The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps
“Where can I feed my nursing toddler?” That was the question pressing on my heart before our trip to Seoul. Jeju is easy because I can just latch her in the car we rented for our 4D3N trip. I searched online and found very little …
![Perfume Making in Seoul, Korea [Sponsored by Trazy]](https://travel.joogostyle.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/travel.joogostyle.com-Custom-Perfume-Making-in-Seoul-8A-760x400.jpg)
Eat Ginseng Chicken in Korea, yummy. Ride a rail bike, fun. Visit Nami Island, it’s beautiful. Make your own perfume in Seoul, that’s exotic. Well, at least it’s not common among tourists to Seoul. I was looking through Trazy.com for things to do in Korea, and …
![Hair Salon in Seoul for Foreigners: English Speaking [Sponsored by Trazy]](https://travel.joogostyle.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/travel.joogostyle.com-Hair-and-Joy-Seoul-Hair-Salon-2.jpg)
When overseas, I like visiting hair salons to try out the local trends. Did it in Hong Kong but ended up with an epic fail boy’s cut. Also did it in Taiwan and cringed at the frizzy limp perm, and on hindsight I think the Taiwan stylist was peeping under my clothes, a story for another day. So why do I still want to venture overseas? I just couldn’t help it this time. It’s Seoul.
With K-beauty in the vogue and Korean hair salons sprouting up in Singapore, shouldn’t I be styling my hair at where all these originated from? I wanted an authentic Korean hair salon experience. And it’s a plus that Trazy.com (“Trazy”) is sponsoring this experience at a Seoul Hair Salon in Hongdae (Hair & Joy).
Trazy is a travel booking site where you can find tonnes of activities in South Korea (“Korea”) and Thailand — from day tours to concert tickets to manicure. Get inspired of what to do in Korea, especially uncommon tourist experience like cooking! :) Oh and booking through Trazy website will save you the hassle of overcoming the language barrier and making overseas calls. Almost all Korean establishments we encountered only have phone numbers listed for reservations.
I meandered through a narrow obscure shortcut to go over to the other street. Making my way from Hongik University subway stop, I had made a wrong small turn at an ambiguous crossroad. “It should be right this time,” I thought to myself, “Uniqlo is over there and the hair salon is opposite. But why can’t I spot it?”
Turned out, I was looking out for the wrong thing. I was expecting the usual wide glass paneled hair salon, but its entrance was actually obscure. The easy-to-miss indication that I had found the salon was a thin and long sign of Hair and Joy. I would have unlikely been a walk in customer.
As I carefully climbed my way up instead of taking the lift, a young Korean guy ran past me. Turned out, he was also heading to Hair & Joy for a haircut. Must be urgent, rushing to a hair salon at 10:45 AM.
There was only a guy at the reception counter to greet me–no hairstylist spotted. Oh the young guy who ran past me was the only one seated in one of the swiveling chairs. And phew, the salon does not look shabby or dubious, unlike the first impression I formed from its shady entrance.
Anyway, Jake (IG: @k.j.g.wow) was assigned to me. I supposed it’s because his command of English is better than the rest. And since his assistant was sick that day, another hairstylist (@cheonbae_lim) came to help him out. Wouldn’t have this luxury of attention if the salon was crowded. So it’s best to come during off peak. You also wouldn’t want your hair session to be prolonged with him attending to many others. Certain nights are busy, and needless to say, weekend is the super peak period.
More people started to stream in after 12:00PM. See the photo below (pardon the ahjumma me) as I referenced how Hair & Joy’s client profile is quite diverse. While I was there, a Korea Ajusshi (man between 40 to 60s), and two foreigners, one with golden locks and another with straight black hair, were all getting their hair done. The black hair lady is a German, I deduced from the overheard conversation.
According to Jake, many Singaporeans come to Hair & Joy too. He also mentioned about university students and professors who came by for hair cut. Not surprising, considering Hair & Joy is near Hongik University.
By the way, I probed and found out that Jake was born in 1992. He has 5 years of experience, 2 years at a salon in Gangnam and 3 years here at Hair & Joy. He shared that he had to learn from scratch when he came over to Hair & Joy. Reason being, there are many more foreigners (non-Asians) and the way to handle those hair is different.
