korean beauty guides

The 10 Step Korean Skin Care Routine Is Not Real (And Never Was)

Even if you’re new to Korean Beauty, chances are you probably heard of the “10 Step Korean Skin Care Routine” – an elaborate multi-step skin care routine that allegedly originated in South Korea.

In its original form, the routine consisted of: an oil-based cleanser, a water-based cleanser, an exfoliator, a toner, an essence, a face treatment, a sheet mask, an eye cream, a moisturiser and a sunscreen.

For many years, Western beauty retailers and magazines presented the 10 Step Korean Skin Care Routine as the secret behind the perfect skin of Korean celebrities, a mystic ritual that all Korean women, or at least most Korean women, followed twice a day every single day to get the perfect glass skin.

However, this couldn’t be further from the truth, as I’m going to break down in this article.

The article is also available as a video:

The “10 Step Korean Skin Care Routine” in Korean Media

There’s a stark contrast between the way the “10 Step Korean Skincare Routine” is presented in Western media outlets and the opinions of the Korean beauty press. While foreign media describes the lengthy routines as a daily practice all Korean women, or at least most of them, engage in, Korean beauty journalists share a different opinion.

Below is a telling excerpt from an article published by the professional beauty magazine Daily Cosmetic (뷰티경제) in 2014.

[source: Daily Cosmetic]

“Beauty news websites like Byrdie, Fashionista and Into The Gloss, reported: “Koreans follow a 10 step skin care routine. Some of these products do not exist in the US, and they should be applied following a specific order and in a specific way”. The “10 Steps” seems to derive from the fact the lines launched by Korean beauty brands usually consist of 6-10 consecutive products like skin, toner, ampoule, emulsion, essence, serum, lotion, cream, sleeping pack, and oil. Very few Koreans use all these products when they do their skin care routine, but it’s true that Koreans use many products compared to Westerners, many of whom have a skin care routine that consists of only one cream. Therefore, it seems American beauty media is taking the initiative to come up with new trends for the foreign market, like the “10 Step Skin Care Routine”, as a way to introduce Korean trends.”
Daily Cosmetic (뷰티경제), 2014. Translation: Odile Monod

In 2018, the Korean beauty magazine Beauty+ published a detailed article examining the cultural influence of the “10 Step Korean Skin Care Routine” outside of Korea. Additionally, the magazine raised significant questions regarding its long-term impact and legacy.

[source: Beauty+]

“[the problem with the 10 step skin care routine] is that it’s focused on recommending “Korean products” rather than picking products based on your personal skin condition. i.e. Step 1 is always a cleansing balm (why?). It’s a product with excellent cleansing power but it can cause more breakouts for oily skin types. There should be a proper guide on the real Korean skin care routine.”
Beauty+ Magazine, 2018. Translation: Odile Monod

Origins of the “10 Step Korean Skin Care Routine”

According to data from Google Trends, the term “10 Step Korean Skin Care Routine” began gaining popularity in 2014,

[source: Google Trends]

Although there are a few articles published before this date that mention the general concept of multi-step Korean skincare routines, the first appearance of the term “10 Step Korean Skincare” can be traced back to an article published on American beauty magazine Into The Gloss in April 2014. In the article K-Beauty expert Charlotte Cho introduces readers to some popular Korean skincare product categories that are not available in the US, while explaining how to layer these formulas and build a skincare routine.

[source: Into The Gloss]

Charlotte Cho is a Korean-American entrepreneur and co-founder of Soko Glam, an American website founded in 2012 with the mission of bringing Korean beauty products to a Western audience. Cho rose to international fame in 2015, when she published “The Little Book of Skin Care”, the first English-language book dedicated to Korean beauty.

In her book, Cho outlines how to create a skin care routine using 10 popular Korean products, which she refers to as the “10 Step Korean Skin Care Routine”. While she doesn’t explicitly state that Koreans strictly follow this elaborate routine, the book implicitly suggests that this is how Korean skin care is meant to be practiced. Shortly after the publication of “The Little Book of Skin Care”, Western media outlets picked up the story and created a mythology around the “10 Step Skincare Ritual that Koreans are obsessed with” and that’s why, in the mind of many foreigners, the “10 Step Korean Skincare Routine” is still considered synonymous with Korean beauty to this day.

