had failed to buy shoes so decided new clothes would have to do instead. Most of the smaller stores had nothing that would even remotely fit me and some were even reluctant let me in the store…I am pretty tall I guess, and from their perspective I have hips that belong to an ape rather than an average Korean woman. I eventually gave up and went to meet my friends feeling pretty exhausted and annoyed, cursing my genes for giving me big feet, big hair and a height of 5 foot 10 Inches.
Turns out “Big is Beautiful….except in South Korea”.
Last updated on October 13th, 2023 at 01:06 pm
