Having skin in the game: inside the K-beauty boom

The ‘Korean wave’ has cemented Seoul’s reputation as the world’s beauty capital, and as the number of visitors jetting in for a glow-up holiday rises, Hayley Spencer joins them

- Hayley Spencer

In a word, experiencing Seoul’s K-beauty scene as a tourist is “humbling”.

During a week-long visit, I stripped naked so that a “scrub master” or seshin-sacould slough every scrap of dead skin from my form. An assessment put my “skin age” at nearly half a decade older than my chronological age. And a high-definition scan of my scalp revealed – well, let’s just say it was enough to put me off my tteokbokki later that day. Beauty standards are exacting in South Korea, with a focus on regular maintenance and long-term health. As Jennifer Seo, the founder of Aneue Concierge, a service creating beauty itineraries in Seoul, explains: “Skin treatments are ingrained in the culture, and intertwined with self-care; they’re used by a wide demographic” - unlike in the West, where they are seen as a form of vanity. As a result, “practitioners strive to innovate faster and more efficiently than others, making them trailblazers”.

The unstoppable Hallyu (Korean wave) of everything with a “K” prefix has put the beauty industry on a global stage, with the bouncy “glass skin” aesthetic having dominated social media since the late 2010s. K-pop and drama stars are the poster children - the BTS boys cause as much hysteria with their glossy looks as with their earworm anthems, after all.

Seoul is the epicentre for those seeking anything from cosmetic procedures to niche beauty popups. It’s home to more than 600 dermatology clinics, with many concentrated in the glitzy Gangnam district - think Harley Street on steroids.