[source: Birchbox]

[source: Soko Glam]

To be fair, Cho has always been very open about the fact that the “10 Step Korean Skin Care Routine” was something she came up with and in many interviews she candidly admits the “10 Step Skin Care Routine” was never an actual thing in Korea. However, it’s important to keep in mind that she’s still a business owner who sells 10 Step Korean skincare starter kits on her website, so even though she’s always been very transparent about the nature of this routine, it’s hard to imagine she was too pressed about dispelling the myth.

[source: Vox Magazine]

An Overview of Cosmetics Consumer Behaviour in South Korea

The Korean beauty industry is known for its fast-paced and constantly evolving nature, making it difficult to make broad generalisations about its dynamics. In order to debunk the myth surrounding the “10 Step Korean Skin Care Routine,” it’s crucial to examine what the Korean beauty industry looked like in 2015, when Charlotte Cho’s book popularised the practice.

According to a study conducted by the Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, this was the average number of cosmetic and personal care products used monthly by Koreans in 2015.

These numbers might seem really high at first glance, but one should keep in mind that the study takes into consideration both cosmetics (i.e. skincare, colour makeup etc.) and personal care products (i.e. shampoo, body wash etc).

Looking solely at skin care products, the average number of products used monthly by Koreans in 2015 was found to be 9.9 for women (7.1 skincare products + 2.8 cleansing products), and 4.8 for men (3.6 skincare products + 1.2 cleansing products). In addition, the Korean MFDS was also able to identify the most popular product categories used at least once a month by the majority of participants in the study.

[please note that the study groups “Essence” and “Serum” together because they’re widely considered equivalent products in South Korea]

Furthermore, the Korean MFDS analysed usage patterns of 72 types of cosmetics and personal care products and determined which ones were used most frequently by Koreans. The resulting data gives us a glimpse of how the average daily skincare routine of a Korean woman in 2015 might have looked like.

MORNING:
Skin Toner (+ Essence/Serum every other day) + Lotion + Moisturiser + Sunscreen + Sunscreen Spray (for reapplication during the day) (= total 5/6 skincare products).

EVENING:
Cleansing Foam + Skin Toner + Essence/Serum + Lotion + Eye Cream + Nourishing Cream (= total 5 skincare products + 1 cleansing product).

Average number of different types of skin products used in a day (morning + evening): 8 skincare products + 1 cleansing product.

Study based on data collected in a survey of 892 Korean women and 908 Korean men aged 15-59 in January 2015.
Source: Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, March 2015. (source 1, source 2)

The data shows that most Korean women do not actually follow lengthy skin care routines like the “10 Step Korean Skin Care Routine” myth suggests. It also provides interesting insights into the cleansing habits of Korean women in 2015. Despite the mythology surrounding “double cleansing” in the West, the majority of participants in the study reported using only one type of cleanser (cleansing foam) every day. Other types of cleansers, such as cleansing oil, cleansing balm, and micellar water, were used less frequently. This suggests that many Korean women do not double cleanse on a daily basis.

To provide a more accurate picture, here is the average number of skincare and cleansing products used by Koreans on a daily basis in the following years.

2016
Women: 5 skincare products + 1 cleansing product (survey of 892 Korean women aged 15-59 – Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, 2016)
Men: 3 skincare products + 1 cleansing product (survey of 908 Korean men aged 15-59 – Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, 2016)

2017
Women: 8 skincare products + 1 cleansing product (survey of 955 Korean women aged 15-59 – Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, 2017)
Men: 4 skincare products + 1 cleansing product (survey of 583 Korean men aged 15-59 – Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, 2017)

Studies for the following years were conducted by a private market research company and are based on the average weekly number of products (as opposed to daily).

2018
Women: 5 skincare products + 1.8 cleansing products (survey of 1500 Korean women aged 20-49, Opensurvey 2018)
Men 3.4 skincare products + 1 cleanser (survey of 500 Korean men aged 20-39, Opensurvey 2018)

2019
Women: 5 skincare products + 1.85 cleansing products (survey of 1500 Korean women aged 20-49, Opensurvey, 2019)
Men: 3.6 skincare products +1 cleansing product (survey of 500 Korean men aged 20-39, Opensurvey 2019)

2020
Women: 5.1 skincare products + 1.85 cleansing products (survey of 1500 Korean women aged 20-49 – Opensurvey 2020)
Men: 3.5 skincare products + 1 cleansing product (survey of 750 Korean men aged 20-39 – Opensurvey 2020).

