Why Are More Men Investing In K-Beauty?
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22 hours ago
The Korean Wave goes beyond music, film and TV – it also has a hold on skincare. Here's how K-Beauty found its footing in men's wellness.
Korea may have had you at Squid Game, but now it’s coming for your bathroom cabinets, says Shane C. Kurup. These are the K-Beauty brands that men should invest in this year.
The Korean Wave Is Coming For Men’s Skincare
Anyone familiar with sugary sweet K-pop or sageuk dramas, will know there’s a certain aesthetic that comes with its male protagonists – a flawless, glassy visage without a whisker of facial shrubbery and jet-black, glossy bangs that hang like a set of silk curtains. It’s a look traditionally typecast as ‘effete’ in western eyes.
Makeup artist and influencer Aidan Park favours DASHU and B.Ready products (@aiden_parkk)
But the Korean Wave, or ‘Hallyu’, that has engulfed all aspects of modern culture, is shifting western perceptions of masculinity and this newfound taste for ‘softer’, clean-cut East Asian men has spread beyond those shores – if the deafening screams of Koreaboos when a member of BTS or Cha Eun-woo shows face are anything to go by. And it’s also changing male grooming habits. ‘Korean beauty standards for men are helping reshape traditional western concepts of masculinity by normalising male skincare and grooming routines,’ says David Yi, K-beauty influencer and founder of good light, which formulates its products using K-beauty principles. ‘Korean brands have successfully marketed skincare as a form of self-care rather than vanity, resonating with changing attitudes about masculinity,’ he adds.
This concept of self-care for all is ingrained in the Korean psyche, which places emphasis on the importance of good presentation rooted in ancient Confucian teachings that still hold sway in modern Korea. It’s why many Korean brands don’t have overtly girlish packaging, or target a specific gender – gender neutrality doesn’t need to be stressed. ‘The branding is really simple. It’s not feminine, it’s not masculine. It sits really nicely in that middle zone,’ says Gracie Tullio, co-founder of pureseoul, the UK’s largest K-beauty retailer with stores in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Brighton, with eight further sites on the cards for 2025. ‘The emphasis is different. Western beauty emphasises attaining femininity but it’s more about personal care in Korea.’
Laka is a bestselling Korean cosmetics line exclusive to pureseoul in the UK
The K-beauty market is huge – projected to be worth $12.5bn in 2025 – which explains why Korean products seem to offer much more bang for your buck and are so hyped on social media for their efficacy compared to western equivalents. Boots – the UK’s go-to chemist – reported it now sells a Korean beauty product every 30 seconds. ‘It’s so competitive that brands can’t afford to be seen to have an ineffective product,’ says Tullio. Organic, natural ingredients play a huge role in Korean skincare, with ingredients distilled from native plants such as Centella asiatica, or ‘Cica’; black rice, bamboo and green tea extracts are all key ingredients – as are next-level SPF formulas to slow the march of Father Time. There’s also a big emphasis on hydrated, dewy-looking skin, which has given rise to the ‘glass skin’ and ‘aqua skin’ trends.
Korean oppas in the limelight don’t shy away from powdering their nose, either. While western attitudes to male makeup are slowly shifting, it is mainstream in Korea, with regular chaps keeping a BB cream or concealer in their bathroom cabinet – even if they don’t use it daily like a K-popper, there’s something at hand to combat a rogue pimple the night before a big boardroom meeting.
You might not have the brass to go full-on Jungkook with your routine, but there’s many takeaways from Korean grooming that men can use to achieve peak handsome, wherever they hail from. Is it time you got your K-face on?
K-Beauty Finds For Men
Skin 1004
Madagascar Centella Ampoule 100ml, £25.20
Skin 1004’s ampoule bottles the benefits of Centella – or Asiatic pennywort – which has been tapped since the Joseon era for its calming, antioxidant properties to help eliminate redness and keep sebum levels on an even keel.
good light
Taste of Space Lip Milk 4.5ml, £13
Kiss goodbye to crusty lips with this clever stick, which blends antioxidant raspberry extract, skinbolstering vitamin B5 and hydrating mango butter to bring even the most weathered lips back from the brink.
Thank You Farmer
Safe Sun Age 0880 Body + Face SPF 50+ PA++++ 100ml, £28
Containing hydrating and calming lotus water, soy lipids, purslane extract, this radical SPF harnesses skin-cooling technology to lower your skin’s surface temperature by up to 4°C, to keep you from breaking a sweat in even the balmiest conditions.
Haruharu WONDER
Black Rice 5.5 Soft Cleansing Gel 100ml, £15.90
Rice might be a food staple in East Asia, but it also has benefits for your mug. Combining fermented black rice and bamboo shoots, this PH-balanced cleanser will wash off the day and leave you with a cleaner, brighter face.
INNISFREE
Green Tea Seed Hyaluronic Cream 50ml, £29
This moisturiser utilises extract from green tea seeds grown in the nutrient-rich volcanic soil of Korea’s largest island, Jeju, to help dry skin stay hydrated without any of the stickiness of heavier creams. It might just be your cuppa.
Beauty Of Joseon
Revive Ginseng + Snail Mucin Serum 30ml, £13.50
Don’t let the slightly feminine name or mention of snail mucin put you off – this stuff has been all the rage in cosmetology for the past few years. The ethically harvested ‘snail juice’ has compounds that help repair damaged skin while Korean Ginseng locks in moisture.
B.Ready
True Tone Lotion 33ml, £31.50
If the thought of going to Boots to pick up some Charlotte Tilbury concealer fills you with dread, this low-key, discreet True Tone Lotion will mask imperfections on days when you need to face the world with confidence – and no-one will be the wiser.
LANEIGE
Cica Sleeping Mask 60ml, £29
Applying a mask often feels like a faff, but this one does the heavy lifting while you catch 40 winks. Its hydrating Forest Yeast complex is sourced from the woodlands of Jeju Island and works with shea butter and squalane to bolster your skin’s moisture barrier. Sleeping beauty indeed.
Featured image: good light
