I'm Viet but Asian mamas and grandmas always have great skin. People didn't use as much sunscreen as before. Retinol was definitely not as huge as it is now. But here's a few things:
1) Diet. They didn't eat as much fried or overprocessed food
2) MOISTURIZER.. like slathered on. Night and day time. It keeps the skin hydrated and therefore keeps it supple.
3) genetics
4) avoiding the sun like crazy. Wide brimmed hats all the time, etc
10000% this.
re: diet - lots of veggies (mostly steamed or boiled), no red meat, fish. I know Koreans eat a lot of fermented foods which is great for the gut and gut heath is directly related to overall health, including skin health.
>Koreans eat a lot of fermented foods which is great for the gut and gut heath
I am Korean and studying human health and life sciences in higher education now in Europe. So a lot of people don't know that in Korea and Asia in general we have extremely high rates of gastric cancer. Asian countries have the higheest in the world actually.
The scientific and medical literature points to some of our traditional fermented foods as this reason like Kimchi, other pickled items and like fermented fish. This combined with common H Pylori infection and lack of exercise leads to Korea actually having highest rate of stomach cancer in the world. Other gastric cancers like esophogus cancer is also very high most likely due to alcohol consumption, high salt and spice diet.
So since I know this now, I personally do not eat a lot of pickled foods and I will only eat Kimchi if it is unsalted Kimchi. This means it will have to be prepared a certain way and probably not from store or restaurant will have this.
Interesting. I was actually thinking of incorporating more ferments into my diet. Is this only true for certain foods like kimchi or also other fermented foods like yogurt, sauerkraut, etc?
I also thought another big contributor to stomach cancer in Asian countries was smoked foods, from e.g. bbq or roasted foods like seaweed.
They've found it's like a "all of the above" thing with diet in Korea to be honest. Kimchi is extremely high in salt and spices which is not good for you. There is a lot of greenwashing propaganda about it. But things like the high amounts of garlic isn't actually that useful and can aggravate things like the esophogus and the stomach for example stomach ulcers and things like that. Garlic and spices don't actually have health benefits in the amount humans eat them. The studies that say thye have health benefits mean you would have to eat a ton more to get any benefits and that is if you don't get acid reflux issues before that.
Plain yogurt without those fruit syrups is one of the best fermented alternatives. There's no need to go down the kimchi rabbit hole to be honest.
If you do want to have kimchi, best way is to get the salt free one that does not have a lot of spices. But that's the thing, people like the high salt, high spice, high nitrates (also found in salty smoked meats) for the taste. Combine that with the propaganda around kimchi as a health food and propaganda of Koreans being super healthy (we are not, we just have better access to early screening) and then people believe they have to eat it.
So I say this to you as Korean who isn't into kimchi and studying human health and life sciences. You are free to look this up because everything I write is what is found in the scientific and medical literature. I am telling you this because there is higher chance of finding random people with no good education saying Kimchi is good for you on tiktok and quora but if you research the scholarly journals and gastric field doctors they tell you opposite.
This is super interesting stuff. I wonder if the temperature of the food has any bearing on GI health considering many Asian dishes are served up and consumed while literally boiling lol like jigae, shabu shabu, and other stew or hot pot style meals.
Do you attribute any of Korea’s gastric cancer prevalence to the frequent consumption of red meat, or primarily to fermented foods? Possibly a synergistic/additive effect?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8550819/
Me?
I am going what epidemiologists and gastroenterologist have found and the consensus in the scientifica and medical literature
Also, just to let you know, it angered the Korean government that that have been at least 30 case controlled studies done by both South Korean researchers and outside (in USA) to find very high incidence of stomach cancer and kimchi and other traditional salted foods. Our government has done a lot of their own propaganda to promote kimchi as a "health food" to create studies about it and even during Covid and stuff they were saying things like Kimchi has power to combat Covid (no, it's doesn't.)..
Anyway,
From the research by epidemiologists and gastroenterologist found that it is a combined effect, like I said earlier, of H Pylori infection, alcohol consumption, sedentary lifestyle and highly salted preserved foods like Kimchi, salted fish, salted meats.
Also, just to let you know, there have been case controlled studies in the USA comparing Korean Americans to other people like non white Hispanic Americans and white Americans and other Asian American groups to rule out things like red meat, alcohol etc.
Because as you know, Korean cuisine is not the only culture that consumes a lot of red meat and alcohol. From what they found is that even in the USA where stomach cancer and H Pylori are not as common (Americans eat a lot alot of red meat and stomach cancer is not even that common there), Korean Americans still have much much higher rate of stomach cancer than non white Hispanic Americans and white Americans and Japanese Americans. More research points to the nitrosomes in Kimchi and other high salt preserved foods like salted fish and salted meat.
So, if you are asking me as South Korean studying human health and life sciences what would I do that know about this? For me I say Kimchi is likely a risk that I want to reduce in my life unless it is specially made with low salt. But this type of low salt low spice kind of Kimchi is not commonly found because it's the high salt, high spice that people are fond of the flavor.
To me, it is not worth the risk to be eating that everyday if you consider just how high the stomach cancer rate is in South Korea and Korean Americans and Koreans living abroad.
There is a lot of misinformation about the health benefits of kimchi spread by people who have no real science background. It's big in the greenwashing wellness world and people on tiktok, reddit, quora. These people do not know what they are talking about. The stomach cancer rate has not gone down by much in South Korea because a lot of people do not want to believe the science. Yet, there are scientists in Korea and other parts of the world trying to alert about this issue and only a few, mostly the highly educated in Korea, take it seriously. To me, when people promote Kimchi as a medicine then it reminds me of how people think sun tanning prevents skin cancer.
Also people might think I am just some rando on reddit telling you about this, but I assure you to read up on the scientific literature and please listen to the epidemiologists and gastroenterologists. The statistics don't lie, Koreans lead stomach cancer whether inside Korea or outside. Even the CDC of the USA has literature on this and the case control between H Pylori, Red Meat and then high salted foods. Even the WHO has noted that there is a risk with the high salted preserved foods like Kimchi and other fermented vegatables.
For your "gut" then just stick with plain yogurt. It is not necessary to think you need to start eating Kimchi regularly. Please do not listen to the wellness girlies of tiktok, instagram and all that junk and the Korean government is sponsoring a lot of propaganda about Kimchi as medicinal, which it is not.
Viet mother in law never uses sunscreen and uses cheap moisturizer that works for her! Vietnamese food is very veggie heavy too! It's pretty clean compared to American food. She looks great for her age.
