Root touch-up and ash brown toning at Toni&Guy, a Seongsu hair salon

Why I wanted a mid-length layered cut in Seongsu

I got a hair consultation from designer Sangyeon at Toni&Guy Seongsu and did root color plus a mid-length layered cut. Do you know that 'foreign-girl bob layered cut' that's trending lately?

My roots were desperate for an autumn touch-up, so while looking for hairstyles, I noticed all the influencers whose style I've been loving lately have this mid-length layered cut! I wanted something like this (the look that's been taking over my Reels feed).

Seongsu is so hot right now~ I figured a trendy cut like this needed to be done in Seongsu, so I got a hair consultation from designer Sangyeon at Toni&Guy Seongsu!

Their hashtags were #SeongsuLayeredPerm #MattBrown #LayeredCut #AshBrown, so I thought I could nail both the root touch-up and the hairstyle I wanted at once~!

Where is Toni&Guy Seongsu and how do you get there?

Toni&Guy Seongsu is on the 2nd and 3rd floors of 35 Sangwon 1-gil, Seongdong-gu, Seoul. It wasn't hard to find at all! Come out of Ttukseom Station Exit 7 and walk straight along the main street. The moment I walked in, the interior blew me away.

Inside Toni&Guy Seongsu: interior and facilities

Whoa... it's so pretty

I fell in love instantly. Seongsu is such a trendy area that I was already in a good mood just walking to the salon, but stepping inside, I couldn't help but gasp~! As soon as I sat down they brought me a welcome drink and the staff were so kind haha

The shampoo area was spacious, and lying down for it was the most comfortable I've ever had it..!!

The shop overall was big and pleasant.

The hair consultation at Toni&Guy Seongsu: face shape first

At Toni&Guy Seongsu, before the cut they did a face-shape analysis consultation first. I got guided right in, and hair consulting proceeded based on my face — and I found out something I hadn't known in 3-something decades..!

I always thought I had a round face, but they told me my forehead : midface : lower face ratio was 1:1:1, which actually puts me in the long face category..?

It was a bit bewildering to learn that for the first time, but since she said she'd cut accordingly, I trusted her and went along with it~

Before: dry hair and three-tone grown-out roots

Here's my before photo! Hmm... how do I put it, it was in a pretty messy 'layered cut' state. You could barely even call it a layered cut^^. Looking at the roots from above, it's even more of a disaster.

Hahahaha ㅠ

Not sure if you can tell, but there were three tiers to my roots: black on top, brown in the middle, bleached at the ends haha.

My hair had gotten so dry and damaged that it wouldn't even comb properly. Every time I untied it from a bun it would come out completely tangled like that.

After a thorough consultation with my designer, instead of dyeing all of it, we decided to balance the overall color and clean up the tone with 'root color' and 'toning'!

So the final solution the designer suggested was—

• Make the root color as bright as possible
• Even out the tone on the rest with toning (toning damages hair less than dyeing)
• Do a layered cut

That was it. I trusted her completely — let's go!

How the root touch-up and toning were done

First came the root color, applied so naturally that there was zero visible boundary line with my existing hair color. Then I moved to the shampoo room for the toning process to eliminate all the reddish tint from my faded hair.

The result of such meticulous application!! Isn't it amazing?? I was genuinely surprised that color alone could brighten hair that much~~

Watching her work felt like watching a true craftsperson... she kept layering the product on without letting it touch the already-processed roots too much, to avoid further damage — a skill she said not just anyone can do haha (I'd honestly never seen it before). Thanks to that, my scalp barely stung and the whole thing was really comfortable!

After: an autumn-toned ash brown C-curl layered cut

Absolutely amazing—!! Even just the toning alone made my hair look so much shinier, and it was surprising how it brought out that calm, luxurious mood that fits autumn perfectly.

I couldn't get photos of the actual cutting process, but the style I wanted was that 'foreign-girl C-curl layered cut' that's been trending on Pinterest and Reels lately.

The point was layers that weren't overdone or dated, keeping a natural volume, and a line that falls chic even when you just tousle-dry it carelessly. My designer read my head shape, face shape, and hair texture, and cut custom layers that suited me best. After the cut, she gave it a light C-curl style with a flat iron, and the person in the mirror was exactly the 'foreign-girl' vibe I wanted!

Thanks to the side-bangs line that flows softly along my cheekbones, it covers extra face space too, and my hair overall got so much lighter that it seemed like it'd be super easy to style day-to-day~!! It's a style that pairs perfectly with an autumn-essential trench coat or a cozy knit.

Final verdict on Toni&Guy Seongsu: 200% satisfied

So excited after it was all done that I took photos from every angle at the restaurant afterward~

The next day I went back to Seongsu to help a friend get her makeup done, and I still loved my hair so much. The messy tiered roots were neatly covered, the toning brought back a luxurious ash tone, and on top of that I got a hip, sleek layered cut — a perfect three-part combo, good.

If you're looking to transform into a moody, atmospheric look for autumn, I strongly recommend Toni&Guy Seongsu!!