Cheongdam hair salon magic setting perm for curly hair: Beorn Hair

- Hair - Beorn Hair Cheongdam 2nd floor, 710 Seolleung-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul Hours Daily 09:30–20:00 Closed Tuesdays

Fine, dry curly hair: why a magic setting perm?

My hair frizzes up almost the second the weather turns humid, monsoon season or otherwise, so this time I went to Beorn Hair Cheongdam and had the deputy director give me a magic straight perm. My hair has a fair amount of natural curl, and it's thin and dry on top of that — so if the curl treatment goes wrong, instead of calming down it just looks even more frizzy. This time I asked for a style that would be a soft, natural C-curl on a normal day, but could be styled into a CS-curl wave when I wanted to dress it up.

Where Beorn Hair Cheongdam is, and what the salon feels like

Beorn Hair Cheongdam is a hair salon in Cheongdam-dong, Seoul, located on Seolleung-ro. It's on the 2nd floor of the building, so it wasn't hard to find.

Walking in, you're greeted by a plant-filled interior built around white and ivory tones. The overall mood is clean and polished, but never cold or intimidating — more like a space you could comfortably sit in for a while.

I especially liked that there were two separate shampoo rooms — even during a busy hour, I didn't have to wait long for a shampoo. For a service as long as a magic straight perm, little details like this end up mattering more than you'd think.

Before: curly hair that frizzed in humidity

Before the treatment, my hair had noticeable curl starting close to the scalp. Even on a normal day the flyaways would puff up after drying, and on humid or rainy days my whole head would frizz out no matter how much I blow-dried it — nothing stayed neat for long.

On top of that, my hair is thin and dry, which is the type where a too-strong straight perm can make it fall flat and lifeless, while too much curl can make the frizz stand out even more. So during the consultation, I said I wanted the curl properly tamed but without the hair sticking flat to my head, and that I wanted a style workable as both a C-curl and a CS-curl.

The cut: trimming the damaged ends first

The deputy director first trimmed off the damaged ends and added a bit more layering throughout so the curl could move naturally. In particular, she used the straight perm to neatly tame the bent, untreated section near the scalp, while still keeping enough volume that the hair wouldn't look flat overall. It felt less like simply straightening curls and more like shaping the whole head by combining the cut and the perm together.

After: a natural C-curl and CS-curl

Once the treatment was done, my hair was noticeably calmer. The messy bent section near my scalp was smoothed out, and the ends now had a natural C-curl — so on a normal day, a quick blow-dry alone was enough for a neat finish. And on days I wanted more of a statement, rolling the ends with a round brush gave a wavy CS-curl look.

Personally, what I liked most was that even with the straight perm, the hair didn't cling flat to my scalp. The curl was controlled, but the volume I needed was left in place, so the whole silhouette fell much more naturally.

How to dry the C-curl at home

After the treatment, the deputy director carefully walked me through how to manage the style at home. Rather than a vague "just roll it as you dry it," she explained exactly where to hold the hair and which direction to roll it, which made it easy to follow on my own.

She also told me how often to maintain it and what to watch out for while drying. When I actually tried drying it myself at home, the curl came back looking better than expected. A lot of styles look great at the salon but are hard to recreate at home — this time, I was happy I could get a similar look on my own.

How long the magic setting perm takes

The setting area had a good stack of magazines and simple snacks available. A magic straight perm takes quite a while, but being able to flip through a magazine or grab a snack in between made the long service time pass without feeling boring.

Overall, what I appreciated most was that they first assessed my hair condition and the style I wanted, then neatly tamed the curl while giving me a result that's easy to manage. If you have thin, dry, curly hair and want a straight perm but are worried about it going too flat, it's worth bringing up the volume you want during the consultation too.

Final verdict on Beorn Hair Cheongdam

A magic straight perm that calmed down the curl while still letting me style it as either a C-curl or a CS-curl. What made it especially satisfying was the detailed guidance on how to dry it at home so the curl holds up on its own.

• 🍀 Tames even heavily curly hair neatly
• 🍀 A straight perm that keeps volume instead of going flat
• 🍀 Works as an everyday C-curl or a dressed-up CS-curl
• 🍀 Detailed guidance on styling it solo at home