The K-beauty industry continues to take over the world by storm with its outstanding skincare and cosmetic products and various beauty trends that people follow. It’s probably because most of us would do what Koreans exactly do to achieve their most striking feature: beautiful and radiant skin!
However, achieving such complexion is not so easy. As a part of Korean beauty culture, Korean women are groomed with proper skin care habits at a very early age to master this practice before puberty strikes.
Even men are expected to commit to skincare as having flawless skin is one of the Korean male beauty standards.
With hundreds of beauty products, an extensive beauty routine, and regular dermatologist appointments, it really sounds challenging to have clear skin. But since Koreans are obsessed with it, they don’t see it as a chore but as an investment of their money, time, and effort as the result is worth it.
6 Reasons Why Koreans Have Clear Skin
Aside from the trending 10-step skincare routine, there are more reasons why Koreans have clear skin. If you want to find out, let’s have a read at these 6 tips that you can also apply to improve the appearance of your skin.
- Skincare is a Religion in Korea
- Korean Makeup
- Natural Beauty Products and Innovative Skin Treatments
- They Protect their Skin from the Sun
- Healthy Diet
- Genetics
1. Skincare is a Religion in Korea
It’s unusual to come across a Korean who doesn’t have clear skin. Almost every one of them has pristine skin because they take care of it religiously.
They’re devoted to their skincare habit to see consistent results rather than short-term effects. Since then, they believe that maintaining healthy skin is a way to respect the skin itself. Also, they give importance to skincare as it guards the skin against damage and it lets the skin gain genuine benefits in the long run.
Generally, the famous 10-step Korean skincare regime for the face includes cleansing, exfoliating, hydrating, and moisturizing.
It begins with double-cleansing. They use oil-based and water-based cleansers to thoroughly remove makeup and dirt from the skin. For more info, feel free to read our selection of the best Korean cleansing oils and balms.
To slough off dead skin cells and prepare the skin for other skincare products, they also use an exfoliator, followed by a toner.
Then, essence, ampoules, and serums are orderly applied to hydrate, brighten, and treat any skin damage. This routine ends with sheet masks, eye creams or eye patches, moisturizer, and sunscreen to achieve dewy-looking skin that glows.
But when it comes to Korean body care, they usually just exfoliate, cleanse, and moisturize. Sometimes, they even finish off with their favorite body mist to leave the skin smelling great!
If you are interested in Korean beauty, don’t miss out our article about the 10-step Korean nighttime skincare routine.
2. Korean Makeup
Although skin care is the foundation of clear skin, a flawless-looking skin wouldn’t be complete without the help of makeup. But since the skin is clean, hydrated, and moisturized from the skincare routine, it’ll only need just a few enhancements with several makeup products to achieve the skin everyone desires.
Koreans believe that their skin looks great on its own. So rather than full glam, Koreans prefer a subtle look. They don’t cover their skin with layers of makeup, and they don’t use mattifying products to pull off a glowy skin.
If you’re a makeup enthusiast, you’ve surely heard of the term ‘glass skin’—a Korean makeup look that highlights natural-looking complexion. It makes the skin look crystal-clear, smooth, dewy, and transparent—similar to glass!
Read More: The 10 Best Korean Eyeshadow Palettes
3. Natural Beauty Products and Innovative Skin Treatments
The Korean beauty market offers a plethora of high-performing skincare products that convince people to engage in skincare. Fortunately, Korean brands worked hard to release budget products accessible to everyone, so there’s no reason not to hop into the trend!
These trendy products have an emphasis on natural ingredients and gentler formulas, originated and inspired by traditional Korean beauty products.
Today, the most common ingredients you’ll find in Korean skincare products are plant extracts such as Centella Asiatica, bamboo extract, birch juice, and aloe vera, as well as natural extracts from animals like propolis and snail mucin. Each mentioned ingredient hydrates and deeply nourishes the skin.
To enhance complexion and cure skin problems that aren’t treatable with skincare products, various skin treatments are also available in South Korea.
One of the most famous treatments is the ‘skin booster treatment’ that improves blemishes, acne scars, and skin texture for clear, flawless skin.
Read More: Why Koreans Don’t Have Beard?
4. They Protect their Skin from the Sun
To protect their healthy skin, Koreans do their best to avoid the sun. It’s because too much exposure to UV rays dries out the skin and brings harmful effects such as premature skin aging, wrinkling, and sunspots.
Wearing sunscreen regularly (even on cloudy days) and reapplying it often are the best ways to protect their skin. It’s always the outermost layer of their skincare routine, and it even became more popular in the K-beauty industry when sunscreen formulas were improved with skincare-like properties.
When they go out, they always bring umbrellas, wear big hats, long sleeves, and pants to cover their skin. They also wear face masks to protect their face from the sun’s harmful UV rays.
You May Also Like: The 10 Best Korean Whitening Creams
5. Healthy Diet
When it comes to skincare, a well-balanced diet is also important as beauty comes from within. Good foods greatly benefit skin health, so a healthy diet is also key to Koreans’ clear, youthful skin.
Long before a boom in K-beauty products, Koreans relied on eating their way to beautiful skin. To this day, Korean cuisine still includes fermented vegetables, grilled meat and fish (a good source of protein), and a variety of teas, which brings numerous beauty and health benefits.
In fact, researchers in a 2012 study discovered that adhering to a traditional Korean diet or low-glycemic diet for 10 weeks can show huge improvements in acne.
Kimchi is a great example of Korean food that’s extremely beneficial to the skin. Eating Kimchi and other fermented dish comes with antioxidants that improves the digestive system for a healthy gut and clear skin.
The same goes for Korean teas like barley tea and green tea, which keep the skin firm and lower the chance of having acne.
You May Also Like: 15 Healthy Korean Foods With Low Calories
6. Genetics
Genetics plays a huge role in our physical traits. It is responsible for the eyes’ color, hair type, height, and more. Basically, it defines who we are and what we look like.
Therefore, Koreans’ white and clear skin is also partly genetics. But that doesn’t mean that every one of them has flawless skin. Each is born with a different skin type, so the skin’s condition and appearance still vary more on lifestyle factors and skin care/awareness.
Even if you’re not born with Korean-like skin, there are still plenty of things you can do to achieve clear skin.
You May Also Like: Why Koreans Look So Young? 15 Beauty Secrets You Need To Know
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We hope that you’ve learned a lot from this blog post!
After knowing the reasons why Koreans have clear skin, we found out that their lifestyle greatly impacts their skin. So, to attain a flawless complexion, it’s important to be educated on skincare, makeup use, and beauty products, and lead a healthy diet as they do.
Having clear skin is indeed a bit of a challenge. Are you up to trying and following what Koreans do to have beautiful and radiant skin? Hit the comments section below and tell us what you think!
If you’re looking for more Korean culture posts, feel free to read these articles on do Koreans people smell and why Koreans have small eyes!
This is a great blog post on the factors that contribute to Koreans’ beautiful skin. I appreciate the detailed explanation of the different elements that make up a Korean skincare routine, such as the emphasis on hydration and nourishment, as well as the advanced ingredients used in many Korean skincare products. I also think it’s interesting how cultural norms and values play a role in Koreans’ skincare habits, and how this has led to a society that prioritizes taking care of one’s skin.
As someone who has tried a Korean skincare routine myself, I can attest to the benefits of following a multi-step regimen and using high-quality products. It’s definitely a commitment, but the results can be worth it in terms of achieving clear, healthy, and youthful-looking skin.
Overall, this blog post provides valuable insights into the secrets behind Koreans’ beautiful skin, and I would recommend it to anyone who is curious about the Korean skincare phenomenon.