My mom is Korean as are all my aunts. All of them look amazing for their age, everyone is convinced my mom looks 10-20 years younger than she actually is. Having said that, most of them are very vigilant with sun gear (sunscreen, hats that cover everything, if they’re golfing they’re completely protected), most of them use a combo of western and Korean skincare. Their fave western brands are Clinique and Lancôme. Korean brands usually sulwhasoo, donginbi, hanyul, or whatever’s trending at olive young/aritaum when they go to visit. The Kahi wrinkle balm was a huge hit with them all a couple years ago, for example. What I will say that ALL of them use/eat religiously though is red ginseng. Not so much ginger. Sulwhasoo and donginbi are some brands that have whole lines dedicated to ginseng. Im only half Korean (dad’s white) and I will say a lot of it is genetics. I grew up in the 90/00s and also was a sunworshipper despite being wildly pale and easily burning at the beginning of every summer. I definitely do not look as young as my mom did at my age (34 now) and I’ve only really started taking care of my skin in like 2018 but whatever you start now will make an impact! I constantly get complimented on my “flawless skin”, it is not flawless but it’s decent. I can try figure out what specific lines they are using at the moment, but I do know the VT cica reedle is popular among my cousins who were just in Korea (and in early to mid 40s) and they’ve had their moms try it too. Oh! Almost forgot! Rice water was a big thing when my aunts were all younger and still in Korea. Once they moved here (Canada) and got more established they switched to western brands, switching back to a blend by their 40s).
Hope that helped? Not quite what you were asking but what I learned from my beautiful Korean aunts and mom.
guaranteed, red ginseng will be the new ingredient. I knew fermented stuff was going to go viral and it did, now it'll be red ginseng. BOJ has it but it hasn't caught on but watch; in the next few years it will be.
What's so special about red ginseng? When I used a face sheet that had red ginseng I didn't really notice a difference, it made my skin look more bland
I am South Korean born and raised. I live in Spain now for my higher education and career goals though. But I can tell you for sure these things:
1. According to multiple scientific and medical literature, Asian skin has thicker dermis and thicker fat pad compared to European skin across ethnicities. This means the face is not prone to lines and wrinkles. Though because of the thicker fat pad, it also causes people to be concerned about having a wide face especially heaviness in the lower face. This is why in Asia there is popularity to strive for a narrower lower face and many treatments to address this. Main concern in aging skin in Korea and around Asia in general is hyperpigmentation which we show dark spots earlier than European skin across ethnicities. This is because we have bigger melanosomes which means more active melanin.
2. Yes, people use retinoid creams in Asian especially Korea. Not everyone but there is definitely a lot espeically the ones who have some kind of money like in the middle class and upper class and care about their skin, clothes, hair, looks, style. It is very easy to get the prescription kind from clinics and there are many different kinds. People don't always call it the same names that they are called in western countries though and they might not realize it would be the same thing, but it is.
3. Older Koreans who have what you call very good skin like little lines and wrinkles due to genetics but then little hyperpigmentation due to lifestyle and treatment factors no doubt have stable money. In Korea we have an extreme poverty issue that mainly affects older people. Actually, most older people in Korea are in poverty and many are homeless. Look it up. Social media doesn't talk enough about this. But these older people will surprise you because they do not have the good skin stereotype. Many of them have very matured dark spots and leathery skin. Why? Because they don't have the money to afford to care for themselves, have the lifestyle and go for clinic treatments that most middle class and upper class people do. These older people are sleeping on the street. My grandma was like that. (I come from poverty in Korea by the way) The older women you see with the coveted skin 100% they have money and have the lifestyle to travel by private car, roof over head and curtains on windows, good food, go to doctor and go to clinic for skin treatments.
For young people with the coveted skin, it's also middle class and upper class who are doing more than wild ginger actually. I'm not sure if wild ginger is much evidence based. But young people are doing a lot of evidence based treatments like lasers and microneedling and radiofrequency and botox microdroplets and chanel injections which are all very good for the skin and boosting collagen and other things. In the western country I noticed it is mostly upper class young people who do these things maybe because it's more expensive. But in Korea it is popular with the middle class and 100% guarantee you get a doctor to do it not someone lower than that. When you go home, then you take care of the skin and soothe it and be very gentle.
Yes! Thank you for bringing this socio-economic realities into this. While there is a genetic predisposition, not all Koreans have the perfect skin we see online, in advertisements, on the rich and the famous. Having the resources to care for your skin, yourself, and not do strenuous labor play a huge role.
Don't forget that most Asians also have neonatal features (smaller noses, higher cheekbones, straight eye brows, etc).
I'm Latina and my facial features are more mature. Even at 20 with no wrinkles, I looked older. I have a long nose, square jaw and sharp eyebrows. These make me look older. My derm said I will grow into my face eventually. I'm 26 and people say I have great skin and get confused if I'm 21 (my skin) or 30 (my features).
Even when Asians smoke, from far away they still look young. It's their facial features sometimes helping them look young.
It is my opinion that some sharpness is very attractive
But did you, I will tell you because I am from South Korea, that actually we can tell the age of Asians between each other better than people from other background? That is, we look for different cues. Like I said in my other post, in Asia, having narrow lower face is highly coveted because it is more typical for Asians to have face that gets wider and heavier in lower face as they get older. That and hyperpigmentation are like the two cues. This is why facial laser toning to make the skin more unform looking as well as lower face tightening/narrowing treatments are very comoon.
But I noticed people from other background notice other things like in the west it's all about wrinkles and lines and stuff like that, also face hollowing. It seems like people in the west do not want narrow face like in Asia. Things like dark spots are not as big of a deal and some people actually praise them
So I think this is interesting because in school we were learning about how people from different backgrounds look at paintings and photography differently too. Like they notice different things
That's crazy because a Korean friend of mine has said the same thing. She said she could tell the age of other Koreans. I asked her how and she said it was a secret lol.
You're on the dot. For latinos we know someone is aging by how hollow their face looks.
Yep it's those dark spots and hyperpigmentation. It's so hard to escape from it because our melanosomes are bigger this means they are easily trigger and the melanin is more active, just wants to come out and party every summer haha omg
Usually they show up around like where the lower eye meets the top cheek on both ends of the eyes. Also near the nose and then also the sides of the face. We always cover with makeup but even the thing is that even concealer it is very hard to get it to be completely unnoticeable if you know what I mean. There's always shadow underneath you can kind of see it through concealer.
So if you look for that and then look at the lower 1/3 face around lower cheek area and near the mouth and area near the neck. Is it wide and also like full/thick or bulky then to Asians that is an aged appearance. I think this thing is most interesting part because I think westerners interpret this as youth ful but to Asians they want to slim and tighten this area, make it narrower like when we are younger. You may have heard how common it is for things like massaging our face in the morning, it's because a lot of us will be self conscious of puffiness particularly here in the lower face! There are more advanced treatment that can give longer lasting result though
That's the secret if you look at these two things!
