Don't get it twisted

I mentioned in a previous post that one of my biggest concerns when deciding to move to Korea was where I was going to do my hair. I have a head full of dreadlocks and am in love with going to the hairdresser. Anything requiring more than just tilting my head back in the shower, covering with shampoo and rinsing, is just too much effort. I attempted going to a hairdresser for ethnic hair here in Daegu but was not really impressed, probably because I was comparing them to the best Dreadlocks salon in the whole of Cape Town!!! So I decided since Koreans don't really know about dreadlocks, I could probably go a whole year without doing my hair and they wouldn't even notice and they didn't.  I had forgotten how bad my hair was until I landed in South Africa for summer holidays (well it was winter here) and my friend who fetched me from the airport, had barely hugged me hello before commenting on my hair emergency :(

On a recent trip to Seoul, I decided to visit the suburb of Itaewon which has a huge international community. There are super western restaurants and international food markets where you can get some imported products from home you miss so much. There is a community of African hairdressers there too so I thought I could give this hair thing one more chance. A recommendation from a friend led me to the Family Hair shop. I walked into the salon and I saw the usual, pictures of ethnic hairstyles, weaves, cornrows, the works. To my surprise, there waiting for me was a Korean lady who directed me to the sink to get my hair washed. At this stage I am still unsure about all of this, reassuring myself that she is probably prepping my hair for a Nigerian lady who will walk in any moment to actually do my hair. Boy was I wrong. Yes, true story people, my dreadlocks were twisted by a Korean. And in my time I was there, another Korean lady working with her was braiding another lady's hair with more African customers waiting to have their hair to be transformed, some were return customers. There you have it, there is nothing Asians can't do if they put their mind to it.... And I was very satisfied with the end result indeed and have been back again since. I can't believe after being here for over a year, Koreans still manage to surprise me.

Korean lady twisting my dreadlocks

Happy Customer is good for business :)