Korean Travel Tales Part 1: Korean Skincare: Scam or Miracle?

I've been traveling in Korea for almost a month with my mom and sister. I was born in Korea but left in 1978 with mom when I was just five and this is the first time I've returned since leaving. There are so many observations I've made and emotions I've experienced in the past few weeks, but I plan to write more about that in future posts. I wanted to take a momen to examine Korea's major beauty industry which has translated into a major tourist attraction. Growing up with mom, I am often heard her talking about how Koreans are the best and like so many Koreans, she is so full of pride about her small but thriving country. One of the things that I constantly heard about as a child and adult was about Korean standards of beauty. This standard includes being super thin and having milky white, flawless skin. Wandering through the streets of Korea, it's easy to see that her views comes from directly from the culture with billboards and images all around demonstrating this standard. But clearly seeing how many tourists coming around to shop and buy with reckless and excited abandon, their are many whom aspire to this standard.

Skincare Mania

I've recently discovered that one of the reasons that many tourists come to Seoul is to come in search for younger, cleaner, tighter and in many cases, whiter skin. If you've never visited Seoul, there are literally thousands of shops that sell nothing but skincare products. And they're located right next to each other. It's actually kind of remarkable and at first it feels like an optical illusion 'wait didn't I just see that store? That adorable Korean sales girl trying to shove me into the shop and lure me in with a free face mask, wasn't she just 3 feet behind me?' But it's not an illusion, they are all there right next to each other and ready and willing to sell you the dream of perfect skin.

The products are for all budget ranges and you can buy stuff as cheap as $.40 for a face mask to $500 for a cream that contains snails and gold (yup that's an unexpected combination but apparently is a major trend in skincare). We were informed by the many many eager and convincing sales women that people come from all over the world to buy these products in bulk and I believe them because the packaging in many of these stores showing buy 1 get 1 or packs of 10. And if snails and gold aren't your thing, you can cover your face in cheese, salmon eggs, swallow's nest or if you're feeling more sweet than savory options, there are fruits of every kind like strawberry, kiwi, peach and more.

It's a dizzying and somewhat overwhelming experience, but it's kind of easy to fall under the spell of all of the pretty and fairly priced goods and the girls with pore-less and porcelain skin promising their effects.

Real Life Test

I normally abhor the bullshit pressure that society puts on women to stay and look young, be skinny, be perfect and that all of these products are what make us beautiful. I have spent the past year makeup free and it's been liberating in ways that I never imagined. And I've felt more beautiful than ever. But we are in Korea and it's one of the country's specialties so we succumbed to the pressure and fascination and bought oh, just a few items...

My sister Sylvia, Steemit artist extraordinaire @ladygrey was particularly curious to use the products promising to eliminate blackheads. So Sylvia and mom tried two different products and here are the before and after photos.

It's stick that you rub on with a bit of cleanser

Before on left; after on right

Would love to hear your thoughts on the results, but we felt like there was a dramatic and positive effect after using the blackhead removal products. Their pores were noticeably cleaner and smaller! And note that both products that were used were less than $10 for an item that can be used for probably months.

So I'm not sure that it's a miracle cure, but I do think that there's a nice result from using these products. I am still a firm believer that the best way to care for your skin is simple: sunscreen, washing your face, moisturizing and drink lots of water.

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