Sinnonhyeon hair salon frizzy wavy hair to big C-curl: Heeol Hair

Six months after magic straightening: why I came to Heeol Hair before monsoon season

It had already been six months since my last magic straightening (a heat-based straightening treatment), and my hair was puffing up like a bomb. So before the monsoon season properly started, I visited Heeol Hair Gangnam Flagship Store (희올헤어 강남본점), a hair salon near Sinnonhyeon Station. Heeol Hair in Sinnonhyeon... isn't the name unusual and cute already?

Heeol Hair Gangnam Flagship Store: location and atmosphere

The salon is on the 3rd floor of the building where Kkokgeudak is, and there's an elevator, which was convenient. The mirror next to it uses natural light, so photos come out pretty, haha.

The dandelion logo left an impression on me.

The waiting area is neat and elegant too.

The salon interior was also bigger than I expected. Personally I love wood interiors, and this moody wood tone? Love it.

What are the waiting area, styling stations and restroom like?

There's plenty of space for waiting and for perm processing, and enough styling stations too. I booked and arrived right at opening, so I could start the consultation immediately with no wait, which was great.

I didn't take photos of the restroom, but it's separated by gender and very clean. With treatments like magic straightening, perms or bleaching, you end up going to the restroom at least once. So I tend to avoid salons with dirty restrooms, and on that front this place gets a full pass!

There are phone stands and a Wi-Fi QR code stuck on too. Such a thoughtful touch. I sat down, waited a moment, and then the consultation began.

Just so you know, my designer is off on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Wavy hair with grown-out straightening: how did the consultation go?

In the consultation, we decided to do the straightening mostly on the upper part, like a root straightening, and add a soft C-curl on the lower part. For the cut, we decided on a heavily thinned high-layered cut, kept as un-frizzy as possible.

I'd previously had straightening, a C-curl and a layered cut. Sure enough, the curl at the bottom was holding up well, but the straightening had loosened a lot and looked messy. I even got trims every two or three months, but because of new growth, it's just the fate of wavy hair, sigh.

Also, the photo I brought was of a high-layered cut, and the head manager's hair was exactly that style and so pretty! She gave me good recommendations that suited my hair, like a real hair consultation.

There are photos of the staff taken on each anniversary stuck up in the salon, and they looked really close and on good terms.

Since the weather was hot, they prepared an iced Americano for me. And the mini snacks are tasty too.

Straightening thick hair: how long did it take?

Straightening, C-curl and cut took exactly 3 hours 30 minutes at Heeol Hair Gangnam Flagship Store. After the shampoo, they started applying the straightening solution. I have a lot of hair, so I was hoping it wouldn't take 4 hours this time. Maybe because the designer works fast, it really went quickly, which I loved.

Wrapped in plastic wrap and waiting for ages. Warm heat comes out. I think they checked the softening (?) about 3 more times. Waiting endlessly while watching YouTube Shorts... waiting... waiting...

Hair that holds curls easily: did the C-curl come out as wanted?

Later, the heat perm went in together with the C-curl. I stressed that my hair takes curls really easily, and maybe that's why they gave me exactly the big C-curl I wanted. I'm so touched 😢 Finally, they fixed up the cut once more.

Ta-da, it's done! The front looks even prettier than the back. It took exactly 3 hours 30 minutes and I'm really satisfied!

Root volume after straightening and how to roll hair with rollers

Because of the straightening, the roots are unavoidably still flat, but if you roll just the roots with a curling iron or rollers, they come back to life. Heeol Hair also explained in detail how to dry and style hair prettily.

Above all, I'd always been confused about how to roll rollers, since the hair kept bending, sob. But they explained an easy way to roll from the front, so I think I'll be able to use it well. I was very satisfied. Highly recommended for wavy-haired people.