Take Your Skin to the Next Level with This Guide to Korean Skin Care
This book feels like talking with a trusted friend, one so generous with practical advice and wisdom. I wish our Dermatology textbooks had chapters like these! Dr. Erin Tababa-Santos, creator of The Nerdy Derma
#1 New Release in Massage
Have you always longed for that fresh, glowing, no-makeup look? With this step-by-step guide to Korean skincare routines, anyone can attain healthy skin. But Skincare for Your Soul takes it one step further it guides you to a place where skincare is also self-care.
The Korean skin care journey. As much as wed like, glowing, clear skin doesnt happen overnight. But there is beauty in the process not just the results. Author Jude Chao links skincare to self-care culture, giving readers a practical guide to developing an ideal skincare routine and using it to help manage stress, anxiety, and depression. The Korean skincare routine invites us to look at our skincare not only as a way to reduce lines and wrinkles or clear up breakouts, but as a tool for developing our self-care habits.
Steady improvement is the goal. Photoshopped perfection is neither realistic nor a healthy goal. What matters is caring for our mental health and building our self-esteem by intentionally taking time each day to give our skin some love. But it starts with changing how we view skincare and developing a routine that fits our personal needs and goals, and Chao helps you do that.
Dive into Chaos book on K-beauty and discover:
- An easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide to skincare
- A clear breakdown of skincare products (not brands), and pros and cons to help customize your routine
- How Korean skin care can be a reliable and effective mental health management tool
- Tips for avoiding common types of exploitative and manipulative beauty marketing
If you enjoyed books like The Little Book of Skin Care, The Skincare Bible, or Glow from Within, youll love Skincare for Your Soul.
Skin Care for Your Soul teaches readers how to use skincare not only to clear up breakouts or smooth away wrinkles, but also to develop stronger self-care strategies and improve mental health.
Introduction
Skincare as self-care: Its not just skin-deep beauty
Chapter One
Figuring out what your skin needs
Skin types: Dry, normal, oily, combination
Skin conditions: Dehydrated, sensitive, UV damaged (and the causes)
On beauty standards and why "perfect" skin isn't the goal
Skincare as a healthy outlet vs skincare as an unhealthy compulsion: What to
watch out for; being mindful of thought patterns. Illustrate with personal
anecdote.
Chapter Two
Foundational skincare
Cleansing
Moisturizer
Sunscreen
On the mental health benefits of a basic daily routine, and tips to motivate
yourself to stick to it even during those times when just the act of washing
your face feels like way too much work--aka dragging yourself out of bed and
into the bathroom. Illustrate with personal anecdote.
Chapter Three
Tools to improve your skin issues
Korean skincare and Western skincare: Differences and similarities and
whether you need to worry about where your cosmetics come from
Introduction to different product types and what needs they serve
Toner
Essence
Serum/Ampoule
Sheet masks
Wash-off masks
Moisturizers
Sleeping packs
On the importance of spacing out new product additions and taking notes of
the effects of anything added to the routine
On taking things one step at a time. Don't fall victim to completist pressure
and think you have to have everything all at once; this is as true in life as
it is in skincare. Tips on being comfortable with slow and incremental
progress, and finding satisfaction in it. Talk about experiences with others
(with permission) who've put pressure on themselves to have a "complete"
routine and eventually learned to step away from the template.
Discussion of how the "10 step routine" is marketing.
Chapter Four
Ingredients to address specific skin issues
Actives
Hydrating ingredients/formulas
Moisturizing ingredients/formulas
Acne
Redness/sensitivity
Hyperpigmentation
Loss of elasticity and firmness
How to read an ingredients list
On the pleasures of learning and finding more resources to learn from: As you
develop ingredient awareness and learn to read and interpret an ingredients
list, remind yourself of what you're accomplishing and what you're enabling
yourself to accomplish. It's personal growth, and growth should be
celebrated. Illustrate with personal story.
Chapter Five
Special chapter discussing some of the most typical marketing tricks and
manipulative tactics to watch out for. The beauty industry is not always
beautiful inside. That doesn't mean that all the products are worthless, but
it does mean that the claims on the labels may be. Use examples for each
one.
Photo editing and manipulation in advertising
Fear-based marketing ("no chemicals" etc)
Implied claims and weasel words
Claims ingredients at suboptimal concentrations
Age- and gender-based marketing
Chapter Six
How to build your own skincare routine, one step at a time. Detailed and with
particular effects to look out for (and to avoid) by product type.
On progress pics, patience, and inevitable mishaps. Reminder: This isn't
about achieving "perfection"--it's about achieving progress.
How to recover from unfortunate encounters with unsuitable products, and how
to develop a resilient attitude and optimism in the face of breakouts or lack
of results. Personal anecdote. How to break anxiety spirals.
Chapter Seven
Consistency is key, and so are reasonable expectations
YMMV and why it's pointless to compare your own progress or your own results
to others
Unrealistic comparisons and how detrimental they are, both to skin progress
and general mental health
On learning to value your own journey and your own achievements, regardless
of how they match up to others. And on learning to find a community to
support you along the way. Illustrate with personal stories from myself and
others.
Chapter Eight
Conclusion: What we've learned along the way, where we're going, and what it
means for our skin and our mental health and our lives
Jude Chao has been known for tying skincare to self-care since the publication of her essay, "How My Elaborate Korean Skincare Routine Helps Me Fight Depression" on Fashionista.com in 2015. Since then, shes published steadily, both as a freelance beauty writer and on her blog, Fifty Shades of Snail. Shes also worked in beauty marketing and consulting for both Korean and American brands.
She has been featured in NYMag The Cut, called the reigning queen of skincare by NYMag The Strategist, and included in Ws list of the Korean beauty experts you should follow on Instagram. She remains active in online beauty communities, with a large network of like-minded followers and fellow content creators.