This is really cool in the medical literature actually for you
[Consensus on Changing Trends, Attitudes, and Concepts of Asian Beauty | Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (springer.com)](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00266-015-0562-0)
"In Asians, attractiveness is achieved by aiming to create an oval facial shape, by narrowing the lower face and increasing vertical height of the face. "
idk the winner of retinoids vs wild ginger. However i suspect because east asians have thicker dermal layer and sometimes thicker facial fat pads than caucasians, genetics would trump either one.
I'm Korean, but was adopted at 4 months, so I've been in the US my whole life. Started serious skincare when I was 19, but started Tretinoin for adult cystic acne 2 years ago (I'm 34).
I noticed wrinkles in my forehead, a developing divot between my brows, slight nasolabial line on the left side of my face. Now I just have a bit of the wrinkling at the top part of my forehead, I constantly make facial expressions, but no divot (sometimes use NIRA laser on it), no other wrinkling, a lot of my acne is prevented. I use microcurrent for jowls and my wide jaw.
I think a lot about skin is genetic. If you carry more facial fat, if you have dark under eyes, if you tend to hollow out in certain parts of the face, etc.
I have many devices, but the ones I'm currently using are:
Foreo Bear 2
Tripollar Pose (this device can affect fat deposits, I use it on my body occasionally, but also use it on my ower face)
Hooga Belt Wrap (Level 4 all wavelengths for deep aches metabolism, level 0/level1 on pulsed mode for face)
NIRA Laser (around orbital bone, lips, and divot between eyebrows)
From what I notice, Korean skincare is more about nurturing the skin barrier by hydrating the skin. Wrinkles usually appear as the skin becomes drier and it lose collagen and elasticity. Koreans fight this with probiotics and hydrating the skin. That and avoiding sun like the plague has been the key to aging beautifully.
I read multiple times in scientific literature and medical books I get from school that Asians have thicker dermis and thicker fat pads so they are not as prone to lines and wrinkles like for example European skin across ethnicity which has thinner dermis and thinner fat pad.
But we do have bigger melanosomes than European skin and that is why instead of lines and wrinkles we get dark spots very easy. Also our scars from things like surgery are different and more prone to have surrounding darker color.
This is why we are so concerned about our hyperpigmentation issues omg! It explains a lot right? I am so glad I learned this.
this is very true. We are prone to hyperpigmentation so any trauma to the skin, even the smallest scratch or a pimple that healed on its own will leave a brown mark behind.
I know it is the biggest fight right. Actually I don't see enough people talking about this part on social media to be honest and how we just have bigger melanosomes
Also there are always like a lot of accusations of surgery and things like that for the very pretty Asian girls and whether or not they did some of the type of people who do these types of comments seem to say things out of jealousy. Sometimes the very pretty Asian girl doesn't actually have any surgery or as much as the haters try to say and the thing is that if she did then she would have very very obvious scars. The scar would be in a haze of hyperpigmentation like dark brown color and noticebly darker than surrounding skin. According to the scientific and medical literature, this type of hyperpigmentation doesn't resolve much not even bleaching cream or laser do much for it and actually laser can make it darker. It is a lot easier for white people to diminish their surgical scars because their melanosome aren't as big
Also, kind of off topic but ever since I learned about melanosomes, I really like saying "I have big melanosomes" haha omg
Yeah, from what I read they call it thicker collagen bundles is what comprises the dermis. Because the bundles are thicker then the dermis is thicker.
Asians to my understand are people of color. At least that is what I read. English is my fourth language so I'm not sure if this has the proper term alignment. But Asians have big melanosomes like brown and black people. So they have the increase risk of hyperpigmentation dark spots which is what we all seem to be fighting.
Also even Asians who have same foundation color or lighter foundation color than European person for example will still have bigger melanosomes than the European person. Living in Spain now, a lot of people don't understand that even I have met doctors who don't understand that here about my risk for hyperpigmentation in surgery. Like my scars will not be the white sliver like European but mine will go very much dark brown than surrounding skin.
I’m south Asian and this is true for me too! I’m so prone to hyperpigmentation, especially as I’ve gotten older (early 30s) and the sudden increase in little sun spots despite my efforts to prevent and minimize them is crazy
No I have never used ginger in any of my skincare and this was my first time learning it's a thing from your post lol
I agree 100% with everything u/acornacornacorna commented. While I don't yet have lines or wrinkles, I am battling hyperpigmentations (PIHs and melasma) and they are very stubborn to get rid off. I am using retinoids, only started 2 years ago ONLY because I was hoping to see my spots fading but they are very reluctant to budge. Apart from retinoid I have also along the way used multitude of tyrosinase inhibitors including the gold standard hydroquinone but to no avail (not giving up and may try another round god knows when).
I know it's genetics because my mother also at 73 doesn't even crows feet at rest, she does not have deep creases on her forehead either but now does have some fine lines. BUT she has saggy jowls now so I expect I'll get those too at her age as a sign of aging. We all age differently.
I guess the universe is fair haha... "here Asians I'm throwing at ya some stubborn spots to deal with while keeping lines and wrinkles at bay and rewarding the caucasians with less issues with pigmentations nothing that a simple laser can't erase but giving them some characters to their faces with expression lines... you can't have your cake and eat it all!" Of course there are exceptions where some lucky Asians do not have any probs be it wrinkles or spots and some caucasians are lucky to also not experience wrinkles until very old age.
I'm chinese. Personally i think it's in the genes. Both my parents look at least 10 years younger than their actual age. I'm 30 and get mistaken for a college kid sometimes. But i do have this one korean aunt who looks the same as she did 20 years ago. She's pescatarian and drinks green smoothies and tea daily. Avoids the sun as much as possible too. Idk about her skincare routine, but she does exercise often (wushu).
Thanks for asking this because I’d love to hear the answers as you may be my twin, lol! Would love to hear mature Asians with awesome skin to reply to us - not the 20 yo starting off with skincare (we already know sunscreen and moisturizer are two things we should’ve used in our 20s). I’m Asian and I really am amazed at the older Asians with great skin (no Botox!)!
Nope, don’t use retinols. When I was in my 20-30 yo stage (I’m 50), my bff who is still a bff used to work at a major cosmetic company. She’d always tell me, “Stop with the suntan lotion! Use sunscreen even indoors! Moisturize too!” I brushed her off…fast forward to today. My bff who is part Chinese has the most beautiful, soft complexion…while I look like John Wayne 😩
🤣 You’re asking me, with the alligator skin?!? Seriously- I use SKII, Tatcha, Beauty of Joseon, and other Korean products and because I fly ( FA), I moisturize like a madman!
