Cha Hong

Cha is the fifth of six children in her family, with four older sisters and one younger brother.[7]

After Cha left college, she felt that she did not have a particular dream or passion to realise. While her siblings performed better in studies and managed to attain scholarships to study in universities, Cha did not perform as well in school. She did have a knack for arts, particularly in drawing, but no art academy was located near her family's residence and even if there was one, she would not have attended it anyway as it would cost money. Cha contemplated suicide by the sea of Busan but eventually retracted her decision, stating that "the sea appeared so beautiful" that it made her return home. Her aunt then recommended her to become a hairdresser, for fear that she would otherwise do something terrible with her life. That suggestion marked a turning point in Cha's life as she grew to become one of the most renowned hairdressers in South Korea.[7]

Cha did not have the luxury of a smooth-sailing journey, first starting out as a part-time worker cum trainee at her aunt's hair salon, and during that period of time, she had to overcome many challenges to achieve her current status. Cha once suffered from vocal nodules as she spent hours practising speaking aloud on the rooftop, as her clients struggled to hear her low voice. She also developed atopy and suffered from atopic dermatitis during her training, mainly due to the poor air quality in the hair salon and frequent exposure of cosmetic and hair products to her skin. Cha was recommended by her customer service manager to quit the job, but she was determined to continue, adjusting her dietary and sleeping habits to improve her skin condition instead. Despite the multiple obstacles, Cha grew 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.[7]

Cha started working at her aunt's hair salon as part of her training, and was later scouted by Ra Beauty Core (라뷰티코아), a larger beauty salon in the Cheongdam-dong district of Gangnam, Seoul.[3] In August 2011, Cha started her first hair salon, and by September 2012, Cha had established her second branch in Gangnam, Seoul. During her time as a hairdresser, Cha realized the fact that her clients would only spend a few days every year to visit her hair salon so that she could style their hair for them.[7] Cha wanted to provide a way for her clients to style their hair themselves when they are unable to visit her for her services, and started teaching them self-hair styling tips through videos and other means.[7] These videos became popular and went viral on video-sharing websites not long after. 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 invited Cha to participate in the filming.[7] She initially had to teach a model several self-hair styling techniques on the show, but was later recommended by the production staff to perform the demonstration on the show by herself instead.[7] After the episode aired, Cha's name became the most searched keyword on the search engines for two consecutive days.[7]

Apart from her official line of work, Cha has on several occasions visited local universities as a professor to give hairdressing classes. In 2011, Cha visited Seokyeong University, and made a similar trip to the Seoul Arts College in 2012.[8]

In 2013, Cha was invited to be one of the pageant judges for the year's Miss Korea.[8]

Cha is an advocate of voluntary work, encouraging her employees to participate as well. Cha's voluntary work focuses mainly on children with disabilities, offering hairdressing services to these children without charge.[7] She is also involved in environmental protection work, largely due to her history of skin problems. Additionally, Cha frequently encourages celebrities, clients and employees to donate items for charity sales, thereafter donating the proceeds and unsold items to charity.[7]

Cha has been married since 2008, having first met her husband in 2006 as colleagues at the same workplace. Her husband is Han Pil-su (Hangul: 한필수), a director of the CHAHONG ARDOR beauty salon chain as well as the CHAHONG ARDOR Academy, both entities jointly managed by the pair.[9] Before Han met Cha 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.[10] In a television broadcast, Cha 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 Cha in 2013, when the pair featured as guests on one of MBC's programs, 사람이다Q.

In October 2015, Cha announced that she was five months into pregnancy and would minimize her public appearances until the child was due.[11]

• CHAHONG ARDOR - Official Website
• CHAHONG ARDOR 공식채널 - YouTube
• Cha Hong 차홍 공식 블로그 - Naver
• Cha Hong 차홍 - Facebook
• Cha Hong 차홍 - Instagram