I’ve reached that glorious age where I still suffer from breakouts, but I can also pull the skin up at my temples, look in the mirror and wonder how many pennies I’d have to save to afford a face lift. (Just kidding! Kind of! Not really!) For some reason, I had fabulous skin when I was a teenager and it was when I reached my mid-20s that I started to be plagued by hormonal breakouts.
To say I’ve tried everything to combat my skin woes would not be an understatement. After many years of prescriptions, drugstore products, high-end skincare lines and everything in between, I gave up and started a simple routine of washing my face with manuka honey in the morning and coconut oil at night.
This worked better than the eleventy-billion products I used to employ, but things weren’t quite right. I had dark circles under my eyes, I still had occasional breakouts, and my skin always seemed to be both dry and oily at the same time. My esthetician recommended a pricey moisturizer and even using that twice a day didn’t tame the dryness and irritation. But I just sort of felt like, welp, I guess this is the way things are! This is my skin!
And then I started hearing about Korean skincare and, specifically, the 10-step skincare routine. All those steps seemed completely ridic, especially after paring my routine down to honey, coconut oil and moisturizer. But I was intrigued and I decided to give it a try. Here’s a rundown of how it works:
Steps 1 & 2: Double Cleansing
First, I remove my eye makeup. Then I cleanse with an oil-based cleanser, followed with a water-based cleanser. I promise you, this is so worth it—I think the oil-based cleanser is my favorite part of the routine. Double-cleansing makes sure every last bit of makeup and dirt is removed. (In the morning, you can use the water-based cleanser alone.)
Try these:
Aromatica Natural Coconut Cleansing Oil
Neogen Green Tea Real Fresh Foam
Step 3: Exfoliate
This step is only done 2-3 times a week, depending on your skin’s needs. I’ve found that as I got into the groove of my new routine, I needed to exfoliate much less.
Try this:
Skinfood Black Sugar Strawberry Wash Off Mask
Step 4: Toner
I always thought of toner as a way to get those last few traces of makeup off of my face, but Korean toners are meant to balance the skin’s pH before proceeding with the rest of your routine.
Try this:
Step 5: Essence
This step is the one that was completely new to me. Essence?! The theory behind it is that by hydrating the skin with an essence, it can better absorb treatments in the next step.
Try this:
Step 6: Treatments
And here’s where you attack all those skin problems! There are treatments for just about every skin issue you could possibly have and you can mix and match them to get the best results. I use one treatment to tackle enlarged pores and another to tame irritation.
Try these:
Skin Inc. Encapsulated Licorice Serum
Be the Skin Botanical Pore Serum
Step 7: Eye Cream
Under my eyes is the first place where I started to see signs of aging—and signs of sleep deprivation thanks to the ever-present dark circles. I’ve tried so many eye creams before and the one below is the only one that’s actually given me results. Miracles are possible, y’all.
Try this:
Cremorlab Shadow Off Eye Cream
Step 8: Moisturizer
Now it’s time to seal all that good stuff in! Pre-Korean skincare, I always felt like my moisturizer would have my face feeling hydrated for an hour or so after applying it, and then it would be back to dryness and that tight, itchy feeling. My Korean moisturizer works and for the first time, I have skin that’s actually dewy, not dull and dried out or oily and shiny.
Try this:
Aromatica Calendula Juicy Cream
Step 9: Sun Protection
Slather on that SPF! An important part of the Korean skincare routine is protecting your skin from sun damage. It’s so much easier to keep that damage from happening in the first place than having to fix it later, right? (Obviously, you can skip this at night!)
Try this:
Aromatica Calendula Non-Nano UV Protection
Step 10: Masks & Sleep Packs
Like exfoliation, this is only done on an as-needed basis. I do sheet masks once or twice a week, but with cold weather here, I’ve started using a sleep pack nightly. It’s basically a very thick moisturizer that’s applied before bedtime.
Try these:
Erborian Bamboo Waterlock Mask
Manefit Cucumber Soothing + Moisturizing Sheet Mask
That’s a lot of work! Is it really worth it?
YES! My skin was better than it had been on my stripped down honey/coconut oil routine, but switching to the more complicated 10-step Korean skincare routine made it even better. The fine lines on my forehead and under my eyes faded, along with my dark circles; breakouts were fewer and the ones I did get cleared up quickly; I didn’t have dry, flaking skin on my cheeks, jawline and nose anymore. I even found that some of my acne scars were less visible—I don’t think this is permanent, but I attribute this to having plumper skin thanks to the hydrating essence and moisturizer.
