Korean Beauty

In one of my classes, digital design studio, our lecturer was inducting students into photoshop and asked for us to bring a selfie into next class so that we can learn to make our selfies 'more beautiful'. This was a really weird concept for me. I think if a teacher said that to students in the UK there would viral videos and online petitions to get them sacked for triggering bad ideals of beauty. But here it's quite normal to assume there's 101 more ways to make yourself look better everyday. I've learnt that it's common for girls to get double-eyelid surgery for a graduation present, as it's a cheap and apparently fairly simple procedure. Photos will rarely be taken without a person posing in them, making photo opportunities more about proving you've been there rather than the scene in front of them. It's common for men to wear makeup here, with male K-Pop singers often modelling different makeup brands in billboards in subway stations.

It's the only thing about Korea that makes me feel slightly uncomfortable and like a weird foreigner. I'm used to being able to wear trackies around to the corner shop with hair in a bun that I've slept in for two nights, here that is not frowned up but you would feel uncomfortable doing so. Self-image is huge here and I think linked to their romantisced view of relationships.

Weirdly, I don't feel like this aspect of Korean culture has a negative effect. Korean beauty ideals seem to be very inclusive, and it's quite fun to be a weird foreigner.

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