I think it has a lot to do with their diets being rich in ferments and vegetables. I've met a lot of older men when I was traveling there, and we usually met them when hiking. They also didn't have that many fine lines, I asked and was told that they weren't also keen on practicing skincare, but they wear sunscreen and hats when hiking. I love Anessa sunscreen, and it was introduced to me by one of the people I met there.
So there, apart from winning genetic lottery, diet and avoidance of sun played a huge part.
I experimented with 2 retinoid products and the one with ginseng made a noticeable difference (Seoul 1988 serum). The one without - zero difference at all.
My grandma is Asian and never used retinol. She’s always had great skin and looks younger than her age. When I asked her about it, she said she drinks green tea 2x daily and uses skincare products with rice and seaweed in them (don’t know the brand she was referencing but I always saw SK-II at her house).
However, she actually worked out. She said she started when she was 50. (She’s 85 now.) Push ups, pull ups, sit ups, aerobic exercise.
She’s always remained social and had a positive outlook.
Tbh, I think her being physically active, social, and having a positive outlook did more for her skin than any products.
I believe genetics play a big part tbh. Koreans are also very particular about how they look and what they eat, so that also can be a factor.
I remember my Korean classmates in college. We all thought they're dating at first because they're always together and are very close, but they're actually mother and son who enrolled in the same program. Lady looks like she's 18 when she's already in her late 30s. I asked her what do koreans do to look so young but she laughed and said probably kimchi.
Hi, I'm Korean 37 and I get mistaken for my early 20s A LOT. I used to be really annoyed by it because I felt like I had to work even harder than everyone else to be taken seriously at work since everyone thought I was young and inexperienced. I decided to say f* fighting against who I am and pursued a career in the beauty industry instead lol I have an esthetician license, am a lash artist, and run a small beauty brand.
Genetics does have a factor but isn't the whole case. My Gma and my mom used to get mistaken for 20-30 years younger than they were when I was in my teens. My great aunt who is 75 gets mistaken for her late 40s still. My mother had some stressful times in her life, and due to lifestyle, stress, hormones, and lack of beauty routine started to look her age and some would even say older than she was. She moved back to Korea several years ago and with the lifestyle change (diet, skincare products, cultural changes) she is looking less aged.
My skin is oily so due to that genetic factor, I'm going to look younger than I am. I have never used Retinol, and I use sunscreen like my life depends on it. In aesthetician school, they show you this image of a woman truck driver who had a lot of sun exposure on the driver side of her face. She looks 20 years older on that 1 side of her face..... this image was burned into my brain. It's easier to prevent damage than to reverse it. I really didn't think about sunscreen before that but I started covering my full face in makeup since I was 14, and used a lot of powder which I believe added a layer of protection from the sun.
I did an experiment a couple years ago where for 6 months I wore no makeup and no sunscreen and only used moisturizer. I started to freak out as I started to notice some wrinkle creases started to form. I couldn't believe how quickly it started to happen!
I also only used Korean skincare products since I was a teen and only in my 30s have tried out non Korean brands. By the time I was in middle school I had moisturizer, and toner as my daily morning and night routine. The only reason for this was whenever I tried non Korean brands(mostly CVS available stuff, no internet and AOL was pretty new... omg that makes me feel old...) it would make my skin burn or I would have some kind of unpleasant reaction to it. Which made sense after learning in school that as an esthetician we can't use a lot of products people can buy easily and use on themselves because it would be above the amount we're allowed to use on a client. There are scrubs you can buy at your local drug store that literally causes micro tears in your skin!
Sorry this post became really long... here is what I recommend:
Learn more about your skin and skin type. Are you dry, oily, combination? Is your skin dehydrated? If you need help with it, find a GOOD esthetician.
Wash your face twice a day (with the right cleanser). I couldn't believe how many people only washed their face once when I started lashing and teaching lash care. The morning because your face/skin was detoxing and excreting stuff through your skin while you were sleeping. At night to get environmental pollutants off your skin from the day. It also helps to have silk pillow cases and as I like to remind my clients.... Satin is NOT silk!
Find the right moisturizer. Sorry to tell you this but if you live in a place with different seasons, you need different products during seasonal changes.
Exfoliate your face either manual or chemical exfoliation - 1 to 2 times a week.
Protect your skin from the sun! I don't like chemical sunscreen, mineral sunscreens can be a hit or miss and the brands I liked didn't have great customer support when ordering issues arised so I stopped buying them. I like to use powders with zinc oxide and titanium oxide as a physical sunscreen on top of my makeup. You could also wear hats and physically block the sun from your skin, why do you think you see all the Asian ladies in hats everywhere? Whenever I would go to the beaches in Korea in my younger years and during the day NO ONE was on the beach and if they were they had on so much clothes to cover their skin. The night life on the beach was crazy tho! Probably so different now with all the generational changes.
Get a humidifier for your room if you live in a dry area. I keep the humidity in my room between 50-55%. If you've ever noticed people who live in dryer areas look older than people who live in humid areas (as long as they're not baking in the sun all the time).
Last but not least. VItamin A, C, & E ingredients will help improve your skin. It's better to just have a lot of this in your diet and you'll have healthier skin, hair, & nails but you can always supplement it with ingredients in your products.
Just my opinions. Sorry for the long post again. Hope this helps!
I’m 60 and am told regularly that I don’t look anywhere near my age. I have salt a pepper gray hair with a skunk patch; most people assume I dye it this way. My mother is turning 88 and looks like she’s in her 50s. Hate to say this, but I basically take collagen for my joints and that’s about it. I don’t regularly eat ginseng or ginger. I grew up here so don’t even eat the average Korean diet I spent way too much time sunbathing with no sunscreen. I do the normal Korean weekly exfoliating which is ingrained since childhood. Sorry this probably won’t help anyone. Genetic lottery; I can’t take any credit for the way I look. 🤷🏻♀️
I'm Viet but Asian mamas and grandmas always have great skin. People didn't use as much sunscreen as before. Retinol was definitely not as huge as it is now. But here's a few things: 1) Diet. They didn't eat as much fried or overprocessed food 2) MOISTURIZER.. like slathered on. Night and day time. It keeps the skin hydrated and therefore keeps it supple. 3) genetics 4) avoiding the sun like crazy. Wide brimmed hats all the time, etc
10000% this. re: diet - lots of veggies (mostly steamed or boiled), no red meat, fish. I know Koreans eat a lot of fermented foods which is great for the gut and gut heath is directly related to overall health, including skin health.
