Viral discourse around skin bleaching has ensued on TikTok. Consumers have been discussing everything from promoting hydroquinone in facials to bleaching creams turning the skin yellow. Black women are even documenting their skin bleaching regrets and reversal back to their natural skin tone.
Meanwhile, others blame colorism and the rise of Korean skincare— a market banking on terms like “brightening” and “lightening” to sell serums and toners—for unintentionally lighter skin. This has resulted in consumers questioning if the products are meant for deeper skin tones at all.
Below, cosmetic chemist and founder of BeautyStat Ron Robinson explains what “lightening” and “brightening” means in Korean skincare, how it differs from skin whitening, and if Black women should be concerned.
What is Korean Skincare?
Korean skincare, one of the most popular categories of K-Beauty, is rooted in traditional Korean beauty practices. Dating back to the Silla Dynasty, the ideology that outer beauty influenced the inner self was promoted through ingredients, like mung bean powder, for cleansing and plant extracts for lotions and oils. For example, apricot and peach oils were used for fading pigmentation, while vitamin E-rich safflower oil worked on hydration.
Unlike Western skincare, which promotes harsh, skin-stripping ingredients, Korean skincare products look at hydration as the solution to almost every skin concern. In the 1990s and 2000s, the rise of Korean entertainment coined the “Hallyu Wave” boosted the popularity of Korean skincare routines, with BB creams first emerging in the West around 2011. Now, Korean skincare is known for 10-step routines and unusual, yet viral products, like COSRX snail mucin and salmon sperm injections.
One beauty writer at Dazed claimed the sperm helped heal her hyperpigmentation and uneven skin tone, which are concerns disproportionately affecting Black women. “These Polynucleotide injections definitely exceeded my expectations,” writer Sheilla Mamona reported. “If the results are this effective now, I can only imagine what it would be like if I keep up the maintenance.”
Why are Korean Skincare products popular?
Although treatments like salmon sperm injections and no-needle microneedling may be too expensive for regular upkeep, especially during a looming recession, achieving Korean glass skin is ironically easily affordable. While the most popular Korean skincare products in the US may not be the same in South Korea, you can buy brands like Medicube, COSRX, and Beauty Of Joseon for under $20 dollars.
Because of their popularity among the Black community, beauty brands like TIRTIR went viral for expanding to a 40-shade foundation line, getting deeper shades right the first time, which many US brands failed to do.
“It’s also important to note that K-beauty brands have very popular sunscreens (sunscreens that are not available here in the US) that have lightweight, fast-absorbing, non-chalky formulas that many consumers love to use,” cosmetic chemist and founder of BeautyStat Ron Robinson tells ESSENCE. “This might help their skin from tanning when exposed to UV and prevent any dark spots from getting darker.”
What do the terms “brightening” and “lightening” really mean?
Despite their advances in the West, colorism in homogeneous South Korea is still an issue. Korean skincare is formulated by and for Korean skin, similar to how Western skincare is often tested on lighter complexions only, hence the rise of melanin-focused, A-beauty brands, like S’Able Labs. Because of this, terms like “brightening” and “lightening” are often interchanged with “whitening”, calling into question whether these products are meant to erase deeper skin tones.
“‘Lightening’ and ‘brightening’ primarily refer to products that help even skin tone and smooth out the texture so that skin is left with a healthy glow,” Robinson says, often marketed through gentle cleansers and exfoliators, hydrating serums and moisturizers, and daily sunscreen application. “However, some people interpret [these terms] to mean the products will strip the skin of all of its melanin, which is not the case.”
Does Korean Skincare use bleaching agents?
“Korean skincare has popularized ingredients such as snail mucin, centella asiatica, heartleaf, green tea, rice water as well as niacinamide and polydeoxyribonucleotide, a DNA extracted from salmon and used in salmon sperm facials,” he tells ESSENCE. While other ingredients, like vitamin C and licorice extract, can even the skin tone and fade hyperpigmentation, “none that I have seen are using ingredients that would bleach the skin.”
Does colorism affect how Korean Skincare is formulated?
With K-Beauty growing their market in the US, Robinson says Korean formulas, which are often full of gentle, hydrating ingredients used to brighten the complexion, are not notably impacted by colorism. “Fortunately, more and more brands are thinking about inclusivity in the early product development stages to make sure that their products serve a diverse audience,” he says. With pigmentation, chemical exfoliation, and skin barrier repair the cornerstone of Korean skincare, it is proven to be safe for darker skin tones.
Should Black Women avoid Korean Skincare?
“Consumers with darker skin tones should look for products that are clinically tested for safety as well as consumer or clinical testing results on darker skin tones,” Robinson says. However, he recommends Black women avoid over-the-counter products containing ingredients like mercury, which is often found in skin bleaching products, as it is both illegal and potentially dangerous.