K-pop hair2026.08.13
K-pop hair, decoded — 8 rules for your Seoul salon chair
Mujin Choi has been on BTS's hair team since 2019. Read how he runs a chair and you get something more useful than a hairstyle: a checklist for sitting in a Korean salon for the first time.
Read the original interviewPosts from @hairbymujin on Instagram — his own account, embedded rather than copied.
Choi joined BTS's hair team in 2019 and runs his own salon in Seoul. A 2023 profile places it in Gangnam under the name Faire by Mujin — black, grey and metal, closer to a studio than a shop floor. Taeyang of Big Bang, Bibi, Meenoi, XG, Gabee, Honey J and the actor Kim Hyeyoon have sat in it too. He is an ambassador for the Korean haircare brand British M.
You almost certainly cannot book him. What you can do is book a Gangnam or Cheongdam salon that works the same way — and walk in knowing what that way is.
- 01Expect the stylist to argueHe doesn't simply say yes to the photo you brought. He talks the design through, pushes for something bolder when he thinks it suits you, and you land somewhere neither of you started. That's the norm in good Korean salons — not a bad sign.
- 02Bring three photos, not oneFront, back, and one you actively dislike. The third does more work than the first two: it draws the line the stylist shouldn't cross.
- 03Say the maintenance out loudHow often you can come back. Whether you own a hairdryer. A cut that needs a salon every three weeks is a different cut, and a good stylist will change the plan once they hear it.
- 04Agree the length in centimetresBefore the scissors, not after. “A bit shorter” survives no translation, and neither does a hand gesture.
- 05Treat colour as the whole appointmentHis best-known look is J-Hope's 2021 transformation around the “Butter” release — cut short, lifted several shades. Getting there from dark hair is bleach repeated, toner over it, treatment in between. Budget 4–6 hours, sometimes a second visit. A cut is one hour.
- 06Book the first slot of the dayNever the last. A colour service that starts late is a colour service that gets rushed, and rushed bleach is the one you regret on the flight home.
- 07Ask for one number, in advanceBleach plus toner plus treatment as a single price, agreed before anything starts. Korean salons quote per step, so three reasonable numbers can add up to one surprising one.
- 08Copy the aftercare, not just the cutFor clients who bleach constantly, Choi treats the condition of the hair as the job itself. His routine is easy to steal: leave-in essence, generously — on wet hair, then again once dry. And after shampooing, skip the rinse-out treatment; he'd rather the essence stay in the hair than go down the drain.
Sources
Written by millio from the reporting linked below. Follow the links for the originals.
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