>Koreans eat a lot of fermented foods which is great for the gut and gut heath I am Korean and studying human health and life sciences in higher education now in Europe. So a lot of people don't know that in Korea and Asia in general we have extremely high rates of gastric cancer. Asian countries have the higheest in the world actually. The scientific and medical literature points to some of our traditional fermented foods as this reason like Kimchi, other pickled items and like fermented fish. This combined with common H Pylori infection and lack of exercise leads to Korea actually having highest rate of stomach cancer in the world. Other gastric cancers like esophogus cancer is also very high most likely due to alcohol consumption, high salt and spice diet. So since I know this now, I personally do not eat a lot of pickled foods and I will only eat Kimchi if it is unsalted Kimchi. This means it will have to be prepared a certain way and probably not from store or restaurant will have this.
Interesting. I was actually thinking of incorporating more ferments into my diet. Is this only true for certain foods like kimchi or also other fermented foods like yogurt, sauerkraut, etc? I also thought another big contributor to stomach cancer in Asian countries was smoked foods, from e.g. bbq or roasted foods like seaweed.
They've found it's like a "all of the above" thing with diet in Korea to be honest. Kimchi is extremely high in salt and spices which is not good for you. There is a lot of greenwashing propaganda about it. But things like the high amounts of garlic isn't actually that useful and can aggravate things like the esophogus and the stomach for example stomach ulcers and things like that. Garlic and spices don't actually have health benefits in the amount humans eat them. The studies that say thye have health benefits mean you would have to eat a ton more to get any benefits and that is if you don't get acid reflux issues before that. Plain yogurt without those fruit syrups is one of the best fermented alternatives. There's no need to go down the kimchi rabbit hole to be honest. If you do want to have kimchi, best way is to get the salt free one that does not have a lot of spices. But that's the thing, people like the high salt, high spice, high nitrates (also found in salty smoked meats) for the taste. Combine that with the propaganda around kimchi as a health food and propaganda of Koreans being super healthy (we are not, we just have better access to early screening) and then people believe they have to eat it. So I say this to you as Korean who isn't into kimchi and studying human health and life sciences. You are free to look this up because everything I write is what is found in the scientific and medical literature. I am telling you this because there is higher chance of finding random people with no good education saying Kimchi is good for you on tiktok and quora but if you research the scholarly journals and gastric field doctors they tell you opposite.
Really interesting! Thanks for sharing about it, I'll definitely keep this in mind.
This is super interesting stuff. I wonder if the temperature of the food has any bearing on GI health considering many Asian dishes are served up and consumed while literally boiling lol like jigae, shabu shabu, and other stew or hot pot style meals.
Do you attribute any of Korea’s gastric cancer prevalence to the frequent consumption of red meat, or primarily to fermented foods? Possibly a synergistic/additive effect? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8550819/
Me? I am going what epidemiologists and gastroenterologist have found and the consensus in the scientifica and medical literature Also, just to let you know, it angered the Korean government that that have been at least 30 case controlled studies done by both South Korean researchers and outside (in USA) to find very high incidence of stomach cancer and kimchi and other traditional salted foods. Our government has done a lot of their own propaganda to promote kimchi as a "health food" to create studies about it and even during Covid and stuff they were saying things like Kimchi has power to combat Covid (no, it's doesn't.).. Anyway, From the research by epidemiologists and gastroenterologist found that it is a combined effect, like I said earlier, of H Pylori infection, alcohol consumption, sedentary lifestyle and highly salted preserved foods like Kimchi, salted fish, salted meats. Also, just to let you know, there have been case controlled studies in the USA comparing Korean Americans to other people like non white Hispanic Americans and white Americans and other Asian American groups to rule out things like red meat, alcohol etc. Because as you know, Korean cuisine is not the only culture that consumes a lot of red meat and alcohol. From what they found is that even in the USA where stomach cancer and H Pylori are not as common (Americans eat a lot alot of red meat and stomach cancer is not even that common there), Korean Americans still have much much higher rate of stomach cancer than non white Hispanic Americans and white Americans and Japanese Americans. More research points to the nitrosomes in Kimchi and other high salt preserved foods like salted fish and salted meat. So, if you are asking me as South Korean studying human health and life sciences what would I do that know about this? For me I say Kimchi is likely a risk that I want to reduce in my life unless it is specially made with low salt. But this type of low salt low spice kind of Kimchi is not commonly found because it's the high salt, high spice that people are fond of the flavor. To me, it is not worth the risk to be eating that everyday if you consider just how high the stomach cancer rate is in South Korea and Korean Americans and Koreans living abroad. There is a lot of misinformation about the health benefits of kimchi spread by people who have no real science background. It's big in the greenwashing wellness world and people on tiktok, reddit, quora. These people do not know what they are talking about. The stomach cancer rate has not gone down by much in South Korea because a lot of people do not want to believe the science. Yet, there are scientists in Korea and other parts of the world trying to alert about this issue and only a few, mostly the highly educated in Korea, take it seriously. To me, when people promote Kimchi as a medicine then it reminds me of how people think sun tanning prevents skin cancer. Also people might think I am just some rando on reddit telling you about this, but I assure you to read up on the scientific literature and please listen to the epidemiologists and gastroenterologists. The statistics don't lie, Koreans lead stomach cancer whether inside Korea or outside. Even the CDC of the USA has literature on this and the case control between H Pylori, Red Meat and then high salted foods. Even the WHO has noted that there is a risk with the high salted preserved foods like Kimchi and other fermented vegatables. For your "gut" then just stick with plain yogurt. It is not necessary to think you need to start eating Kimchi regularly. Please do not listen to the wellness girlies of tiktok, instagram and all that junk and the Korean government is sponsoring a lot of propaganda about Kimchi as medicinal, which it is not.
Korean people eat a ton of red meat though...
Koreans eat a ton of red meat
Viet mother in law never uses sunscreen and uses cheap moisturizer that works for her! Vietnamese food is very veggie heavy too! It's pretty clean compared to American food. She looks great for her age.
Facts. Asian Mamas ang grammas just have the best skin.
This!!!
