Do Korean Men Wear Makeup and Use Skincare Too?

 

Written by a Korean-born writer who spent three decades in the airline industry, sharing what growing up in Korea actually looks like.

Introduction: "Wait, Is That Makeup?"

During his first week at a Korean branch office, a foreign employee walks into the restroom before a meeting and catches an unfamiliar sight. A male coworker is standing at the mirror, gently patting on a small cushion foundation compact.

Trying not to look too surprised, he quietly turns to another coworker nearby and asks, "Wait, is that makeup?" The coworker shrugs it off. "Yeah, that's BB cream. It's not that unusual among the younger guys here."

In short: Skincare is already quite common among Korean men, and light coverage products like BB cream or cushion foundation, used mainly to even out skin tone, generally aren't treated as anything unusual either. That said, men who go further into full color cosmetics are still relatively rare.

This piece walks through the specific products Korean men actually use, how far skincare and makeup have each been accepted, and how this culture became this normalized in the first place.

It's a topic that tends to surprise foreign visitors more than almost any other beauty-related habit covered on this blog so far, mostly because the closest Western equivalent, if one exists at all, still carries a fair amount of stigma in many places.

Skincare and Makeup Deserve Separate Treatment

Skincare Is Already Mainstream

Korean men's skincare habits have already been covered in detail in an earlier piece on this blog about why Koreans spend so much on skincare. To summarize briefly, basic skincare like toner or lotion has become an unremarkable, everyday routine among men as well.

This piece focuses on the next step beyond skincare: makeup specifically.

Closer to "Grooming" Than "Makeup"

When Korean men talk about BB cream or brow grooming, they tend to think of it less as "putting on makeup to look pretty" and more as "grooming to tidy up the skin." This isn't just a difference in wording. It's genuinely important to understanding this culture correctly.

The distinction shapes how these products get talked about, marketed, and shelved. A tube labeled explicitly as "men's grooming cream" tends to sell more comfortably than the exact same formula marketed under a more overtly cosmetic label.

Makeup Is Still a Separate Story

Unlike skincare, color cosmetics still aren't something every Korean man embraces comfortably. Lumping the two categories together risks giving an exaggerated picture of what's actually going on.

The Products Korean Men Actually Use

BB Cream and Cushion Foundation

BB cream and cushion foundation are, by far, the most widely used cosmetics among Korean men. In most cases, they're used simply to even out skin tone and lightly cover blemishes, functioning more as an extension of skincare than as color cosmetics.

Many of these products are even marketed under gender-neutral or explicitly masculine packaging, dark matte tubes rather than the pastel compacts aimed at women, which makes them feel like less of a departure from a men's grooming shelf.

Eyebrow Grooming and Brow Pencils

A growing number of men shape their eyebrows or fill in sparse areas with a brow pencil. This connects naturally to the idea, covered in an earlier piece on this blog about Korean beauty standards, that "taking good care of yourself" functions as its own kind of compliment.

Barbershops catering specifically to men have picked up on this too, with eyebrow trimming now a routine add-on offered alongside a standard haircut rather than a specialty service reserved for salons.

Lip Balm and Tint, at Most

Some men use a lightly tinted lip balm or tint to keep their lips from looking dry. Beyond that, though, heavier color cosmetics like eyeshadow or blush are still used by a relatively small minority.

Products in this category are also more likely to be tucked into a skincare routine than displayed openly, used at home before heading out rather than touched up in public the way some women might reapply lipstick at a cafe table.

The Unexpected Pairing of Military Service and BB Cream

Among Korean men who've completed military service, BB cream turns out to be a surprisingly familiar product. It's sold steadily at the PX, the on-base convenience store, and plenty of soldiers use it for both sun protection and evening out skin tone in an environment where training and time outdoors take a real toll on the skin.

This is a somewhat different story from the barracks culture covered in an earlier piece on this blog about why Korean men keep talking about their military service, but it's genuinely interesting that even the military isn't an exception when it comes to this kind of product use.

If anything, the practical framing helps explain why it faces so little pushback in that setting. Sun protection and skin recovery are easy to justify in purely functional terms, which sidesteps any question of whether a soldier is "wearing makeup" in the first place.

Why This Became So Normalized

A Fairly Recent Shift

The culture of Korean men casually using BB cream or skincare the way they do today is actually a fairly recent development. As far as I remember, back in the 1990s, skin lotion was more or less the extent of what most men used.

My own take on this, for what it's worth, is that as the cosmetics market grew rapidly after the 2000s and K-pop and media exposure grew alongside it, men's grooming gradually came to be accepted as a natural part of self-management.

A man in his fifties or sixties today likely came of age at a time when even moisturizer felt like an unnecessary extra step for most men, which makes the current generational gap feel especially wide up close.

The Idol Industry's Stage Makeup Culture

As mentioned briefly in an earlier piece on this blog about the V-line face, male idols wearing heavy makeup on stage is treated as a given rather than an exception. The theory goes that repeated exposure to this image has significantly reduced whatever psychological resistance once existed toward men wearing makeup at all.

