Men in South Korea tend to be more open about their grooming than the rest of the men in the world are. This is mostly due to the beauty standard they have going on there (and if you think it’s bad for men, then it’s infinitely worse for women there). Any Korean male you see, you would find them wearing some kind of lip tint, lipstick and even smoky eyeliner. It’s even flashier in their K-pop industry because if the media spots even one small blemish or imperfection, then they would get ridiculed by it.
As open-minded as they are about beauty, it still is stifling. So what do these Korean men actually use on a daily basis?
BB Cream
I’m female. And I cannot tell you, for the life of me, just how much I absolutely HATE any creams that is put on my face. Somehow though, the BB cream is something that a lot of men in South Korea use all the time. I do admit that it’s good for shielding your face from the sun, hiding any blotchiness or imperfection and not to mention moisturizing your own skin. Men use this all the time before they leave to go to work or something. And as much as I hate to admit it, even though I think it’s really suffocating how their beauty standard is scrutinizing most of their men and women, it works because whenever I see a Korean, I always think that they were really beautiful or really handsome.
For the record, I’m a bit biased because I like BTS. Particularly their rapper Suga, but that’s beside the point.
Nose Pore Tips
Since men are prone to some visible blackheads, they tend to keep some nose pore tips that are applied to a damp (thoroughly cleaned) nose. They leave it there for about 15 minutes before they peel it right off. They’re supposed to get rid of blackheads and I suppose it makes sense why they keep this most of the time.
Lip tint
Well, it’s no wonder I always find their lips attractive when I see their photos. Lip tint is supposedly an essential to them so they can have those pink lips that drive women crazy. According to theculturetrip, they apply this to the inside of their lips and use their finger to spread it out thinly. It gives them this candy stain look as if they just spend the entire morning making out with someone, and boy, that look is really blowing my wig off.
Toner
Korea has this thing where they prefer white skin over anything else. And while I too prefer the lighter shade as a preference (for both myself and as my type in a male) I understand that that isn’t the same for everywhere else in the world. Korea doesn’t care, sadly. They keep a toner at hand and it’s apparently the secret to a glowing skin. Even my only liked band BTS swears to keep an important skincare. Seriously I like them and I would die for them, but sometimes I get frustrated with their beauty standard. It’s unhealthy. But I suppose their standard is the reason why millions of girls around the world (including me) go crazy over them. Their standard is working.