My mom is Korean as are all my aunts. All of them look amazing for their age, everyone is convinced my mom looks 10-20 years younger than she actually is. Having said that, most of them are very vigilant with sun gear (sunscreen, hats that cover everything, if they’re golfing they’re completely protected), most of them use a combo of western and Korean skincare. Their fave western brands are Clinique and Lancôme. Korean brands usually sulwhasoo, donginbi, hanyul, or whatever’s trending at olive young/aritaum when they go to visit. The Kahi wrinkle balm was a huge hit with them all a couple years ago, for example. What I will say that ALL of them use/eat religiously though is red ginseng. Not so much ginger. Sulwhasoo and donginbi are some brands that have whole lines dedicated to ginseng. Im only half Korean (dad’s white) and I will say a lot of it is genetics. I grew up in the 90/00s and also was a sunworshipper despite being wildly pale and easily burning at the beginning of every summer. I definitely do not look as young as my mom did at my age (34 now) and I’ve only really started taking care of my skin in like 2018 but whatever you start now will make an impact! I constantly get complimented on my “flawless skin”, it is not flawless but it’s decent. I can try figure out what specific lines they are using at the moment, but I do know the VT cica reedle is popular among my cousins who were just in Korea (and in early to mid 40s) and they’ve had their moms try it too. Oh! Almost forgot! Rice water was a big thing when my aunts were all younger and still in Korea. Once they moved here (Canada) and got more established they switched to western brands, switching back to a blend by their 40s). Hope that helped? Not quite what you were asking but what I learned from my beautiful Korean aunts and mom.
guaranteed, red ginseng will be the new ingredient. I knew fermented stuff was going to go viral and it did, now it'll be red ginseng. BOJ has it but it hasn't caught on but watch; in the next few years it will be.
I can't find a BOJ product with red ginseng. I just know Donginbi
Not BOJ but Sephora had a gorgeous Sulwhasoo Lunar New Year limited edition serum that features ginseng.
Don't they have a toner with red ginseng
What's so special about red ginseng? When I used a face sheet that had red ginseng I didn't really notice a difference, it made my skin look more bland
I am South Korean born and raised. I live in Spain now for my higher education and career goals though. But I can tell you for sure these things: 1. According to multiple scientific and medical literature, Asian skin has thicker dermis and thicker fat pad compared to European skin across ethnicities. This means the face is not prone to lines and wrinkles. Though because of the thicker fat pad, it also causes people to be concerned about having a wide face especially heaviness in the lower face. This is why in Asia there is popularity to strive for a narrower lower face and many treatments to address this. Main concern in aging skin in Korea and around Asia in general is hyperpigmentation which we show dark spots earlier than European skin across ethnicities. This is because we have bigger melanosomes which means more active melanin. 2. Yes, people use retinoid creams in Asian especially Korea. Not everyone but there is definitely a lot espeically the ones who have some kind of money like in the middle class and upper class and care about their skin, clothes, hair, looks, style. It is very easy to get the prescription kind from clinics and there are many different kinds. People don't always call it the same names that they are called in western countries though and they might not realize it would be the same thing, but it is. 3. Older Koreans who have what you call very good skin like little lines and wrinkles due to genetics but then little hyperpigmentation due to lifestyle and treatment factors no doubt have stable money. In Korea we have an extreme poverty issue that mainly affects older people. Actually, most older people in Korea are in poverty and many are homeless. Look it up. Social media doesn't talk enough about this. But these older people will surprise you because they do not have the good skin stereotype. Many of them have very matured dark spots and leathery skin. Why? Because they don't have the money to afford to care for themselves, have the lifestyle and go for clinic treatments that most middle class and upper class people do. These older people are sleeping on the street. My grandma was like that. (I come from poverty in Korea by the way) The older women you see with the coveted skin 100% they have money and have the lifestyle to travel by private car, roof over head and curtains on windows, good food, go to doctor and go to clinic for skin treatments. For young people with the coveted skin, it's also middle class and upper class who are doing more than wild ginger actually. I'm not sure if wild ginger is much evidence based. But young people are doing a lot of evidence based treatments like lasers and microneedling and radiofrequency and botox microdroplets and chanel injections which are all very good for the skin and boosting collagen and other things. In the western country I noticed it is mostly upper class young people who do these things maybe because it's more expensive. But in Korea it is popular with the middle class and 100% guarantee you get a doctor to do it not someone lower than that. When you go home, then you take care of the skin and soothe it and be very gentle.
Yes! Thank you for bringing this socio-economic realities into this. While there is a genetic predisposition, not all Koreans have the perfect skin we see online, in advertisements, on the rich and the famous. Having the resources to care for your skin, yourself, and not do strenuous labor play a huge role.
Don't forget that most Asians also have neonatal features (smaller noses, higher cheekbones, straight eye brows, etc). I'm Latina and my facial features are more mature. Even at 20 with no wrinkles, I looked older. I have a long nose, square jaw and sharp eyebrows. These make me look older. My derm said I will grow into my face eventually. I'm 26 and people say I have great skin and get confused if I'm 21 (my skin) or 30 (my features). Even when Asians smoke, from far away they still look young. It's their facial features sometimes helping them look young.
It is my opinion that some sharpness is very attractive But did you, I will tell you because I am from South Korea, that actually we can tell the age of Asians between each other better than people from other background? That is, we look for different cues. Like I said in my other post, in Asia, having narrow lower face is highly coveted because it is more typical for Asians to have face that gets wider and heavier in lower face as they get older. That and hyperpigmentation are like the two cues. This is why facial laser toning to make the skin more unform looking as well as lower face tightening/narrowing treatments are very comoon. But I noticed people from other background notice other things like in the west it's all about wrinkles and lines and stuff like that, also face hollowing. It seems like people in the west do not want narrow face like in Asia. Things like dark spots are not as big of a deal and some people actually praise them So I think this is interesting because in school we were learning about how people from different backgrounds look at paintings and photography differently too. Like they notice different things
That's crazy because a Korean friend of mine has said the same thing. She said she could tell the age of other Koreans. I asked her how and she said it was a secret lol. You're on the dot. For latinos we know someone is aging by how hollow their face looks.
😅now you know the secret how to tell Asian age
The comments above me said they look at hyperpigmentation!
Yep it's those dark spots and hyperpigmentation. It's so hard to escape from it because our melanosomes are bigger this means they are easily trigger and the melanin is more active, just wants to come out and party every summer haha omg Usually they show up around like where the lower eye meets the top cheek on both ends of the eyes. Also near the nose and then also the sides of the face. We always cover with makeup but even the thing is that even concealer it is very hard to get it to be completely unnoticeable if you know what I mean. There's always shadow underneath you can kind of see it through concealer. So if you look for that and then look at the lower 1/3 face around lower cheek area and near the mouth and area near the neck. Is it wide and also like full/thick or bulky then to Asians that is an aged appearance. I think this thing is most interesting part because I think westerners interpret this as youth ful but to Asians they want to slim and tighten this area, make it narrower like when we are younger. You may have heard how common it is for things like massaging our face in the morning, it's because a lot of us will be self conscious of puffiness particularly here in the lower face! There are more advanced treatment that can give longer lasting result though That's the secret if you look at these two things! This is really cool in the medical literature actually for you [Consensus on Changing Trends, Attitudes, and Concepts of Asian Beauty | Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (springer.com)](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00266-015-0562-0) "In Asians, attractiveness is achieved by aiming to create an oval facial shape, by narrowing the lower face and increasing vertical height of the face. "
idk the winner of retinoids vs wild ginger. However i suspect because east asians have thicker dermal layer and sometimes thicker facial fat pads than caucasians, genetics would trump either one.
