Gangnam hair salon design perm and home wave drying: Heeol Hair

The day I finally got the perm I'd been putting off for a year since my wedding. While planning the wedding I avoided perms and dye entirely so my hair wouldn't get damaged, and after the wedding was over I just kept putting it off out of laziness.

A year passed like that, and my hair just kept growing while the ends split more and more, until curling it roughly with a flat iron every morning became a whole chore. I figured it was time to actually do this properly, and the place that kept coming up when I searched for a hair salon near Gangnam Station was Heeol Hair Gangnam Flagship Store. It sits between Sinnonhyeon Station and Gangnam Station, so you can walk there from either exit.

Bottom line first: I was so satisfied it almost felt like a waste to have put it off for a year. I got a design perm from designer Hyunju, whose touch was incredibly delicate, and after the service she even taught me how to dry my hair at home to get that wavy look — making every day since so much easier.

• Salon: Heeol Hair Gangnam Flagship Store
• Location: 37 Bongeunsa-ro 4-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, 3F
• Transit: between Sinnonhyeon Station Exit 6 and Gangnam Station Exit 11 (3–5 min walk)
• Parking: parking support depending on service used (up to 4 hours)
• Nearby parking: Daiso Gangnam Station lot (mechanical, behind building) · Gangnam Jump Milano Gangnam e-Square lot (narrow entrance)
• Hours: daily 10:00–19:00
• Booking/inquiries: search 'Heeol Hair Gangnam Flagship Store' on Naver Reservations
• Service received: design perm by designer Hyunju
• Duration: about 3 hours for the perm (varies by length and hair condition)
• Consultation: 1:1 hair consultation before the service
• Note: Wi-Fi · pets allowed · membership program available

Where is Heeol Hair Gangnam Flagship Store? Between Sinnonhyeon Exit 6 and Gangnam Station Exit 11

Heeol Hair Gangnam Flagship Store is located at 37 Bongeunsa-ro 4-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, 3F. It sits right off Gangnam's main road, so first-timers are unlikely to get lost.

The most convenient part is having two stations to choose from. You can get off at Sinnonhyeon Station Exit 6 or Gangnam Station Exit 11. I came from Sinnonhyeon and it only took about 3 minutes on foot. Searching for a hair salon near Gangnam Station often turns up places tucked far from either exit, but this one is visible right from the main street, which I really appreciated.

There's a large sign on the building, so finding the entrance wasn't hard either. Take the elevator to the 3rd floor and you're right at the salon. Having an elevator building means no hassle on rainy days or with bags in hand.

→ This location makes it easy to fit appointments around other plans, which matters more than you'd think. A perm takes close to three hours, so being able to head straight into another appointment near Gangnam or Sinnonhyeon Station afterward made planning the day easy.

Can you drive to Gangnam? Heeol Hair covers up to 4 hours of parking

Parking is the biggest worry in Gangnam, but Heeol Hair Gangnam Flagship Store offers parking support. Depending on the service you book, they'll cover parking fees for up to 4 hours.

This matters a lot for a long service like a perm. Watching the clock and worrying about hourly parking fees the whole time would ruin the experience. Four hours gives you plenty of room even if you're getting a perm plus a cut.

They can point you to two nearby lots. One is the Daiso Gangnam Station branch lot, a mechanical parking lot behind the building, and the other is the Gangnam Jump Milano Gangnam e-Square lot. The Jump Milano lot has a fairly narrow entrance, so if you drive a large car, the Daiso lot might be the better bet.

→ I'd recommend asking about parking location when you book. The alleys around Gangnam all look similar, so if you just follow your navigation app you can end up circling the block.

Inside Heeol Hair: wood tones and soft lighting that make the hours pass easily

The second I walked in, my first thought was 'this doesn't feel like a hair salon.' Most salons go for black, white, and metal finishes, but Heeol Hair Gangnam Flagship Store leans into wood tones and soft lighting, closer to a café than a salon.

Plants dotted around the space and everything neatly arranged meant I didn't feel awkward or tense while waiting. If you're someone who cares about a salon's atmosphere, just the photos alone will explain why this place has so many reviews.

