Kira Hermansen（Denmark）
If you go to Korea, you won’t be missing out on skincare products. Most places around Seoul you’ll find all kinds of stores filled with only skincare. This has to do with Korea being a big market in the beauty department.
Over the last few years Korean skincare has become huge internationally, because of the affordable pricing but also because the ingrediencies used in their products are mostly natural. If you’re into skincare you’ve probably heard about the famous 10-step Korean skincare routine, it’s said to be the ultimate skincare routine. The 10-step routine goes a little like this: a balm or oil cleanser (1), then a foaming cleanser (2), an exfoliant (3), a toner (4), an essence (5), an ampoule or serum (6), a sheet mask (7), an eye cream (8), a moisturizer (9), and at the end you should either use a thicker night cream, sleeping mask or an SPF (10). In the routine you should put thin to thickest consistency products on after cleansers.
In 2017 the term ‘glass skin’ got really popular in Korea, it describes people with poreless looking skin, with a dewy finish, which is said to be achieved when your skin is at its healthiest. The key to glass skin is hydration in your skincare routine, this will make your skin get the much-wanted dewy look. The 10-step Korean skincare routine could be a big help for you to achieve the wanted ‘glass skin’.
Sheetmasks is a big thing in Korea, they’re a must in the 10-step skincare. It is packed with a lot of hydration and lots of good ingredients for your skin, therefore the ideal item to help your skin. You can find this item in all the skincare stores, many times you can find them being sold in packs of 10 and sales like 10+10 which means buy 10 get 10 extras with it. Sheetmasks have different purposes for the skin, therefor there is a sheetmask for whatever your skin problem might be.
In Korea you will also find a lot of skincare clinics, that does different kinds of skin treatments. Here you have the opportunity to get laser treatment if you deal with acne or acne scaring and many other variations of skin treatments. Facials are popular for keeping the skin fresh and clean, and a lot of people get them to take extra good care of their skin. Many people get them frequently to get the most optimal skin but it’s also a time where you can relax and treat yourself. They have a lot of educated people in the skincare community and they will help you figure out what your skin needs.
An important element in Korean skincare is sunblock, which will keep the skin looking young and healthy for a longer time. It helps with all the UV light from the sun, which is only damaging your skin. Sunblock is seen in a lot of foundation products and an important element in their famous cushion foundation.
At first skincare was provided mostly from Japan, Korea and Europe. The Korean government then stepped in and put more money into the skincare and plastic surgery industry to increase the tourism in Korea. Over the years that made Korea the provider of skincare and plastic surgery internationally and they became the leading country in these fields. Afterwards the K-pop industry became huge in the world too and Korea became a must to visit for a lot of fans of both skincare and their music.
Because of the high beauty standard in Korea, there is a lot of pressure on people to look perfect. This creates an unrealistic image of how people should look, which makes young people want to get plastic surgery to fit the beauty standard. This is also the case with having great skin, it’s seen as normal to have healthy skin in Korea, therefore you will also see a lot of dermatologists because skin is so important to Koreans.
Kira Hermansen（Denmark）
acopia.news@gmail.com