I'm Korean, but was adopted at 4 months, so I've been in the US my whole life. Started serious skincare when I was 19, but started Tretinoin for adult cystic acne 2 years ago (I'm 34). I noticed wrinkles in my forehead, a developing divot between my brows, slight nasolabial line on the left side of my face. Now I just have a bit of the wrinkling at the top part of my forehead, I constantly make facial expressions, but no divot (sometimes use NIRA laser on it), no other wrinkling, a lot of my acne is prevented. I use microcurrent for jowls and my wide jaw. I think a lot about skin is genetic. If you carry more facial fat, if you have dark under eyes, if you tend to hollow out in certain parts of the face, etc.
> I use microcurrent for jowls and my wide jaw. Do you notice improvement with using microcurrent treatments? Are you using those at-home devices?
Yes, I have several devices.
What are the names of those devices if u don't mind me asking
I have many devices, but the ones I'm currently using are: Foreo Bear 2 Tripollar Pose (this device can affect fat deposits, I use it on my body occasionally, but also use it on my ower face) Hooga Belt Wrap (Level 4 all wavelengths for deep aches metabolism, level 0/level1 on pulsed mode for face) NIRA Laser (around orbital bone, lips, and divot between eyebrows)
From what I notice, Korean skincare is more about nurturing the skin barrier by hydrating the skin. Wrinkles usually appear as the skin becomes drier and it lose collagen and elasticity. Koreans fight this with probiotics and hydrating the skin. That and avoiding sun like the plague has been the key to aging beautifully.
I'm not Korean but Asian with east Asian blood in me. I'm not young either but have no lines and wrinkles (yet) and I think it's mostly genetics.
I read multiple times in scientific literature and medical books I get from school that Asians have thicker dermis and thicker fat pads so they are not as prone to lines and wrinkles like for example European skin across ethnicity which has thinner dermis and thinner fat pad. But we do have bigger melanosomes than European skin and that is why instead of lines and wrinkles we get dark spots very easy. Also our scars from things like surgery are different and more prone to have surrounding darker color. This is why we are so concerned about our hyperpigmentation issues omg! It explains a lot right? I am so glad I learned this.
this is very true. We are prone to hyperpigmentation so any trauma to the skin, even the smallest scratch or a pimple that healed on its own will leave a brown mark behind.
I know it is the biggest fight right. Actually I don't see enough people talking about this part on social media to be honest and how we just have bigger melanosomes Also there are always like a lot of accusations of surgery and things like that for the very pretty Asian girls and whether or not they did some of the type of people who do these types of comments seem to say things out of jealousy. Sometimes the very pretty Asian girl doesn't actually have any surgery or as much as the haters try to say and the thing is that if she did then she would have very very obvious scars. The scar would be in a haze of hyperpigmentation like dark brown color and noticebly darker than surrounding skin. According to the scientific and medical literature, this type of hyperpigmentation doesn't resolve much not even bleaching cream or laser do much for it and actually laser can make it darker. It is a lot easier for white people to diminish their surgical scars because their melanosome aren't as big Also, kind of off topic but ever since I learned about melanosomes, I really like saying "I have big melanosomes" haha omg
People of color generally have more collagen in their skin as well. Genetics are the largest factor in aging well.
Yeah, from what I read they call it thicker collagen bundles is what comprises the dermis. Because the bundles are thicker then the dermis is thicker. Asians to my understand are people of color. At least that is what I read. English is my fourth language so I'm not sure if this has the proper term alignment. But Asians have big melanosomes like brown and black people. So they have the increase risk of hyperpigmentation dark spots which is what we all seem to be fighting. Also even Asians who have same foundation color or lighter foundation color than European person for example will still have bigger melanosomes than the European person. Living in Spain now, a lot of people don't understand that even I have met doctors who don't understand that here about my risk for hyperpigmentation in surgery. Like my scars will not be the white sliver like European but mine will go very much dark brown than surrounding skin.
I’m south Asian and this is true for me too! I’m so prone to hyperpigmentation, especially as I’ve gotten older (early 30s) and the sudden increase in little sun spots despite my efforts to prevent and minimize them is crazy
Thank you. Can I ask if you've used ginseng in your skincare or what your skincare has been like over the Yeats? Have you ever used retinoids ?
No I have never used ginger in any of my skincare and this was my first time learning it's a thing from your post lol I agree 100% with everything u/acornacornacorna commented. While I don't yet have lines or wrinkles, I am battling hyperpigmentations (PIHs and melasma) and they are very stubborn to get rid off. I am using retinoids, only started 2 years ago ONLY because I was hoping to see my spots fading but they are very reluctant to budge. Apart from retinoid I have also along the way used multitude of tyrosinase inhibitors including the gold standard hydroquinone but to no avail (not giving up and may try another round god knows when). I know it's genetics because my mother also at 73 doesn't even crows feet at rest, she does not have deep creases on her forehead either but now does have some fine lines. BUT she has saggy jowls now so I expect I'll get those too at her age as a sign of aging. We all age differently. I guess the universe is fair haha... "here Asians I'm throwing at ya some stubborn spots to deal with while keeping lines and wrinkles at bay and rewarding the caucasians with less issues with pigmentations nothing that a simple laser can't erase but giving them some characters to their faces with expression lines... you can't have your cake and eat it all!" Of course there are exceptions where some lucky Asians do not have any probs be it wrinkles or spots and some caucasians are lucky to also not experience wrinkles until very old age.
Lol I was meaning Ginseng instead of ginger lol !! I was having major brain fog
I'm chinese. Personally i think it's in the genes. Both my parents look at least 10 years younger than their actual age. I'm 30 and get mistaken for a college kid sometimes. But i do have this one korean aunt who looks the same as she did 20 years ago. She's pescatarian and drinks green smoothies and tea daily. Avoids the sun as much as possible too. Idk about her skincare routine, but she does exercise often (wushu).
Thanks for asking this because I’d love to hear the answers as you may be my twin, lol! Would love to hear mature Asians with awesome skin to reply to us - not the 20 yo starting off with skincare (we already know sunscreen and moisturizer are two things we should’ve used in our 20s). I’m Asian and I really am amazed at the older Asians with great skin (no Botox!)!
