Seokchon-dong hair salon blue tone-down dye for orange hair: Mad Hair

After two months straight of dyeing and perming, my hair was pretty damaged — and since I didn't get the order right and permed after dyeing, the pretty dark brown I'd put in completely faded out on me ㅠㅠ

Once the color faded, I ended up with the exact thing I hate most — red-tinted orange hair — and it looked messy every time I saw it. The damage looked pretty severe too, so while looking for a solution I found a salon offering black dye and hair care at a reasonable price, and decided to visit!

Where is Mad Hair, and what are its hours and parking?

Mad Hair is a hair salon on the 2nd floor at 47 Songpa-daero 49-gil, Songpa-gu, Seoul, South Korea, close to Seokchon Ancient Tombs Station. Deputy Director Yeonwoo's hours are Mon-Sun 10:00-20:00, closed on Tuesdays.

• 📍Location: 2nd floor, 47 Songpa-daero 49-gil, Songpa-gu, Seoul, South Korea, Mad Hair
• 🔛Hours (Deputy Director Yeonwoo): closed Tuesdays, Mon-Sun 10:00-20:00
• ‼️Schedule runs flexibly during Chuseok holiday, check Naver reservations‼️
• 🅿️Parking: available in front of the building
• 🚾Restroom: available inside

First impressions and the atmosphere inside Mad Hair

Right at the entrance of Mad Hair there's a selfie photo zone alongside the price list. The fact that you can check prices before you even go in was the first thing I noticed.

The moment I arrived at the entrance, what caught my eye was the pretty selfie photo zone right before you walk in, and the price list openly displayed right by the door! These days it's hard to find prices posted anywhere, so I loved that I could just check them at the entrance.

Once inside, the space felt cozy but overall clean and tidy, so I could relax through the treatment. Plus, since I went during the day, the light coming in was gorgeous and the plants looked so green and pretty haha

Blue instead of black? A thorough 10-minute color consultation

Deputy Director Yeonwoo at Mad Hair talked me out of the black dye I'd requested and suggested a tone-down using complementary blue instead. The consultation alone lasted over 10 minutes.

I sat down and went straight into a color consultation with Deputy Director Yeonwoo. I said I wanted to just go with plain 'black' to fully cover the orange tone.

But she told me that unless I was truly prepared to never dye my hair again, she wouldn't recommend black…🥺 She said most people who tone down because they're sick of their current color end up getting tired of that too and wanting to go lighter again — and then they deeply regret having covered it with black.

Instead, since fine hair like mine naturally holds a lot of red/orange undertone, she suggested toning down with complementary blue color. She spent over 10 minutes just on the consultation, explaining my hair's characteristics and color theory in a way that was easy to understand — she was so professional that I just thought, okay, I'll trust her completely haha

How the tone-down dye is done at Mad Hair

At Mad Hair, they check your scalp condition first and apply a scalp protectant before dyeing. The wait after applying the dye was about 30-40 minutes.

She checked my scalp first, noticed a spot that was a bit sensitive, and carefully applied a scalp protectant there.

In the middle, I got an iced Americano transfusion too..☕️

And then came foil-hat time

After about 30-40 minutes of waiting with the dye on, I moved to the shampoo station! What really impressed me here was the scalp massage...👍🏻 I've been to countless salons, but the pressure point massage the deputy director gave me was seriously the best I've ever had… pure bliss

Originally when I booked, I wanted the 'black + care' combo, but since the consultation meant I couldn't get that exact service, she must have felt bad(?) because she really loaded on the protein care! While shampooing she combed through my hair and it moved like actual seaweed, so smooth.. After the treatment I touched my hair and all the previous stiffness was gone, replaced by something so soft I was genuinely moved..🥹

The result: level 4-5 blue tone-down color

She dried and styled my hair lightly at the end! It doesn't show much in photos, but from a distance there's a subtle blue tint🩵 Such a charming color. The dye level landed between 4 and 5 — since fine hair like mine fades fast, she went darker for me since I have no plans to lighten it anytime soon!

I loved it so much I took like 100 selfies.. so satisfying… doesn't it look so much cleaner? Let's do a before & after comparison haha

The deputy director said this color suits me better too haha I'm a certified warm tone, but apparently adding a bit of cool color into the mix really brings out my face,,? Such a satisfying dye job🖤🤍

Final verdict on Mad Hair

Something I learned chatting during the treatment: dye itself can contain care ingredients, so if it's done properly, your hair condition can actually improve rather than get worse!

I'd been debating just buying dye from Olive Young and doing it myself lately to save money and effort, but thinking about how damaged and patchy my hair would've turned out if I'd done it alone, I'm so glad I went to a salon instead haha

If you're struggling with patchy, red-tinted hair, or you want thorough color consulting tailored exactly to your hair, I highly recommend Deputy Director Yeonwoo at Mad Hair!