South Korean men are starting to place more emphasis on their physical appearance, by spending more and more on beauty-care products. This traditional conservative society is at odds with what to make of these new "flower boys", as they’re colloquially called.
Cho Won-hyuk stands in front of his bedroom mirror and spreads dollops of yellow-brown makeup over his forehead, his nose, his chin and cheeks, blending the cream until he’s left with smooth, flawless skin. After that he goes to work with a black pencil, highlighting his eyebrows until they’re thicker, bolder.
Cho Won-hyuk, college student, said, "I feel more confident after putting makeup on. When I put makeup on, it actually gets rid of my complex of having facial flushing. And I can focus more on what I do. At first, I think a few people started using makeup, and as we have such a small society, it soon became a trend."
Cho’s meticulous attention to skincare is not unusual here. He and millions of other men have enthusiastically joined South Korean women in a quest for the "perfect face" that advertisers suggest is the key to success in this highly competitive society.
Cho Won-hyuk said, "If it stays within some boundary, putting makeup on is not something to be criticized. Practically, I think it is okay to put makeup on as it makes a good, clean image."
South Korean men spent USD $495.5 million on skin care last year, accounting for nearly 21 percent of global sales, according to a international market research firm. That makes it the largest market for men’s skin care in the world, even though there are only about 19 million men in South Korea.
Amorepacific, South Korea’s biggest cosmetics company, expects the South Korean men’s market to be more than USD $885 million this year.
Jeong Ye-ji, marketing team staff, said, "We believe the cosmetics market for men will expand in the future. It has been expanding. Nowadays, many men are very interested in skin care, makeup and body care. We are also planning to expand our stores and diversify our products."
Part of the explanation for this trend is a massive push by cosmetic companies to use handsome, wildly popular male celebrities to market their products, often aiming their advertising at women as much as men.
As a result, South Korean men are barraged daily with messages suggesting that flawless skin is a crucial part of any plan to get ahead at work and in life. "Appearance is power" is a popular catchphrase.
But there are concerns within South Korea that a new generation of men is more interested in appearance than in ability.
Ph.D. Kim Ju-duck, assistant professor of Sookmyung Women’s University, said, "Recently, men have been considering their appearances as a higher priority than their own abilities, and this phenomenon led to their interest in plastic surgery or cosmetics. In the past, men received skin care products from their family or lovers, but these days, they tend to choose their own products. Therefore, the male cosmetics market is expanding and the interest in appearance is increasing. I think our society somehow became more focused on looks than one’s actual ability, and I believe this is the wrong way to go."
But with beautiful faces like this staring down on the streets of Seoul, it’s little wonder young South Korean men feel compelled to compete.