If you find yourself in the Gangnam district of Seoul in desperate need of a makeover and only bitcoin to hand, youâre in luck.
The area, made famous by Psyâs world-conquering 2012 hit song âGangnam Styleâ, now has a bitcoin-accepting hair and beauty salon, called With Beauty Salon.
Their head of marketing, Lee Kyung Won, told a local blogger he hoped that bitcoin would âattract trend-setters who are the kind of people we are looking for as customersâ.
The blogger, Kim Dong-Hyun, appears to have been their first bitcoin-paying customer on 2nd January. Itâs not clear what treatment the self-described âoffice worker in his mid-30sâ had, but heâs confident bitcoin would permeate South Korean society quickly if merchants began to accept it. âKoreans are very sensitive to IT trends,â he wrote.
According to coinmap.org, Seoul currently has seven bitcoin-accepting businesses, including a baguette shop and a service that lets you load up a pre-paid VISA card with bitcoin.
With Beauty Salon began accepting bitcoin on 30th December 2013 after the head of marketing raised the idea. He was apparently less optimistic about how many of his customers would actually end up using bitcoin, saying that the payment option would be most useful for foreigners staying in country.
Closer to home, a London hair clinic recently completed a hair transplant that was paid for in bitcoin. Vinci Hair Clinic has apparently been âinundatedâ with requests to pay for procedures in bitcoin and with many of their customers flying in from abroad, they say bitcoin payments help them avoid international transaction fees.
Additionally, paying with bitcoin would also help protect the privacy of customers who may not want anyone to know theyâve had the procedure.
But if makeovers and hair transplants arenât enough, you can head over to Miami where the Vanity Cosmetic Surgery accepts bitcoin for plastic and reconstructive surgery.