Reality shows and behind-the-scenes content have added another layer to this, occasionally showing male celebrities applying their own makeup on camera, further normalizing the sight for viewers at home.

Self-Management as Impression Management

As covered in an earlier piece on this blog about why plastic surgery is so common in Korea, appearance is frequently treated as a real evaluation factor in the job market. Because of this, it's not unusual for male job seekers to even out their skin tone with BB cream before an interview or an important occasion.

In most cases, this has less to do with self-expression or trying to impress a specific romantic interest and more to do with presenting a neat, healthy impression to the people around them. This is why plenty of men put a little extra effort in not just for job interviews, but before a blind date or an important gathering as well.

The underlying goal in each of these situations is remarkably consistent: come across as someone who takes care of themselves, without drawing attention to the effort involved in getting there.

Does This Actually Show Up at the Office?

Among office workers, a man showing up to work with his skin tone evened out with BB cream or cushion isn't particularly rare. That said, it's worth noting that it isn't especially common or visible either.

This culture tends to be most visible among men in their twenties to mid-thirties, and it noticeably tapers off in older age groups. Most men also prefer a result subtle enough to read as "your skin looks great these days" rather than anything that visibly registers as makeup.

The goal, in other words, is to be undetectable rather than expressive. Success looks like a coworker complimenting your skin, not noticing you're wearing anything at all.

Varying Comfort Levels Across Generations

Comfort with this culture varies considerably by generation. Younger Koreans are far more likely to treat skincare and light makeup as a natural part of self-management.

Talk to a man in his twenties about his BB cream and he's likely to shrug and describe it the same way he'd describe using sunscreen. Ask his father the same question, and the reaction is far more likely to be genuine surprise that the question is even being asked.

Why Foreigners Tend to Misread This Culture

The Western Framing That Makeup Equals Femininity

Some foreigners immediately connect a man wearing makeup to femininity or gender identity. In Korea, though, BB cream or brow grooming is generally understood as a form of self-management aimed at a neat, tidy impression, largely disconnected from gender.

This mismatch in framing is worth sitting with for a moment, since it's really a difference in what the act is assumed to signal in the first place, rather than a disagreement about the act itself.

Assuming Every Man Wears Full Makeup

The fact that BB cream use is common doesn't mean every Korean man enjoys heavier color cosmetics like eyeshadow or lipstick. In reality, the overwhelming majority stop at evening out their skin tone.

Common Misunderstandings

• ❌ Myth: A Korean man who wears makeup is feminine or has an unusual personal taste.
• ⭕ Reality: It's generally viewed as self-management aimed at a neat impression, treated as a separate matter from gender identity.
• ❌ Myth: Korean men embrace skincare and full color cosmetics with equal enthusiasm.
• ⭕ Reality: Skincare is already mainstream, but heavier color cosmetics are still used by a relatively small minority of men.
• ❌ Myth: A rough environment like the military has no room for products like this.
• ⭕ Reality: BB cream sells steadily enough at the PX that it's used fairly naturally even during military service.

What Koreans Actually Say

The lines below aren't direct quotes from real interviews — they're representative of the kind of language Koreans commonly use in these situations.

Foreigner: "I was a little surprised to see a male coworker wearing makeup. Is that common?" Korean: "Yeah, it's pretty normal these days. It's really just evening out skin tone, so nobody thinks much of it."

Foreigner: "If a guy wears BB cream, don't his friends tease him about it?" Korean: "Maybe that would've happened in the past, but that's really not the vibe anymore."

Foreigner: "Do soldiers use cosmetics too?" Korean: "Yeah, a lot of them buy BB cream at the PX. Training really takes a toll on your skin."

Foreigner: "So do a lot of them wear eyeshadow or lipstick too?" Korean: "That's still not really common. Most guys stop at BB cream and maybe grooming their eyebrows."

That last exchange sums up the whole topic fairly well: wide acceptance at the light end of the spectrum, and real hesitation the moment it starts to look like conventional makeup.

Practical Advice for Foreign Readers

Don't Look Surprised, Just Take It in Stride

A foreign reader shouldn't make a big deal out of it, or look visibly surprised, if a Korean male coworker or friend uses BB cream or a brow pencil. In most cases, it's simply a habit aimed at a neat, tidy impression.

Keep Skincare and Color Cosmetics Separate in Your Mind

A foreign reader should keep in mind that while skincare and light skin-tone correction are quite common among Korean men, heavier color cosmetics remain relatively rare.

Don't Connect It to Gender Identity

A foreign reader is better off not immediately connecting a Korean man's makeup or grooming habits to gender identity or femininity. In most cases, this is treated as a matter of self-management that has little to do with gender at all.

Ten or fifteen years from now, this entire conversation may look a little dated, the way discussions about men wearing earrings or getting manicures gradually stopped raising eyebrows in plenty of other places. For now, though, it remains a genuinely useful thing for a foreign visitor to understand ahead of time.