Chestnut brown root dye at Obeumua, a Hongdae hair salon in Seoul

Why I booked a dye at Obeumua, a Hongdae hair salon

This is from August 7th! It was summer, and I had to deal with my grown-out hair somehow. Black on top, orange on the bottom! It was definitely starting to look messy. Kind of embarrassing too. After a lot of deliberation, I headed to Obeumua, a hair salon in Hongdae, to get it dyed. Off I went!

Even on a weekday afternoon, there were quite a lot of people. Lots of Koreans, but also a lot of foreigners. Hongdae gets plenty of travelers anyway, but it seemed like this place was known even abroad. The salon overall was white-toned and clean, and not loud at all — pretty quiet. So if you're looking for a quiet spot to get your hair done, this is it.

I forgot to ask for a before photo, but basically months had passed and my black roots had grown out, while the ends had faded a lot into orange. This part seems to repeat itself every time. I heard that for Korean hair, brown dye fading into orange is kind of unavoidable.

Why chestnut brown won the color consultation

At Obeumua, they gave me a cold drink before the dye job, so I sipped that while going through the color consultation first.

I told them my concern: I wanted to fix the orange color and end up looking clean. Since dye fades over time anyway, they suggested that if I didn't like the orange, instead of going lighter, I should tone it down slightly for a cleaner finish — and recommended chestnut brown. So this time I decided to go with that color.

Scalp protectant first: dyeing grown-out roots and old hair separately

They carefully sprayed on a scalp protectant first before starting the actual dye process. It felt cold every time they sprayed it, but since it was summer, it was actually kind of refreshing — and your scalp matters.

They separated the grown-out hair from the existing dyed hair and dyed each carefully.

I guess every salon has a slightly different style, but shockingly, some places just dye the newly grown hair and the existing hair all together without separating them. To me it seems obvious that newly grown hair and previously dyed hair need to be treated differently.

The dyeing didn't take that long either, so it wasn't stressful even with plans afterward. Actually it finished faster than I expected, so I spent some time at a nearby bookstore.

The bangs trim and the color after blow-drying

After the dye was done, I also got my bangs trimmed. My bangs had grown out but I didn't have time to go to a salon, so I'd roughly trimmed them at home, mom-salon style, haha. I always feel like it's more or less the same length, but I felt once again that it's really different when a professional does it.

After the dye, washing my hair, and coming out for the blow-dry — that's the moment I always look forward to. Did the color turn out well? I get curious about that too.

Ta-da!! The dye job at Obeumua, my Hongdae hair salon, turned out neat and clean. Done.

How my hair felt two weeks after the chestnut brown dye

It's now been about two weeks since the dye job. The messy look from the grown-out hair is cleaned up — that's the basic part. But there's one thing I like even more. Usually, dyeing damages your hair, but I don't know what they did — every time I washed my hair, I could feel that my hair actually got softer! Normally, right after leaving the salon your hair looks good, but the moment you wash it you can feel the damage. Not this time! I've washed my hair every day since Obeumua, and my hair is still soft even now. Very satisfying :)

It made me wonder whether I should go get a clinic treatment next time instead of just dyeing. I'm also curious whether they use a particularly good rinse-out shampoo rather than it just being about the dye — I want to ask next time I visit. Made me think, no wonder even foreigners hear about this place and come!

The shampoo room had soft, dim lighting too.

How to find Obeumua Hongdae Branch

Here's where Obeumua, my Hongdae hair salon, is located. It's a 5-minute walk from Exit 1 of the station. It's not far even by public transportation, which was great! Take the elevator up and it's right there on the 2nd floor.