Straight hair

Just over a week ago, Saturday before last, I got my hair permed straight.

This is something I've thought about doing for a few years, but I was always afraid to actually try it. I had heard negative stories about people having their hair ruined, or having to spend an hour on their hair every day before they could dare go out in public, etc, etc.

But I went to get my hair trimmed a couple of weeks ago and therein lie the catalyst which caused me to finally take the plunge.

The hair salon I went to was great. It looked really upscale - I was impressed just sitting in the waiting room.
They served cappuccinos, smoothies, and other assorted beverages.
The traditional pre-haircut-shampoo included a scalp massage.

But when the time came to actually cut my hair, I was simultaneously amused and annoyed.
I said that I just wanted a trim.
As the stylist began working on my hair, he commented that my hair was really curly. He seemed a bit mystified at how curly my hair was and noted that the texture was unusual - he said that it seemed like permed hair. I thought this was kind of funny and chalked it up to the fact that I was in Asia. I figured the guy had never actually seen naturally curly hair.

But then he asked me if I had a straightener, I replied that I didn't.

His response?

"Oh, you should get one."

"You need one."

I had been thinking about asking him to blow it out straight for me - I frequently do this when I get a trim. But I didn't. I didn't have to. He just straightened it. Because how else would I wear it?

He also asked me if I had thought about straightening it. I told him that I had, and asked him how much it cost. He wasn't sure how to say the amount in English, so he told me in Korean. I was still working on figuring out the counting system and thought he had said it was $150 (actually, 150,000 KRW). But my friend told me that she had heard that you could get a perm in Korea for $30, so I started wondering if he had been saying that it was $15. That seemed ridiculously cheap to me, but it's always surprising how prices vary in foreign countries.*

So I started thinking that at that price, I would go back the following Saturday and get my hair permed. But when I got to work, I told a friend how much they said it would cost, and she confirmed that it was $150 :(

So I was sad. Because at that point, I had gotten all excited about getting it straightened.

But then she said that there was a place I could go in Seoul to get it done for cheap. And she was thinking of getting her hair cut the following weekend. So we went together!

This is my friend Emma (actually, her name is Min Jong, but Emma is her English name - I use both names :) ) She took me to this salon to get my hair straightened. It cost under $40!

I haven't had too many pictures of myself taken in the last week, and consequently don't have a lot of pics of me with straight hair - but a few of us went out after work on Wednesday, and I have some photos from that. I don't know what everyone else's reasons were for going out, but I was celebrating my recent acquisition of internet. And by "recent," I mean it was connected that day while I was at work, and I went home to internet for the first time.


Not the best shot ever, but you can see my straight hair, and that's the point, right?


I like this shot (except for the fact that Jess is a bit distracted) because I'm eating french fries with chopsticks. Only in Korea, right? But here's a random fun fact: Koreans eat rice with a spoon, not chopsticks.

So that's it for now. Expect more pics of me with straight hair in the future.

Because there will be more pics of me.

And my hair is straight now.

* I typically spend $4-$5 on dinner out, but it costs me $2 for a quart of milk