2021
Women: 3 skincare products (survey of 1500 Korean women – Kantar Korea 2021)

2022
Women: 5 skincare products per day + 1 cleansing product (survey of 1500 Korean women aged 20-49, Open Survey 2022)

2023
Women: 6 skincare products per day (survey of 1000 Korean women aged 20-59, Open Survey 2023)

2024
Women: 6 skincare products per day (survey of 1000 Korean women aged 15-59, Open Survey 2024)

2025
Women: 4 skincare products per day, 3.72 in the morning and 4.05 in the evening (survey of 1000 Korean women aged 15-59, Open Survey 2025)

As shown by these numbers, in recent years the tendency in South Korea has been to minimise skincare steps to avoid potential irritation. The phenomenon is often referred to as “Skip-Care” of “Skincare Diet” by Korean news outlets.

A study conducted by market research company Kantar in 2021 surveyed 1500 Korean women and found that the majority (28%) use an average of 3 products in their morning skin care routine, while 23% of Korean women opt for just 2 products (please note that face cleansers were not included in the study).

[source: Kantar Korea]

Based on the evidence, it is clear that the so-called “10 Step Korean Skin Care Routine” was never a reality when the myth first gained popularity in the US back in 2015. In fact, it is even less of a reality now. Historically, Korean women did have a relatively elaborate skin care routines consisting of around 6-7 steps, but in recent years they have simplified their routines to just 2-3 daily steps.

Personal Considerations

Shortly after the first articles on the “10 Step Korean Skincare Routine” appeared in the US, some beauty editors saw the idea of this elaborate routine as an opportunity to create a story around the extravagant beauty rituals coming from Asia. Words like “unusual”, “eccentric” or “weird” immediately started to be associated with Korean Beauty practices. This othering attitude can be attributed to what Edward Said described as “Orientalism“.

“Orientalism can be discussed and analysed as the corporate institution of dealing with the Orient – dealing with it by making statements about it, authorising views of it, describing it, by teaching it, settling it, ruling over it; in short, Orientalism as a Western style of dominating restructuring and having the authority over the Orient.”
Edward W. Said

[source: Elle Magazine, 2017]

[source: Daily Mail, 2017]

One of the major issues I have with the popularisation of the “10 Step Korean Skin Care Routine” myth is that it is deeply dehumanising. While these articles may initially appear positive on the surface, the underlying message they send is that Asians like to engage in eccentric activities because they’re not as civilised as Westerners.

Likewise, the “10 Step Korean Skin Care Routine” myth portrays Koreans as shallow individuals with misplaced priorities, who are more than happy to dedicate several hours each day to skin care. In reality, Koreans are ordinary people like you and me, many of them face the challenges of being overworked or unemployed and they simply do not have the time, energy, or financial means to support such an extravagant lifestyle.

Additionally, I find the myth sends sends the wrong message to those who are new to skin care. It suggests that there is a one-size-fits-all routine that works for everyone, instead of encouraging beginners to understand and address their unique skin care needs.

As a professional in the industry, I witness firsthand the true potential, innovation, and excellence that the Korean beauty industry has to offer. That’s why it truly disappoints me that this marketing gimmick is widely considered to be the most representative part of the Korean beauty industry.

Conclusions

In conclusion, the “10 Step Korean Skin Care Routine” is simply a marketing gimmick originated in the United States around 2014. Foreign K-Beauty retailers and beauty magazines were the main driving forces behind this myth, as they saw it as an opportunity to easily sell 10 different products to casual customers fascinated by the idea of Korean skin care. The phenomenon had no basis in reality and does not accurately reflect the skin care habits of Korean consumers or the dynamics of the Korean beauty industry.

Words, Visuals: © 2026 Odile Monod unless otherwise stated.
The reproduction of any content, either in whole or in part, for commercial purposes is strictly prohibited without obtaining the explicit written consent of the author.

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