“At a young age, Korean children are taught the importance of moisturizing, exfoliating, cleansing the skin thoroughly, and protecting their skin with SPF,” she says. And these beauty traditions, she explains, are passed down through generations.
“For example, a common bathhouse tradition is to splash spoiled milk onto faces after cleansing as milk contains lactic acid, which helps smooth and brighten skin,” says Glow Recipe cofounder Christine Chang. “This tradition is an example of the Korean consumers’ approach to gentle exfoliation over harsh, physical exfoliation.”
These traditions are coupled with innovative technologies to create products that are beneficial to treating an array of concerns. The result? The entrance of new ingredients like snail mucin or categories like essences. Cho notes that many of the ingredients we’ve come to associate with K-beauty products come from hanbang, or traditional Korean medicine, like ginseng, green tea, and lotus.
Beyond the ingredients, Glow Recipe’s other cofounder, Sarah Lee, explains how K-beauty also preaches tackling your specific skin-care concerns day by day. “Skin is different every day, and instead of boxing yourself into a set skin type, it’s so important to listen to our skin and treat that day’s concerns with the right products,” she says. “Your skin will tell you how it feels each day and is influenced by many factors—how much sleep you had the night before, the climate, stress, and environmental aggressors can all affect your skin in a different way each day.”
This versatile, customized approach to treating skin can certainly aid anyone’s regimen. With that, I’ve tapped our industry experts and Vogue editor’s experiences to curate this edit compiling the best Korean skincare brands to add to your routine.
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