beauty – Learning to be 한국인

Korean Beauty: Skincare 2021

Lately I’ve been making some fairly serious posts lately regarding things like racism, missing perspectives of biological families and adoptees in the adoption space, and similar. I know for many these topics are not why you are reading my blog. Or, if they are, it can be a bit emotionally or mentally burdensome. While these serious topics are intrinsic to the KAD experience, they are parts of the greater whole. So, for today’s blog post, I thought I’d focus on something a little more “fun” that many people (including non Asians, non Koreans, non KADs) can relate to… Korean Beauty (K-Beauty) and skincare.

As many folks will tell you, skincare is an extremely important aspect of K-Beauty. Unblemished, pale, supple, and dewy skin is vital to being considered attractive in Korea regardless of age or gender. Because of this, slews of cleansing products, exfoliants, serums, essences, moisturizers, sunscreens, whitening/brightening products, face masks, foundations, concealers, and other skin-appearance oriented products are readily available within the country. Spas and beauty businesses (including cosmetic surgery establishments) offer many skin-oriented services. Having imperfections like moles, veins, freckles, surface-level blood vessels taken care of is extremely common in Korea. New daily self-skincare regimens come and go frequently, as do the popular ingredients best aimed at beautiful, healthy skin.

GLASS SKIN - OUR NEW SKINCARE GOAL — Image Credit: Ellie Choi, Instagram 13.12.2017 – Demonstrating Korean “Glass Skin” Trend

As noted in NCBI’s article Characteristics and management of Asian skin (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30039861/#:~:text=Asians%20are%20a%20population%20with,of%20Ota%2C%20and%20Hori%20nevus), Asians have a wide range of skin phototypes (ranging from type III typically seen in east-Asians such as Koreans through type V typically seen in south-western Asians such as Indians). Common issues in Asian skin include “postinflammatory hyperpigmentation, melasma, lentigines and freckles, nevus of Ota, and Hori nevus”. While issues like wrinkles and skin thickness variance are common early signs of aging present in other populations, especially Caucasian, these indicators are less evident for those with Asian skin. However, Asians tend to see more pigmentary changes earlier. Because of the issues that tend to be more present for those with Asian skin-types, Korean skincare products and regimens tend to focus on blemish, pigmentation, and overall skin-tone and clarity accordingly.

Image Credit: Dr. Brandt @ blog.drbrandtskincare.com – Demonstrating Fitzpatrick Skin Phototypes

As I mentioned in previous blog posts, growing up in the USA or another white-dominant, Western-European country as a non-white person, I often ran into challenges finding beauty products (skin, hair, makeup) that worked for me. Whether too harsh or abrasive, made for skin-tones different than my own, or simply addressing or ignoring issues relevant to me or my Asian skin-type, I struggled for decades with finding a skincare regimen and accessible products that didn’t make my skin worse. With the rise of K-Pop, K-Culture, and K-Beauty in recent years, the availability of products and practices tailored to an East-Asian like myself has been extremely gratifying. As a KAD especially, whom never had other Asians in my family to turn to for beauty advice, it has felt like a huge window into feeling good about myself and targeted self-care that others have taken for granted.

So! Let’s talk skincare. What do I currently do? What are my favorite products? Where do I obtain them?

Before diving in, I am a type III skin phototype. What I do, my favorite products, and where I obtain them are all impacted by my personal skin-type and needs. I cannot speak about other skin-types. I do not have experience with skin-types more commonly found in mixed race KADs, which I consider to be under-represented in both Western and Korean beauty and skincare industries. I’m relatively light (especially in fall and winter) and I tan fairly easily in the sun. I have combination-oily skin, am acne prone (I’ve had acne since I was an infant and still get pimples in my mid-30s), I freckle easily, I have moles, and have some areas of my face with larger pores. I do not currently have issues with obviously thinning, sagging, or wrinkled skin. The products and the skincare regimen that I use work for me after trial and error. They may not be optimal for you, so please keep that in mind!

Image Credit: LearningtobeKorean – This is a closeup of my clean skin demonstrating my skin-type for reference.

What do I currently do? I follow the Korean “10-Step-Method”. In case you have not heard of the “10-Step-Method”, here’s a quick overview.