And let me just add: it’s really not as labor-intensive as it seems. I think it’s added maybe 10 minutes to my bedtime routine and 5 minutes, if that, in the morning. I’ve found myself actually looking forward to it every evening—it’s one of the rare moments of me-time I get in the day.
But how was it life-changing?
After I had my daughter, I had trouble justifying putting time, money and effort into myself and I kind of fell into a slump. My clothes didn’t fit right anymore, I rarely had time to do my makeup or even dry my hair in the morning and I totally became the mom-in-yoga-pants stereotype. I just didn’t feel good about myself. Changing up my skincare routine was the catalyst for other changes—I bought new clothes for myself, I started waking up a little earlier so I’d have time to get ready in the morning, and I started eating better.
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Could you do a post of DIY skincare recipes that can be adapted to this instead of store bought products? It’s probably even possible to DIY sheet masks if you, say, cut eye holes in a piece of linen and soak it in a homemade serum.
I tried this 10 step thing a few years ago using supposedly “all natural” Korean products ordered online, and my skin actually got worse because of the chemical soup I was unknowingly putting on my face. Korean skincare products are a big fat BUYER BEWARE, and I would advise anyone with chemical sensitivities to steer clear.
Hi Kiersten! Just came across your post after trying a sheet mask for the first time (it worked like a dream!! I could see results immediately). I don’t wear makeup most days, so is water/ oil cleansing still necessary? thanks!
This was a really helpful post. I’m going to try to incorporate all of this into my skin regimen.
Wow 10 steps seems a lot but I’ve heard so much about Korean Skincare and how good it is!
so glad to see more k-beauty out in the world! two things:
1. i think it’s important to note that exfoliating in korean skincare is much different than in the western world. yes, there are scrubs like you mention, but much more widely used are chemical exfoliators as they can be less abrasive to your skin.
2. might be good to mention that sheet masks are used after your treatments and before your moisturizer :)
While you are correct, the sheet mask can be applied at the end to strengthen the affect of the other steps. Along with locking in moisture and creating a barrier.
It’s true, the 10-step routine really works. But having to do this daily and maintain a substantial number of products on my bathroom shelf was the thing that made me reconsider getting back to my old rouitne with an added mask/treatment here and there. :)
I think this list is great but this routine seems a bit complicated.
It takes getting used to it at first but when you see the end results. It’s really worth it! :)
I’m a teen, and for a few glorious years I had beautiful skin. I was that girl who never had a pimple, acne scar, blackhead, freckle, etc. Then something happened and I didn’t get “acne” so to speak but I got dry, itchy, red, inflamed, pimply, peeling skin. Literally I peeled my skin off every day with a tweezer. It would last for like 2 weeks, go away (but only with Vaseline) and then come back. This went on and off for some time and eventually I heard of the benefits of going gluten and sugar free from a few people.
I don’t think going sugar-free helped me because I had given up sugar for Lent and still had terrible skin, but OH ME GOODNESS did going gluten-free help. I have had eczema my entire life and I would get disgusting red bloody peeling patches on the inner crooks of my elbows, the back of my knees, and the back of my thighs. Once I went gluten-free, bam. My facial skin cleared up and became soooo soft, and my life-long eczema finally went away and some of the scars have even faded, which is a big accomplishment for me. I was always so self-conscious with the huge scarred patches on my legs, so I’m so glad going gluten-free helped with that.
I’m thinking that might be one of the contributing factors to your better skin (you said you started eating better). Not saying that the Korean routine didn’t help (because tbh, Koreans have great skin) but the eating better might have helped a lot as well. It’s amazing what changing your diet for such a short time like I did (really, I think it was less than a month) can do for your body.
I actually tried going dairy- and gluten-free to clear up my skin and eczema and it didn’t help. :( I think a lot of the issues I was having before were due to the harsh ingredients in so many American acne products–when I quit using those, my skin got better, but when I started the 10-step routine, it improved even more.
That sounds like so many steps! I can see how they all fit in though. I’ve experimented with oil cleansing in the past and I was surprised by the result. When I was a teen I remember being told to not let oil near my face. Thankfully that kind of advice is going away.
Lol there’s even a 22-step Korean routine.
Oil cleansing is amaaaaazing, right? I was definitely hesitant at first, but it works so well.