K Beauty : Is a 10 step skincare regemin necessary?

I feel I have a little insight as an expat living in SE Asia (Hong Kong) that I rarely see discussed in reference to Asian skincare/beauty, nothing chemistry related though. One HUGE aspect that everyone overlooks is the prevalence of photo and video editing in the kbeauty and Asian beauty online market (western markets too of course, but to a lesser extent from what I’ve seen.) Skin smoothing, whitening, eye enlargement and face shrinking being the most used tools in apps. Ordinary women use these often too, not just bloggers. In the many years I’ve lived overseas this is something I’ve become very aware of. It’s not unusual to meet someone in person that you’ve only known online and barely recognize them. A good way to spot heavy editing is fuzzy, poreless skin (everyone has pores!) and blurry or disappearing nostrils. Maybe, in the way that cosmetic surgery is more acceptable here, heavy editing is also not as taboo? If you want to see video editing in action youtube makeup artist Wayne Goss did an excellent video called, “warning, you are being lied to.” The name of a very popular app in china is ‘meitu,’ It’s been around for years. There is now an English version called ‘beautycam.’ Play around with it and you can also have perfect skin and look ten years younger! Lol.

Cosmetic procedures, whether invasive or not, are also more affordable and acceptable. Story time: I’m married to a Hong Kong man and at family dinners I have overheard the women talking about what procedures they want/have, one even getting them to shrink her leg muscles so she could wear a pair of boots! This is very taboo to my western family, my mom freaked when I told her about this, lol!

I think the reality of Asian skincare is much more mundane and normal than people think. Most women I know here wear sunscreen, while most of my western friends don’t, and many westerners tan! Pale skin is desirable here, in the US….not so much. I have even experienced ‘sunscreen shaming’ by my western friends, lol! I think this plays a much bigger role than snail goo, just a thought….lol. It’s also common to see older ladies carrying umbrellas in sunshine. I have also seen Asian women married to Western men who have loads of freckles and sun damage from adapting this western concept of tanning. Something to keep in mind.

There are also many people who think that ‘Asian style’ makeup is more youthful compared to contoured western makeup, and I agree. It’s also important to consider the ‘other-race’ effect, I think that people are not very good at determining the age of races they are not used to seeing. I have had MANY MANY Chinese people assume I am 16 years old! I am almost 28! I often hear westerners say an Asian looks very young when, to me, being married into an Asian family and very used to seeing them think most of them look their age.

I do agree that it is easier to find skincare basics at an affordable price here, like retinols, sunscreens, ahas etc. I think more people here practice good common sense skincare. I have personally had a lot of luck finding affordable Japanese products! I really think that most of the things heard about Asian skincare is hype, coming mostly from teenage girls enamored with anything Korean/Asian because of Asian media, lol. I don’t think editing or cosmetic procedures are a negative thing (I use the Chinese app within reason, lol) but I think there are a lot of misunderstandings about the beauty industry here, and people only hear the hype. Sorry for the long post, this is very interesting to me!

@FunkyPig – I think it is a software issue. I’ll look to fix it.

Excellent assessment, thanks!

Super interesting thread and glad to hear there is no need to up my routine to 10 steps! Thanks RandyS and shar037

PART TWO
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Sunscreen gets its own point here. Dermatologists everywhere recommend sunscreen as the best protection, but it hasn’t been widely adopted in the general American population where sunscreen is seen more as something to wear on the beach. AB emphasises daily sunscreen use, and its adoption as a habit in the general population is contributed by pale skin as the beauty ideal historically, indicating little-to-no menial work and exposure to the sun. This contributes to the high importance in sunscreen, with more UV filters being approved more quickly, emphasis on UVA protection being important with a UVA protection unit (the PA system in Japan and Korea, like PPD in Europe) and how cosmetically AB elegant sunscreens can be. I have never had so much joy in putting on sunscreens until I tried a couple Japanese sunscreens; the ones I’ve tested are so smooth, light and not sticky, with no whitecast. (A demo of the Skin Aqua UV Moisture Milk, a Japanese sunscreen). The effect can be seen in the skin cancer rate by country: the US is 19th with 3.21 deaths per 100,000, with South Korea being 145th with 0.71 per 100,000 and Japan 157th with 0.50 per 100,000.

One of the key proponents of AB is the customisability factor. AB seeks to treat one’s skin concerns and goals through several products that have a more focused goal, assuming that a product that does too many things doesn’t do any of them well at all. Randy himself says here that “using separate products will always be more efficacious… because you have to make trade offs when formulating combination products.” This developed into having multiple steps in a routine and the “Korean 10-step skincare routine” hype, in contrast to slapping on one product and calling it a day in the typical American population. I prefer the customisability aspect because skin can behave differently (e.g. combo-type skin), one can have different goals on different parts of the face (e.g. pigmentation may only be an issue on cheeks) and budget. This way you can use a product where it’s needed most since one-size-fits-all solutions tend not to work that well. However this has lead to the marketing push that one must have a 10-step routine if you want to get into Korean skincare, a capitalist ploy to get people to purchase a huge amount of products instead of slowly building a routine that the online Western and AB communities endorse.

One of the most important aspects of AB for me is the budgeting factor. AB is so much more accessible since it comes at many different price points and in particular lower price points, versus Western skincare tends to be priced USD$40+ in my experience. The competition factor plays a part here in driving prices down, and that has allowed me to get into skincare at a younger age than I would have. It’s why brands like Cerave and The Ordinary have been such disruptors in the Western skincare scene because of their lower price point while still being effective.

The last point I want to make is that there is an element of international appeal and/or exoticisation in AB. AB packaging and marketing is more fun and colourful compared to Western counterparts, such as with sheet masks being easy foot-in-the-door AB products to give to others and funny packaging like banana hand cream. There also is the idea that since it’s come from abroad it’s weirder (see Western media puzzled over “snail goo”) and possibly better. According to this article, Koreans think k-beauty is more for teenagers and prefer European brands themselves (how true it is, I don’t know), showing that products being from abroad could be more appealing to people, no matter where they’re from.

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