The chairs were on the softer side too, so I didn't feel stiff even sitting for a long stretch. A salon visit usually means sitting in one spot for two or three hours straight, so small things like chairs and lighting end up shaping the whole experience.

The shampoo chair was comfortable too. I usually find my neck bent awkwardly during shampoo, but there was none of that discomfort here. I actually dozed off for a bit with my eyes closed during the neutralizing step.

→ There are salons in Seoul with great skill but an atmosphere so draining you never want to go back. This place was the opposite — the kind where you leave in a good mood.

A hair consultation before the perm at Heeol Hair Gangnam

Before the service, I had a consultation with designer Hyunju. Personally, this was my favorite part of the whole visit.

I brought a few screenshots of styles I liked. But instead of just saying 'sure, we'll do this exactly,' she checked how my current length and layers looked, and how damaged my ends were, one by one.

My hair had gone a full year without perm or dye, so the condition itself was actually good, but the ends had split and the length sat heavy and flat. Pointing out which curls would look good and which would be unrealistic given that condition was the heart of the consultation.

This photo might make the curl look like it's drooping given your current length.

Getting reasons attached to explanations like that made me trust the process. Being told what won't work is honestly more reassuring than being told yes to everything.

→ A perm is something you live with for months once it's done. That's why I think the consultation matters more than the service time itself, and this place clearly has that part locked down, which let me relax and trust them with it.

Why a design perm after a year without perms or color

What we settled on after the consultation was a design perm — a method that adjusts curl size and starting point to fit my specific length and hair condition.

There was one thing I wanted: hair that looks like it wasn't styled at all, falling into a natural wave once washed and dried. Curls so obvious they screamed 'I got a perm today' felt like too much, but no visible curl at all would've made the whole year of waiting pointless.

Hitting that exact spot was where the designer's skill showed. Instead of applying the same curl throughout, she designed it to bring life to the flow at the bottom that had been sitting heavy and flat. The split ends were trimmed a bit first so the curls would come out looking neater.

My biggest worry before the perm was upkeep. A pretty result means nothing if I still have to grab a flat iron every morning. I mentioned this beforehand, and she factored styling difficulty into how she shaped the curls.

→ Choosing a hair salon near Gangnam Station ultimately comes down to whether they design around your actual hair. This time, that's exactly what happened — not a copy-paste of a photo, but a service rebuilt around my hair as the baseline.

Three hours with designer Hyunju and her precise hands

What stood out most throughout the service was how delicate her touch was. Sectioning and rolling my hair, I barely felt any pulling.

Anyone who's had a perm knows how the scalp can tug while rods are being rolled, and your neck can get stiff from sitting so long. But this time, there was almost none of that discomfort. The pressure with each section was steady and gentle, so I never felt tense the whole time.

She checked in repeatedly throughout. She asked if the solution felt too hot, whether anything felt uncomfortable, and checked the temperature during heat treatment. It sounds small, but as the person receiving the service, it clearly registers as being cared for.

She explained each step along the way too — what was being applied, how many minutes to wait, and why the process followed that order. That made the waiting time far less boring than just zoning out.

The whole service took about three hours. If you add a cut, it'll run longer, so leave plenty of room in your schedule. I booked mine for the afternoon and still had time before my dinner plans that evening.

→ A lot of hair salon reviews around Gangnam only show the final result, but for me, how comfortable the process itself felt is what stuck with me. Sitting for three hours didn't feel hard at all.

How to blow-dry a design perm into soft waves at home

This was the biggest takeaway from the whole visit. As she dried my hair after the service, she walked me through, start to finish, exactly how to recreate this look on my own at home.

Even the order of drying is different. Instead of drying randomly from the top, you need to set the direction from the roots so the texture holds, and for the curled sections, you cup them in your hand and blow air in to get that wavy fall. She also showed me where to add volume to make my face look smaller.

It sounds easy just listening, but drying your own hair is one of those things that's surprisingly hard in practice. So I watched and copied her along the way, and just shifting hand position and airflow direction visibly changed the result.