10-Step-Method
1) Make-Up Removal and Oil Cleanser
2) Water-Based Cleanser
3) Exfoliator
4) Toner
5) Essence
6) Treatment(s)
7) Sheet Mask(s)
8) Eye Cream
9) Moisturizer
10) Sun Protection

When I first started doing this regimen I found that it really added time to my morning prep. It can feel like a lot, especially if you tend to be short on time or patience in the morning or night. I do not strictly adhere to each step every morning and night. Instead, I adjust the steps and products to match my personal needs on a daily, monthly, or seasonal basis. I never skip steps 1/2 (Cleansing), 4 (Toning), 9 (Moisturizer), or 10 (Sun Protection). If I had to only choose two steps, I’d take Cleansing and Sun Protection by a wide margin.

What are my favorite products? I’ve tried a vast number of skincare products to date. In order to keep this somewhat short, I’ve listed my standard “go-to’s” for each step of the “10-Step-Method”. That said, I’ve tried, and loved, products outside of what I’m sharing here. This is especially true of face masks which I absolutely love. If you have any favorites, or questions about a product, please feel free to share in the comments!

My Product Line-Up
1a) Make-Up Removal: Neutrogena Oil Free Eye Makeup Remover or Etude House Lip & Eye Remover
1b) Oil Cleanser: Then I Met You Living Cleaning Balm or Hanskin BHA Pore Cleansing Oil
2) Water-Based Cleanser: Cetaphil Daily Facial Cleanser or Youth to the People Superfood Cleanser (Bonus Foam Cleanser: Medicube Zero Foam Cleanser)
3) Exfoliator: Dr. Oracle 21; STAY or Glossier solution
4) Toner: acwell Licorice pH Balancing Cleansing Toner, Benton Aloe BHA Skin Toner, or Clinique clarifying lotion #3
5) Essence: acwell Licorice pH Balancing Essence Mist or NEOGEN Dermalogy Real Ferment Micro Essence
6) Treatment(s): good (skin) days C’s The Day Serum or NEOGEN Dermalogy Real Ferment Micro Serum
7) Sheet Mask(s): Dr. Althea Herb Therapy Velvet Mask or Medicube Collagen Lifting Mask
8) Eye Cream: Etude House moistfull Collagen
9) Moisturizer: SKINRx LAB MadeCera Cream or tarte drink of H2O
10) Sun Protection: NEOGEN Dermalogy Advanced Sun Safety Solution for Sensitive Skin or Papa Recipe Bombee Honey Moist Sun Essence

Where do I obtain them? I’ve found that most of these products, especially the American/European ones, are easily found at Sephora, ULTA, a department store (like Macy’s), drug store or by doing a simple Google search. However, for more specialty items, finding a retailer that specializes in Asian or Korea Beauty/Makeup/Skincare makes things much easier. Some of my go-to’s for Asian or K-Beauty products include the following (in no particular order).

My Preferred (Online) Asian or K-Beauty Retailers
a) SOKO Glam – https://sokoglam.com/
b) Etude House – https://www.etude.com/int/en/index.php/new.html
c) Akoco – https://akoco.com/

Image Credit: LearningtobeKorean – This is an example of my face toward the end of the day, indoors, without any foundation/concealer/powder. I am wearing eye and brow makeup and a colored lip balm.

Well, that’s about all I have for now regarding K-Beauty and how I loop it into my skincare habits. I hope you’ve enjoyed the post! I wish you the best as you explore Korean skincare products and regimens. If you find that certain products or processes are especially interesting, please feel free to share in the comments or by reaching out.

Until next time!

사랑해요 ❤ I love you

Korean Beauty: Western Culture and the KAD Experience

I remember my childhood-young adulthood growing up as an east-Asian girl, in suburban (and sometimes rural) mid-Western America, with a white family, white friends, and a white community, surrounded by 1980’s-early 2000’s mainstream pop-culture, which was also heavily white. There’s nothing inherently wrong with any of those things. That said, being one of the very few people I knew or saw that looked anything like myself meant being alone when it came to beauty. Finding “how I fit” during a time when many young, cis-gender females were going through their own journeys of beauty and self expression was made more difficult by not having role models, products, tutorials, or similar sorts of references to rely on.

I recall watching the women in my family put on makeup, curl their hair, groom themselves, and wear clothing that never worked on me. The colors were all wrong, applying eye makeup the way they did looked terrible on my monolids, my hair did not hold a curl well and looked rather odd on me, and I found that I didn’t need the types of deodorants or hair removal supplies that many of them did. Skincare products were not made for me and were often far too harsh, furthering breakouts. Eyelash curlers didn’t even fit my eyes or the planes of my face!

