Where to learn Korean perm: how to choose training in 2026

I am Oksana Prisyazhnaya, and I am often asked where to learn Korean digital perm. I spent two years choosing myself before I ended up in Seoul, at MASSTIGE HAIR Academy, with Hong Jihoon. Below is what I would look at now if I were choosing again, and what each option does and does not give you.

Two different products under one name

"Korean perm training" covers two different things. The first is a recording of someone else's course: videos, notes, sometimes a chat. It is inexpensive and convenient, but a perm is learned with the hands, and nobody can correct your hands through a video. The second is in-person training with someone who learned the technique from the source and works with it themselves. It costs more and takes travel and time, but you see the whole procedure and ask questions of the person who does it.

The difference is not the price but what you take away. After a recording you understand what the procedure looks like. After an in-person day you understand why each step involves exactly that decision. For the Korean technique the second matters more: it rests on diagnosis and on decisions made along the way, not on a single recipe.

Four things worth checking before you pay

Solutions. Ask which solutions the training uses and where you will buy them afterwards. Korean perm is a technique built for specific Korean solutions. If the course uses one set of solutions and you are then offered another to buy, the technique you practised may behave differently on them. On our course we work with Beati solutions, original Korean ones from Seoul, and a practice kit is included in the price.

The machine. Digital perm is done on a machine with heating. Ask which machine the course uses and whether you will be able to work on the same one afterwards. The temperature on the hair stays within 60-120 °C; the setting is chosen for the hair and changes during the procedure. Learning this on one machine and working on another means learning it all over again.

The source. Find out who the teacher trained with, and ask for a document. We are in favour of checking anyone: my MASSTIGE HAIR Academy certificate No. 344, signed by Hong Jihoon, is public, and its scan is on my page. If a teacher cannot say with whom and when they trained, that is your answer.

Honest selection. A good course will tell you before you pay if it is too early for you. Korean digital perm builds on basic hairdressing skills. Without them the money for the course is wasted, and it is more honest to say so straight away.

Go to Seoul or learn in Moscow

Until 2026 the choice was simple: learn from videos at home or fly to Korea. I flew twice - in March for a group seminar on restorative Korean digital perm and in August for one-to-one training. A trip gives you a lot, but it has a cost that is rarely mentioned: flights, accommodation, interpreting, and the fact that the Korean school teaches on Korean hair. There is no ready recipe for Slavic hair in Seoul, and they say so openly.

On 25 November 2026 a third option appears. Hong Jihoon, Creative Technical Director of MASSTIGE HAIR Academy, runs a training day in Moscow for the first time. He demonstrates the procedure on a live model with interpreting from Korean as he goes, every participant has their own mannequin, and you repeat the winding straight away. I lead the adaptation: what I changed in my work after Seoul and why, what to look for when diagnosing Slavic hair, and when the procedure should be refused.

What the course day includes

• A full day with two teachers and interpreting, a group of ten people.
• A kit of Beati solutions for practice.
• Practice on your own model on a separate day, one-to-one with me: in the studio, or online if you already have the machine. At no extra cost.
• Review of your work from photos and videos for a month after the course.
• A Versiya Lab certificate of participation.

The hour-by-hour schedule is in the programme of the day; the price, deposit and refunds are in the terms of participation.

Who should not start yet

If you do not work with hair yet, start with a basic hairdressing course in your city. The Korean technique relies on what you can already do: read the hair, wind, keep track of time. If you are not a hairdresser but are opening a treatment room and plan to work in it yourself, write before booking and we will work out where to start.

In short

Look not at the price but at the solutions, the machine, the source and honest selection. Compare not "online or in person" but what you will be able to do with your hands afterwards. And if you want to see the Korean technique first-hand without a flight, you can do it in Moscow on 25 November. How training works in Korea itself is covered in How perming is taught in Seoul.