Jake’s English is not perfect but good enough to communicate. I think that is why he would reiterate and explain the steps he would take – wash, cut, test perm and then perm. After understanding my needs aka my desired hairstyle of digital perm on short hair, he counter suggested doing a mixed perm, that is digital at the ends, straightener at the roots. It’s best to show him a photo of what you are looking to achieve, which I did.
I changed my hairstyle almost every semester in uni, and yet I had not attempted a perm on short hair prior to this. A “dangerous” hairstyle because one wrong turn and I could become an ahjumma. I was praying my hair would turn out awesome!
Nearing the end, he taught me how to maintain my curls — not to wear cap or tie my hair for the first week, no shampoo for next two days, and how to blow my hair. Blow if I want soft curls, leave hair to dry if I want more defined curls. And he gave me tips on how to twirl my hair while blowing hair and always blow downwards.
It’s actually quite hard to know the direction to twirl when looking from the mirror. I politely pretended to know until he thrust the hair dryer into my hands. I was stunned for a moment until he signalled me to blow my hair. He wanted to see if I was doing it right and corrected me on the spot. Although it was embarrassing for me, it was a good thing. At least now I know how to do it right.
All in all, it took about 3.5 hours for my hair to be done.
Some notable mentions include having a locker for my bag, and a drinks menu to choose from. Drink was served with biscuits too. It was a lifesaver because my perm cross over lunch time! Then as he passed me magazines to read, he placed a cushion on my lap so that I wouldn’t have to bend too low to read.
Btw, the head massage during the last wash was awesome!
Thought I show you my ‘Before’ look, taken before I headed to the hair salon. I was growing out of my short and slight bob. The hair started to curl upwards when it reached this awkward shoulder length. But note, this hair length is considered long according to guide on Trazy’s booking page.
Then the photo below was taken after the visit to the hair salon. It looks gorgeous because of the angle and lighting. I’m well pleased with the result! Finally an overseas hair styling that I did not regret.
Usually one looks gorgeous from the hairdresser’s blow out. So after a week, are the curls still wonderful?
The curls are less defined but still stand out if I let it dry out (instead of blowing). And I have to wet my hair to let the curls appear, like any other digital perms in the world. On hindsight, he did a great job, but I kinda regretted showing him a picture of soft curls. From experience I should know curls will soften in time. Hence if I requested for curls that were more well defined, I would have the bounce in me longer.
In any case, if you are a Singaporean holidaying in Seoul or a non-Asian looking for someone who understands your hair, book a session with Seoul Hair Salon in Hongdae (Hair & Joy). Easy peasy with Trazy!
For more about my travels in Seoul and Jeju, be sure to bookmark my Itinerary of South Korea.
Disclosure: This activity was sponsored by Trazy, but opinions are of my own. Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. Affiliate link means I’ll get a small commission if you make a purchase. There’s NO extra cost to you. I appreciate your support to maintain this website, so that I can share more tips with you. Thank you!
Day Trip or 2D1N to Mount Seorak (Seoraksan) We were planning a day trip from Seoul to Mount Seorak (“Seoraksan”) until we found out about the travelling time. It is about 6 hours to and fro. Accounting for Baby E’s 7:00 PM bedtime, we will only …
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in October 2018 and has been updated in December 2018 for accuracy and comprehensiveness. Running out of ideas what to do in Seoul? Hop on to a rail bike and ride on. There are two places near Seoul …
There are quite a few ways to get from Seoul to Nami Island, and I got a bit confused while searching for the perfect way. So after doing my research, I’ve come up with a step by step guide of how to get from Seoul to Nami Island. Hope you find a way that is suitable for you. Depending on where you are in Seoul and the transport mode, it generally takes about two hours of travel.
You can travel by subway/metro all the way from your nearest station to Gapyeong station. That will take longer than the following ITX option. However this is debatable.
Certain websites recommend not to take ITX because many passengers missed their train, waited 30 minutes for the next one and ended up late for this booked activity. According to them, not much time is saved with ITX anyway.
ITX train is a high speed train that shortens your travelling time to Gapyeong or Namchuncheon Station.
From Seoul, you can take ITX train from your nearest ITX station. You can find the nearest station when you search for the fastest available route through platforms such as www.rome2rio.com and KakaoMetro mobile app.
