Recent Trend of Asian Entertainers Going Blond: Yay or Nay?

This is a completely random post and I haven’t done of of these in ages. There is just too many dramas, books, movies and the like dropping nonstop I don’t even have time to write about a quarter of the new entertainment much less fritter away time on frivolous commentary. With that said, I’m so in love with L‘s blond hair with dark roots in My Lovely Girl it actually made me remember the recent batch of gone-blond Asian entertainers on the scene and want to muse about the trend. Some are so unexpectedly awesome (like L as Shi Woo in MLG) that it makes we wonder why the same entertainer doesn’t catch my fancy being dark-haired, and other times it’s so epic fail I just want to dunk the blond hair in a vat of dark hair dye on the spot. Blond hair has been popping up on K-dramas more and more and then I realized it’s still used only when the character is playing a musician in the drama. Cast in point L in MLG and the epic fail counterpart this year Ji Hyun Woo in Trot Lovers (Lovers of Music). Also Park Ki Woong in Full House 2 if we go back a few years.

That makes sense since a character that is supposed to be an arrogant chaebol likely wouldn’t bleach his hair light and then marinate it in blond dye. Or would he? Over in the Taiwan side, recently model-actress Amber An went full blond (not the same as full monty) for her just released mini-album and the result was glorious. I’ve never found Amber anything other than mealy but she’s rocking the blondie which is way more flattering on her than dark tresses. While L and Ji Hyun Woo’s blond looks are more ashy with dark roots peeking through, Amber’s total blondness then brought back memories of Lee Jong Seok going blindingly blond during the promotion for Hot Blooded Youth early this year. He also showed up at the SBS year end awards with the same blond hair (and dressed like a magician’s apprentice). The color is so wrong on him from every angle. Since blond is a hair color that is not naturally occurring in any Asian entertainer, the hair color is definitely one of the most eye-catching transformations out there. What blond yay or nays do you recall in recent years? Better yet, pictures please!

Blond YES: L and Amber An.

Blond NO: Ji Hyun Woo and Lee Jong Seok.


Comments

Recent Trend of Asian Entertainers Going Blond: Yay or Nay? — 32 Comments

  1. Hyoyeon from SNSD was super blonde until recently…..but unlike him, she looked absolutely gorgeous, better than anyone in the pics here.

    I do think L looks good with that blonde hair though and maybe LJS would have looked better if his hairstyle was not so floppy. Blond hair is a thing that suits only some Asian people.

  2. I think it can look good when you choose the shade that suits your skintone e.g. Lee Jong Seok is soo pale, he looks like Miss Piggy with his yellow hair. At the same time Eita rocked the same hair colour in Nodame Cantabile.

      • To be honest, when I watched Nodame Contabile, I didn’t take notice of Eita (probably because of his hairstyle) but he came to my attention when he’s sporting dark hair in Voice. Now, he’s one of my favorite j-actor.

        Blond can look really cool on some people but I just prefer natural-looking hair color, blond tend to wash out the facial structures a little. I could deal with brown but I always have a hard time taking blond color on Asians seriously. It’s just personal preference. Amber An and L does look good on blond though!

      • Yup!

        He rocked it. Others do too, and yet more others don’t.

        Of the above, only the first one (L?) works for me. With the girl it looks fake (but it’s also a terrible hairstyle, with the A Thousand Kisses guy it looks grey, with LJS too platinum blonde.

      • Eita looked fantastic in Nodame. I fell in love with Mine pretty much at first sight lol, but that was because of the craziness of the hair as well as its blondness.

  3. Blond!Myungsoo is da love. <3

    i think xiaoyu (lollipopf) and show luo did ok in blond although that was quite some time ago.

    Jongsuk's blond hair was a big no for me (although it kinda grew on me) but i was glad he got out of it real quick. i didn't exactly like sungjong's blonde hair as well although it made him look like a doll idk.

  4. My preference is always au natural looks the best 🙂 but that being said, I think blonde on Amber makes her stand out more. I actually didn’t really like blonde on Show when he did it. Overall I say it’s a yay because ultimately doesn’t really matter what I think as long as they like it themselves. Besides its not permanent and can always be changed, so i say why not? It gives a fresh look. I don’t really like super super blonde almost white as much as the yellower version personally.

  5. Lee Hong Ki was blond as Jeremy in You’re Beautiful as well, though I’m not sure if that was a wig.

    I can’t remember my feelings about it, except that Jeremy was such a puppy. 🙂

    • Exactly! …I mean, I think it depends more on the hair style, not just the colour… I have seen Lee Hong Ki with blonde hair, but another hair style (not the one from YAB)and it really suits him well!!(although Hong Ki changes a lot his colour/style so not sure if he’s a good example LOL…. anyway I think most of his hairstyles and colours suit him…so… ) I think I saw Jae Jin (also from FT island) in blonde sometime too…

  6. For dudes absolutely nay! As any good mother would describe it: “they look like delinquents.”

    I’m much more forgiving with the ladies, though, it also comes far in between.

  7. It’s like most kpop idols and some kdrama a-listers have to gone through a blonde-hair-phase at least once in their career along with red hair and usually done on a summer comeback album(?) For me, those that stands out were SNSD’s Hyoyeon, CL and f(x)’s Amber. It really suited them.

    It’s a nay for me too on Ji Hyun Woo and Lee Jong Seok (w/ him rocking it on such a critical time of SBS year end drama awards w/ Lee Bo Young on top of that).

    Nay for a blonde f(x)’s Krystal and Dara. I think it gone a trend too on twpop when it only look good on Jolin whilst a disaster when Dee Xu, Show Luo and Jay did it. While blonde looks good on Daesung, GD and Hong Ki though~

    I wish I could remember and know some more idols that have done it^^

  8. Lego Lee turned blond for awhile too after IAGW remember? He was just okay in it. I think the difference between one who rocks it and one who doesnt… is their skin undertone. That L guy (does anyone think of Oguri Shun?) and Amber have reddish undertones, hence they don’t look washed out in blond colours.

  9. Not fond of the blonde (and sometimes red) look on Asian entertainers (meaning ALL of Asia lol). I always prefer their natural hair color.

  10. It depends on the shade of blonde and how it matches their skin tone. And it tends to look better without dark roots, to me. Most actors/actresses I’ve seen haven’t pulled it off very well, but I find some idols have better success finding the right shade, hairstyle, and makeup. i.e, Lee Hong Ki in YAB, Kris/Wu YiFan, Jessica from SNSD, Gyuri from Kara, …

    All of these people look better in dark hair though ^^

    • As for the blonde, when it works, it lights up the face and makes someone stand out in a crowd of dark-haired people, which is favorable for the idol. Their natural dark hair suits them better, but this is a good for a change of image.

  11. I’m actually not a big fan of the blond look on Myungsoo who I had a hard time recognizing at first here….on the other hand I found his rocker look in Shut Up Boy Band very cute

  12. Definitely Nay. As an asian with a light brown complexion it doesn’t work for myself and my friends with the same, or darker complexion. It might work on some Koreans because they are very fair skinned. But even then, a person’s natural hair color is ALWAYS the best.

    And ESPECIALLY NO to those different colors of blonde streaks on Asians. We look like hot messes.

  13. When some streaking technique is used in blonding Asian hair (like balayage or ombre), then it can have quite an interesting look. In fact, it looks more organic to me, when I see that the hair roots are not touched by chemicals (and you know, Asian hair does need strong chemicals to be blonded).

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