Childhood throwback: Grandma giving me a perm

Getting “make-overs” (whether by friends, family, or even paid beauticians) was often a bit bittersweet and awkward (although I never acted like I was bothered) as nobody knew what to do with me. Again, folks would try to do what worked for the norm (white girls and women) on me and it just didn’t work. Sometimes people would comment on how surprisingly long my eyelashes were because my “squinty eyes” hid that feature, how flat my face or nose was, how hairless I was, how thin and too straight my eyebrows were, and generally how unlike “most people” I looked.

Additionally, the number of times that people (including salespersons at stores) would focus on my body and make me feel unattractive or unwomanly was rather shocking in retrospect. I was called a “skinny mini”, a “doll”, a “child”, “flat”, and “not a real woman because I did not have curves” quite often. People still say these things to me as an adult, which is both surprising and unsurprising in a number of ways. Suffice it to say whether it was my face, my hair, or my body… I was not “normal” and people just didn’t know what to do with me!

Something that I’ve reflected on is the lack of mainstream prevalence of Asians in general, good or bad. In fact, if there was any representation at all it was often troublesome or flat out “bad” in how it impacted the way people saw Asians or how Asians, like myself, saw themselves. (As a note: I understand that these representations were reflections of the time and that many did not, and do not, think of these representations as negative given the historical context. I also understand that representation and racism are very complex issues, as are how people feel about said topics I am aware that some Asians, myself included, were just happy to see any representation at all regardless of theoretical good or bad because of how slim representation was in general).

Mickey Rooney as Mr. Yunioshi in *Breakfast at Tiffany’s*

Sure, there was Mickey Rooney’s performance as Mr. Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany’s in 1961, some fledgling televised Japanese anime starting in the late 1960s, Bruce Lee’s popularization of Kung Fu and arguably Chinese culture in the 1970s, David Bowie’s “China Girl” song released in 1983, the introduction of Thuy Trang (the “yellow ranger” in the Power Rangers TV show) in 1993, the appearance of Ally McBeal’s side-kick Ling Woo (played by Lucy Liu) in 1997, and the broadening of Japanese anime fan-culture in the 1990s-early 2000s. However, these examples tended to be dictated by, inherited by, represented by, or consumed by non-Asians. They also tended to exoticize, simplify or otherwise dis-empower Asians, especially Asian women.

A mixture of all of these things made it very hard for me to feel good about myself, my looks, my status as a female or woman. Add to the equation that I didn’t have anywhere to turn to find products or styles that were made to work with someone like me. Furthermore, that people both focused on and completely invalidated my Asian-ness… . Growing up as an Asian person, and specifically as a KAD without anyone like myself to turn to, made for a lot of self doubt and awkwardness when I approached anything that dealt with beauty, grooming, or fashion for a significant period of my life.

All of this said, I am aware that I was certainly not alone in growing up as an “other” in the USA during that time. The issues that other minorities (racial, gender, body type, able-ness or other) faced with representation, and subsequent beauty, grooming, and fashion challenges, were just as real and with extensive complexities, hardships, and impact that I cannot speak to other than to acknowledge that my experience does not over-shadow, compare to, or take-away from their experiences. Additionally, I had the good fortune of being raised by a family (immediate family especially) that celebrated or at least acknowledged and supported my Asian-ness or Korean-ness, even if they did not have the parallel experiences to draw from. I know many KADs did not have the privilege I did in that regard.

Something that occasionally comes up in KAD channels is the additional feelings of other-ness amongst KADs that mixed-race and/or black KADs feel when talking about the experiences of their fully east-Asian/Korean peers. I think it’s something that we as KADs need to be more aware of. I hope to see our community work to make space for and amplify the voices of KADs with a mixed-race or black background. However, as this is my blog and I can only share the experience that I’ve personally had, I cannot speak to that particular cultural journey. If there is someone who reads this blog that can speak to that experience, I’d be more than happy to do a collab or dedicate a blog post specifically for you to share your thoughts.

So, this post ended up being a little serious. It’s also a tad long. I will be doing separate posts about Korean Beauty that address tangential topics from the globalization and popularization of Korean culture (K-pop, K-dramas, K-beauty, Hallyu 한류), what navigating Western and Korean beauty paradigms as a KAD is like, and even my own thoughts of fashion/beauty/grooming.

I hope that it was interesting perspective. My hope was to set a stage and share what my experiences were like. I also hope that this information helps to parameterize the future Korean Beauty posts that I’ll be making. I’d be curious if other KADs, or readers in general, have their own experiences to share navigating otherness while growing up in a Western (American or European) community.

As always, I love you. 사랑해요! ❤