Cha Hong
better known by her stage name Chahong, is a South Korean celebrity hairdresser, and is the owner and founder of the Chahong Ardor beauty salon chain in South Korea. Chahong established her first hair salon back in August 2011, and currently owns a total of 3 salons and an academy. Chahong made her debut television appearance via SBS's Star King in February 2011, and now features frequently as guests on various South Korean television shows, such as Channel M's Get It Beauty and MBC's My Little Television. Cha is renowned for the self-hair styling tips that she shares during her television appearances, and has since widened her media exposure through channels such as radio shows, blogs, social media websites and home shopping networks.
Chahong and her salon chain provide hair and make-up services for events such as magazine shoots, and most recently at the Singapore Fashion Week held in May 2015. Outside of her media participation, Chahong also offers her services to her clientele that includes several South Korean celebrities, such as actresses Park Min-young and Kim Ah-joong. She has also launched her own line of hair styling products and tools, named as Chahong Cosmetic.
Early life
Chahong is the fifth of six children in her family. She has four older sisters and one younger brother.After Chahong left college, she realized that she did not have a particular dream or passion to follow. While her siblings performed better in studies and managed to attain scholarships to study in universities, Chahong did not perform as well in school then. Chahong did have a knack for arts, particularly in drawing, but there was no art academy near to where her family stayed and if there was one, she would not have attended the academy anyway as it would cost money. At a lost, Chahong contemplated suicide and wanted to drown herself in the sea of Busan, but retracted her decision soon after she traveled there, stating that "the sea appeared so beautiful" that it made her return home. It was then that her aunt recommended her to train and become a hairdresser, for fear that she would do something terrible with her life then. That unexpected suggestion soon marked a turning point in Chahong's life as she quickly grew into one of the most renowned hairdressers in South Korea.
Chahong did not have the luxury of a smooth-sailing journey towards becoming a hairdresser. She started out as a part-time worker cum trainee at her aunt's hair salon, and during that period of time, Chahong had to overcome many challenges to achieve her current status. Notably, Chahong once suffered from vocal nodules during her training, as she wanted to overcome her inability to speak loudly. Chahong would spend hours practicing how to speak out loud on the rooftop, as her clients struggled to hear her low voice. Chahong also developed atopy and suffered from atopic dermatitis during her training, mainly due to the poor quality of the air within the hair salon and the frequent exposure of cosmetic and hair products to her skin. Chahong was then recommended by her customer service manager then to quit the job, but she was determined to continue, instead adjusting her dietary and sleeping habits to improve her skin condition. Despite the multiple obstacles, Chahong grew to have a passion for the job, describing herself as being "amazed" every time she observed a client walk out of the hair salon after a complete makeover.
Career
Chahong had started working at her aunt's hair salon as part of her training to become a hairdresser, but not long after, in 2002, she was scouted by Ra Beauty Core, a larger beauty salon situated in the Cheongdam-dong district of Gangnam, Seoul. In August 2011, Chahong ventured out and started the first of her salons. By September 2012, Chahong had established her second hair salon, back in Gangnam, Seoul.hong
During her time as a hairdresser, Chahong realized the fact that her clients would only spend a few days every year to visit her hair salon so that Chahong could style their hair for them. Chahong wanted to provide a mean for her clients to style their hair themselves when they are unable to visit her for her services, and thus started teaching them self-hair styling tips through videos and other means. It was not long after that these videos became popular and got posted on to video-sharing websites. During that period, a production staff member of South Korean variety show SBS Star King was interested in filming an episode on self-hair styling, and thus invited Chahong to participate in the filming. Chahong initially had to teach a model several self-hair styling techniques on the show, but later the production staff recommended Cha to perform the demonstration on the show by herself instead. Following the airing of the episode, Chahong's name became the most searched keyword on the search engines for two consecutive days.
Apart from her official line of work, Chahong has also on several occasions visited local universities as a professor to give hairdressing classes. In 2011, Chahong visited Seokyeong University, and made a similar trip to the in 2012.
In 2013, Cha was invited to be one of the pageant judges for the year's Miss Korea.
Volunteer work
Chahong is an advocate of voluntary work, encouraging the employees of her businesses to participate as well. Chahong's voluntary work mainly focuses on children with disabilities, offering hairdressing services to these children without charge. Chahong is also involved with the protection of the environment, mainly due to her history of skin problems. Additionally, Chahong frequently encourages celebrities, clients and employees to donate items for charity sales, thereafter donating the proceeds and unsold items to charity.Personal life
Chahong has been married since 2008, having first met her husband in 2006 as colleagues at the same workplace. Her husband is Han Pil-su, a director of the Chahong Ardor beauty salon chain as well as the Chahong Ardor Academy, both entities jointly managed by the pair. Before Han met Chahong back in South Korea, he lived in England, where he studied and worked as a hair designer. Han was employed as a hairstylist at one of Aveda's salons in London, before moving to Weybridge where he served as a director under the Toni&Guy group. In a television broadcast, Chahong admitted having initially made the first move to pursue her husband after growing a love interest in him. Her husband made his first public appearance alongside Chahong in 2013, when the pair featured as guests on one of MBC's programs, 사람이다Q.In October 2015, Chahong announced that she was 5 months into pregnancy and would minimize her public appearances until the child was due.