I tried it again at home after washing my hair, and while it wasn't quite salon-level, it came out close enough. All you need is a hair dryer — no flat iron required. Just five minutes in the morning, and my get-ready time actually shortened.

→ With a perm, satisfaction ultimately hinges on whether you can recreate it at home. Being sent off with a proper styling lesson seems like the real way to keep a perm looking good long-term.

The result: a year of neglected long hair, finished

The moment I saw it in the mirror, I was satisfied instantly. The length hadn't changed much, but the heavy, flat feeling was gone and a real sense of flow had appeared.

What I liked most was how subtle it looked. Instead of curls that visibly coil upward, the texture flows down naturally, so it looked more like my natural hair texture than a perm.

Trimming the split ends made everything look noticeably cleaner overall. Same length, but the tidiness alone changed the whole impression. After a year of just tying my hair up, I could finally wear it down again.

→ The next day, after washing and drying it myself, the curl was still holding up. The real test of a perm is the day after you've slept on it, and it passed.

What to know before booking Heeol Hair Gangnam

Booking at Heeol Hair Gangnam Flagship Store is done through Naver Reservations. Search 'Heeol Hair Gangnam Flagship Store' on Naver, pick your preferred designer and time slot — it's a simple process.

They're open daily from 10:00 to 19:00. Weekends run the same hours, but for services over three hours like a perm, late afternoon slots may be tricky because of closing time. For longer services, booking a morning or early afternoon slot is the safer bet.

Weekday afternoons fill up fairly well too. I went at an off-peak time and there were still other customers. If you have a specific designer in mind, book ahead — reservations are managed separately per designer, so if you want Hyunju like I did, just specify her when booking.

The salon has Wi-Fi and allows pets. Bringing a laptop or tablet for a long service helps the time pass. If you get your hair done regularly, they also run a membership program, worth asking about during your consultation.

→ It's worth being on time for your appointment. Since bookings run back-to-back, being late just pushes your whole service later. Traffic around Gangnam can get heavy, so plan to leave with plenty of buffer time.

Final verdict on the design perm at Heeol Hair Gangnam

To sum up, if you're looking into a hair salon near Gangnam Station, Heeol Hair Gangnam Flagship Store stands out starting from the consultation. Rather than copying a photo exactly, they look at your current length and hair condition, point out what will and won't work, then design around that.

Designer Hyunju's touch was genuinely delicate. Despite a service that ran close to three hours, there was never a moment of pulling or discomfort, and the constant check-ins and explanations made the whole thing easy to sit through.

Best of all, she taught me how to dry it into a wave afterward, so I can recreate it at home. Styling with just a hair dryer, no flat iron, has genuinely cut down my morning routine time.

Being between Sinnonhyeon Station Exit 6 and Gangnam Station Exit 11 makes it easy to get to, and parking support goes up to 4 hours. If you're looking for a great hair salon around Gangnam or Sinnonhyeon, this one's worth considering.

• Location: 37 Bongeunsa-ro 4-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, 3F (between Sinnonhyeon Station Exit 6 and Gangnam Station Exit 11, 3–5 min walk)
• Hours: daily 10:00–19:00 · book morning to early afternoon for longer services
• Booking: search 'Heeol Hair Gangnam Flagship Store' on Naver Reservations · designer requests available
• Parking: support depending on service, up to 4 hours
• Nearby parking: Daiso Gangnam Station lot (mechanical, behind building) · Gangnam Jump Milano Gangnam e-Square lot (narrow entrance)
• Service received: design perm by designer Hyunju (includes 1:1 hair consultation before service)
• Duration: about 3 hours for the perm, longer with a cut added
• Consultation focus: checks length, layers, and hair condition first, then clarifies what curls will and won't work
• Styling tip: dry from the roots in a set direction, cup curled sections while blowing air in → wave look without a flat iron
• Salon: wood-tone interior · soft lighting · soft chairs · comfortable shampoo chairs
• Amenities: Wi-Fi · pets allowed · membership program available
• Best for: anyone with long-neglected hair, wanting a subtle natural-looking perm, or needing an easy-to-style result