Korean Perm Solutions: Which Brands a Seoul Academy Uses

In short. A Korean perm uses two solutions: the perm solution itself and a neutraliser, sold together as one kit. At MASSTIGE HAIR Academy in Seoul I trained on two Korean brands: Beati for the restorative digital perm in March 2026 and TENGRITY for cold perm and root volume in August 2026. What sets Korean solutions apart is not a secret ingredient but the pH, close to neutral or slightly acidic, and the care ingredients added to the bottle.

What I saw at the academy

The academy teaches on the same solutions and equipment it sells to hairdressers. That turns out to matter more than it sounds: during training you test the solutions by hand on different hair before deciding what to buy. For me that saved about a year of trial and error.

I asked Hong Jihoon, the academy's creative technical director, how he picks a brand. His answer was price and quality, not the name on the label. There are many Korean manufacturers now, and hairdressers order the solutions that work for them. Korean lines also change fast: new formulas come out roughly every six months.

Beati: the restorative digital perm

In March 2026 I attended the academy's seminar on restorative digital perm on Beati solutions. The line I work with is Miracle Silky Glow. A kit is two bottles: the perm solution and a neutraliser with collagen. Restoration happens inside the procedure, not as an extra service afterwards.

The perm solution comes in two versions:

The neutraliser is the same for both and comes in the kit. One kit covers one procedure at any hair length. When I am unsure between the two, I choose N: a result that is too soft can be fixed with time, one that is too strong cannot.

What is in the bottle, from the product information: the perm solution contains glycosyl carbocysteine, glycosyl keratin amino acids, hydrolysed collagen and shea butter, and the damaged-hair version adds a conditioning silicone. The neutraliser in the Miracle Silky Glow kit is made with collagen. Production is certified to ISO 22716, the good manufacturing practice standard for cosmetics.

TENGRITY: cold perm and root volume

In August 2026 I took individual training in cold perm and root volume at the same academy, and we worked on TENGRITY solutions. A cold perm needs its own solution: the one made for a digital perm works together with heat, the cold one works with time. How the cold method goes, step by step, is in Korean Cold Perm, and root volume in Korean Root Perm for Volume.

Why pH matters more than the brand

The chemistry of every perm is the same: the first solution breaks the disulphide bonds in the hair, the hair takes the shape of the rod, and the neutraliser rebuilds the bonds in the new position. What differs is the environment. A classic cold perm works at a clearly alkaline pH, which opens the cuticle sharply. Research supports the difference: above pH 8 the cuticle lifts and the protein breaks down, while solutions at pH 5-7 change the hair structure least (Adav, Wu and Ng).

That is why Korean solutions sit at 7 or below, and why hair after a Korean perm stays soft and shiny.

Korean vs Japanese solutions

Ten years ago Korean salons worked on Japanese raw materials, and Hong Jihoon still calls them very good. But when Japanese digital perm solutions first came to Korea, they took poorly on Korean hair, which is coarser. Korean makers reworked the formulas from the Japanese base and made them stronger for local hair. Today, he says, the Korean-made products are better, and the Korean lines move much faster than the Japanese ones.

What this means for Slavic hair

Hong Jihoon gave me a figure I now use every day: Slavic hair is on average 20-30% finer than Korean hair, with a thinner, softer cuticle. He was careful to call it a statistic, not a rule, and admitted he had not known about the cuticle before, because all his practice is on Korean hair. Slavic hair takes in the solution faster, so the answer is controlled timing, not a stronger product. I brought several digital perm solutions back from Seoul with his task to test which suit Slavic hair best.

What no solution can do

No perm solution works on bleached hair. Bleaching removes most of the cuticle, and it is the cuticle that holds a curl: the hair slips on the rod, and if it does take, the shape sags. Colouring without bleaching is fine. And the solution is only part of the result: diagnostics, the test strand, the wind and what happens between the solution and the neutraliser matter just as much. Who a Korean perm suits is covered in Korean Perm: Who It Suits, How Long It Lasts.

Read next: How a Korean Perm Is Done: A Day at MASSTIGE Academy, Korean Perm in Seoul: Types, Prices and Time, Korean Perm Photos: Curls from Seoul.