Hair
Getting a perm in Seoul: types, timing, and price guide
Yes, tourists get perms at salons in Seoul. Across 19 hair salons on millio, a down perm starts at ₩20,000 and a digital perm tops out at ₩660,000 — every type, how long each is booked for, which day of your trip to book, and how to protect it before you fly.
Menu prices on millio
A perm in Seoul costs ₩100,000–660,000 (about US$75–498) at the 18 places on millio, with a typical starting price of ₩220,000, as of October 2026.
- Lowest
- ₩100,000
- Typical start
- ₩220,000
- Highest
- ₩660,000
A perm is not a special request on a Korean salon menu — it's a normal line with its own price and duration, same as a cut or a colour. The trick is that «perm» covers six or seven different services, and the type doesn't set the price on its own: cold perms alone start at ₩119,000 at one salon and ₩330,000 at another.
Every figure below is from the live perm menus of hair salons listed on millio, counted on 2026-10-21 at 13 of the 19: five salons listed on October 19 book every line at a flat 60 minutes, and one menu isn't sorted by service type yet, so those six are left out. Times are the booking length each salon sets for a line, not stopwatch times; prices are each line's listed price (the starting price where a line shows a range). The cold, heat and straightening ranges leave out bangs-only and root-only lines, and two heat-perm lines booked at 30 and 60 minutes, far from every other menu. Nothing here is estimated — only the sorting into cold, heat and straightening is ours, read from the menu names, and a plain perm line that doesn't mention heat (a “regular perm”, say) is counted as cold.
- 01Yes — you can get a perm on a short trip to KoreaPerms are a normal line on Korean salon menus that you can request before you travel, not a multi-week commitment. The ranges below come from the live perm menus of 13 of the 19 hair salons listed on millio, across Gangnam, Myeongdong, Hannam, Cheongdam and Hongdae. Booking lengths run from a 30-minute, ₩20,000 down perm to a 4-hour digital perm (₩230,000, cut included).
- 02Down perm — the quick, cheap optionA down perm is a light perm that presses volume down at the sides, or all over — menus mark it “sides”, “partial” or “full”. 8 of the 19 salons list a line named down perm, at ₩20,000 to ₩80,000, booked for 30 to 60 minutes — short enough to fit around other plans on almost any day of your trip. One more line that bundles in a cut (₩55,000, 90 minutes) isn't counted.
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- 03Root perm — for regrowth, not a fresh permIf you already have a perm from home and the new growth at your roots has gone straight, salons re-perm just that section. It runs ₩89,000 to ₩176,000 and is booked for 60 to 90 minutes — well under the price and time of starting over.
- 04Cold perm vs. heat perm — heat costs more at the same salonCold perm uses chemical solution only: ₩119,000–₩330,000 (one line goes up to ₩550,000), booked for 1 to 3 hours, 134 minutes on average (29 lines, 13 salons). Heat perm, sold as a digital or setting perm, heats the rods while they set, and salons pitch it as a rounder curl: ₩150,000–₩660,000, booked for 2 to 4 hours, 173 minutes on average (32 lines, 11 salons). At each of the 11 salons that list both, the heat lines average more than the cold ones — but the ranges overlap, and which salon you book moves the price more than the type does. The top of the heat range is one Gangnam salon, where three lines run ₩495,000–660,000; every other salon's counted heat lines stop at ₩385,000, and 18 of the 32 sit between ₩250,000 and ₩350,000.
- 05Straightening (“magic”) — full head or roots onlyMagic straight, also sold as a straight perm, runs ₩150,000 to ₩495,000, booked for 2 to 4½ hours, 184 minutes on average (22 lines, 9 salons). Volume magic is mainly a straightening line too — it relaxes hair rather than curling it, though some menus pair it with a loose wave for volume. Root magic is the roots-only version — the line for regrowth after a straightening you had before your trip — at ₩150,000 to ₩253,000, booked for about 90 to 120 minutes.
- 06Which day of your trip to book itSkip day one — you want to be settled, not jet-lagged, for something that takes two-plus hours in the chair. Skip your last day too: the aftercare below needs at least a night before you fly. Day two to four of a week-long trip is a workable window, with two or more full days left before departure — send the request before you travel.
- 07Before you fly: what the salon will tell you to doPerm chemicals keep setting for the rest of that day, so many salons ask you not to wash your hair, tie it up, or clip it back until the next morning. Skip the pool, sauna, and heavy sweating for a couple of days so the curl holds. Some salons that sell perms send you home with a sulfate-free shampoo — if yours does, use that for the first wash instead of a hotel bottle.
- 08Ask before you book: is the cut included?Some menus quote down perms and root perms with the cut fee separate — Loeuvre Hannam Atelier Main Branch does — while others bundle the cut in: Park Jun Beauty Lab marks its digital, straight and texture perm lines “cut included”. A ₩110,000 root perm plus a ₩55,000 cut is a ₩165,000 afternoon. Ask whether the cut is included, or check the total on your booking screen before you send the request.
Book this in Seoul
- Loeuvre Hannam Atelier Main BranchHair Salon · HannamEnglish₩290,000Digital Perm (Short/Bob)Request to book
- Park Jun Beauty Lab MyeongdongHair Salon · MyeongdongEnglish, Chinese, Japanese₩150,000Iron Volume PermRequest to book
- Chahong Ardor CheongdamHair Salon · GangnamEnglish, Chinese, Japanese₩430,000Digital PermRequest to book
- YoningHair Salon · GangnamEnglish₩385,000Digital PermRequest to book
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