You can also find out how long and how much to get from one station to another through www.seoulmetro.co.kr/en/cyberStation.do#wayInfo.
If you can’t find a suitable departure timing from your nearest station, there are more timings available if you depart from Yongsan or Cheonggyani Station.
You can check the train schedule as if buying the tickets. Here are the options to select at www.letskorail.com/ebizbf/EbizBfTicketSearch.do*:
*If you cannot access the link, go to www.letskorail.com and select ‘Rail Tickets’ tab at the top.
You can purchase ITX tickets at the station, but many online blogs highly recommend booking ITX ticket in advance. Here’s a detailed post on how to buy online: budgettravel2korea.com/2015/12/how-to-purchase-itx-train-ticket-to-nami-island.html
From Gapyeong Station, you need to take a bus to the wharf for Nami Island. There are two types of buses: City Tour Bus and Intra-City Bus. The bus stops for these two buses are different. So don’t get to the wrong one.
** Different from the Gangchon rail bike park.
Since we are only going to Nami Island, one out of the four popular attractions, intra-city bus (green bus) works better for us. Two single tickets are still cheaper than City Tour Bus’s day pass. Moreover, it takes longer to travel with City Tour Bus as the bus arrives only every hour, and has more stops than intra-city bus. Also, if the popular City Tour Bus is full, you have to wait for the next one.
Take the intra-city bus (green) at the bus stop opposite of Gapyeong Station. The bus numbers are 33-5, 33-24, 33-36. To be sure, ask the driver if he’s heading to ‘Namisum’.
Bus Timetable for leaving Nami Island (7:50/8:40/9:20/9:50/10:20/11:00/11:40/12:20/12:50/13:20/13:50/14:20/14:50/
15:20/15:50/16:10/16:40/17:10/17:50/18:10/18:30/18:50/19:10/19:30/19:50/20:10/20:30)
If you are in a rush and cannot wait for the bus (not very frequent), take a taxi at about ₩3,500 to ₩5,000 (S$6.20, US$4.50). We took a cab in the end because we were rushing – long story, will write about it in my Nami Island post.
By now, you’ll see how complicated it is to travel from Seoul to Nami Island. You can take a taxi to save you the trouble, but that’s expensive.
Hence, you might want to consolidate Step 1B and 2 into a direct bus ride, bringing you direct from Seoul to the ferry wharf. You can book a bus that departs from Seoul: Insadong, Namdaemun or Myeongdong.
This would have been the most economical fuss-free way for us to travel with our baby. But the bus timings didn’t work out for us.
As you alight at the Nami Island bus stop (Gapyeong Wharf), you have two ways to get to Nami Island. You either take a ferry or zipline/zipwire across the water.
Zipline is only one-way. So on your return trip, you have to take the ferry from Nami Island. If not for baby, I think I would consider the zipline! It’s an interesting mode of transport. Spot the penguin below to get to zipline’s counter.
Source: namisum.com/en/ship-operation
Enjoy the scenery, take tonnes of photos, cycle with rented bikes or electric tri-way, and have a delicious lunch. If you have luggage with you, store them in the lockers in Nami Island and free up your hands.
One can spend two hours to a whole day at Nami Island. On hindsight, it will be nice to spend a whole day on Nami Island with the baby.
For ideas of what you can do on Nami Island, read my post on Things to Do in Nami Island (Autumn).
After taking the ferry back, you can either cab or take a bus to wherever you are heading next. Here are the timings and bus stops for the intra-city bus and Gapyeong Tour Bus leaving from Nami Island Ferry:
After Nami Island, it’s time for us to head to Gangchon Rail Park! I was contemplating which is better — Gangchon or Gapyeong Rail Park. Not many blogs have a definite conclusion, so after putting all the bits and pieces of information together, I decided on Gangchon Rail Park.
To find out the reasons for my choice and how to go from Nami Island to Gangchon Rail Park, read my post, “About Gangchon Rail Park“. As for how our bike ride in autumn went, here’s our Gangchon Rail Bike Review.
Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. Affiliate link means I’ll get a small commission if you make a purchase. There’s NO extra cost to you. I appreciate your support to maintain this website, so that I can share more tips with you. Thank you!
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