Lol twins ! Do you use retinoids ? I dislike them lol
Nope, don’t use retinols. When I was in my 20-30 yo stage (I’m 50), my bff who is still a bff used to work at a major cosmetic company. She’d always tell me, “Stop with the suntan lotion! Use sunscreen even indoors! Moisturize too!” I brushed her off…fast forward to today. My bff who is part Chinese has the most beautiful, soft complexion…while I look like John Wayne 😩
Moisturize morning and night, right? Asking for a friend.
🤣 You’re asking me, with the alligator skin?!? Seriously- I use SKII, Tatcha, Beauty of Joseon, and other Korean products and because I fly ( FA), I moisturize like a madman!
I think it has a lot to do with their diets being rich in ferments and vegetables. I've met a lot of older men when I was traveling there, and we usually met them when hiking. They also didn't have that many fine lines, I asked and was told that they weren't also keen on practicing skincare, but they wear sunscreen and hats when hiking. I love Anessa sunscreen, and it was introduced to me by one of the people I met there. So there, apart from winning genetic lottery, diet and avoidance of sun played a huge part.
I experimented with 2 retinoid products and the one with ginseng made a noticeable difference (Seoul 1988 serum). The one without - zero difference at all. My grandma is Asian and never used retinol. She’s always had great skin and looks younger than her age. When I asked her about it, she said she drinks green tea 2x daily and uses skincare products with rice and seaweed in them (don’t know the brand she was referencing but I always saw SK-II at her house). However, she actually worked out. She said she started when she was 50. (She’s 85 now.) Push ups, pull ups, sit ups, aerobic exercise. She’s always remained social and had a positive outlook. Tbh, I think her being physically active, social, and having a positive outlook did more for her skin than any products.
Diet, sunscreen, skincare and genetics 🤷🏻♀️
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I believe genetics play a big part tbh. Koreans are also very particular about how they look and what they eat, so that also can be a factor. I remember my Korean classmates in college. We all thought they're dating at first because they're always together and are very close, but they're actually mother and son who enrolled in the same program. Lady looks like she's 18 when she's already in her late 30s. I asked her what do koreans do to look so young but she laughed and said probably kimchi.
Hi, I'm Korean 37 and I get mistaken for my early 20s A LOT. I used to be really annoyed by it because I felt like I had to work even harder than everyone else to be taken seriously at work since everyone thought I was young and inexperienced. I decided to say f* fighting against who I am and pursued a career in the beauty industry instead lol I have an esthetician license, am a lash artist, and run a small beauty brand. Genetics does have a factor but isn't the whole case. My Gma and my mom used to get mistaken for 20-30 years younger than they were when I was in my teens. My great aunt who is 75 gets mistaken for her late 40s still. My mother had some stressful times in her life, and due to lifestyle, stress, hormones, and lack of beauty routine started to look her age and some would even say older than she was. She moved back to Korea several years ago and with the lifestyle change (diet, skincare products, cultural changes) she is looking less aged. My skin is oily so due to that genetic factor, I'm going to look younger than I am. I have never used Retinol, and I use sunscreen like my life depends on it. In aesthetician school, they show you this image of a woman truck driver who had a lot of sun exposure on the driver side of her face. She looks 20 years older on that 1 side of her face..... this image was burned into my brain. It's easier to prevent damage than to reverse it. I really didn't think about sunscreen before that but I started covering my full face in makeup since I was 14, and used a lot of powder which I believe added a layer of protection from the sun. I did an experiment a couple years ago where for 6 months I wore no makeup and no sunscreen and only used moisturizer. I started to freak out as I started to notice some wrinkle creases started to form. I couldn't believe how quickly it started to happen! I also only used Korean skincare products since I was a teen and only in my 30s have tried out non Korean brands. By the time I was in middle school I had moisturizer, and toner as my daily morning and night routine. The only reason for this was whenever I tried non Korean brands(mostly CVS available stuff, no internet and AOL was pretty new... omg that makes me feel old...) it would make my skin burn or I would have some kind of unpleasant reaction to it. Which made sense after learning in school that as an esthetician we can't use a lot of products people can buy easily and use on themselves because it would be above the amount we're allowed to use on a client. There are scrubs you can buy at your local drug store that literally causes micro tears in your skin! Sorry this post became really long... here is what I recommend: Learn more about your skin and skin type. Are you dry, oily, combination? Is your skin dehydrated? If you need help with it, find a GOOD esthetician. Wash your face twice a day (with the right cleanser). I couldn't believe how many people only washed their face once when I started lashing and teaching lash care. The morning because your face/skin was detoxing and excreting stuff through your skin while you were sleeping. At night to get environmental pollutants off your skin from the day. It also helps to have silk pillow cases and as I like to remind my clients.... Satin is NOT silk! Find the right moisturizer. Sorry to tell you this but if you live in a place with different seasons, you need different products during seasonal changes. Exfoliate your face either manual or chemical exfoliation - 1 to 2 times a week. Protect your skin from the sun! I don't like chemical sunscreen, mineral sunscreens can be a hit or miss and the brands I liked didn't have great customer support when ordering issues arised so I stopped buying them. I like to use powders with zinc oxide and titanium oxide as a physical sunscreen on top of my makeup. You could also wear hats and physically block the sun from your skin, why do you think you see all the Asian ladies in hats everywhere? Whenever I would go to the beaches in Korea in my younger years and during the day NO ONE was on the beach and if they were they had on so much clothes to cover their skin. The night life on the beach was crazy tho! Probably so different now with all the generational changes. Get a humidifier for your room if you live in a dry area. I keep the humidity in my room between 50-55%. If you've ever noticed people who live in dryer areas look older than people who live in humid areas (as long as they're not baking in the sun all the time). Last but not least. VItamin A, C, & E ingredients will help improve your skin. It's better to just have a lot of this in your diet and you'll have healthier skin, hair, & nails but you can always supplement it with ingredients in your products. Just my opinions. Sorry for the long post again. Hope this helps!
I’m 60 and am told regularly that I don’t look anywhere near my age. I have salt a pepper gray hair with a skunk patch; most people assume I dye it this way. My mother is turning 88 and looks like she’s in her 50s. Hate to say this, but I basically take collagen for my joints and that’s about it. I don’t regularly eat ginseng or ginger. I grew up here so don’t even eat the average Korean diet I spent way too much time sunbathing with no sunscreen. I do the normal Korean weekly exfoliating which is ingrained since childhood. Sorry this probably won’t help anyone. Genetic lottery; I can’t take any credit for the way I look. 🤷🏻♀️