“Men and women in South Korea are meticulous when it comes to maintaining healthy hair with a three-step process. After washing the hair with shampoo and conditioner, they often apply a hair essence or hair oil to achieve a shiny head of hair. Hair masks, serums, milks and hair mists are all must-haves,” explains Cho.
3. Treat your hair to Moroccan oil every day. Uee's (Kim Yu-Jin) secret to super soft and shiny hair lies in Moroccan Oil. The Marriage Contract actress and K-pop singer recommends applying Moroccan oil to the ends of your hair every day to ensure that it stays shiny and velvety.
Hair masks play a significant role in the Korean hair care routine. This is to impart deep nourishment and conditioning to the hair. They use oils such as argan oil, coconut oil [3], or castor oil among other emollient ingredients in their hair masks to treat dry hair, frizziness, and split ends.
Korean haircare promotes the use of carbonated water to wash your scalp. This helps remove dirt, balance the pH levels of the scalp and unclog pores effectively. It is a great way to keep your hair health in check.
Most hairstylists recommend against using products with sulphates, as they can dry out hair further. Instead, look for bottles with argan oil, coconut oil and shea butter on the ingredient list. A simple trick is to rinse your conditioner off with cold water—it helps lock the moisture in and seal the cuticle.
Use argan oil in place of a shimmering spray
Instead, stick to a natural oil that actually nourishes your strands at the oil such as Argan oil. Argan oil, like coconut oil and castor oil, will give you the shine you want while also improving the health of your hair.
In Korea, people like to wash their hair every day because of environmental pollution (fine dust, gas emissions, etc). Whereas people in America generally tend to wash hair every 2-3 days due to the common perception that it's much healthier for your hair.
“According to my hair stylist, Korean women use a hair essence or oil every single day, which is why they have such silky, soft, and shiny strands.” A personal favorite for Cho is British M's Organics Annatto Hair Oil, while Lee is a fan of the Mise en Scene Pearl Shining Hair Essence.
So does your hair! A hair mask in the Korean hair care routine conditions dry hair and prevents it from frizzing. It is usually loaded with natural hair oils that moisturise the hair, prevent frizz, and help combat breakage.
The reason Asian hair tends to be thicker is that it has around 10 layers of cuticles. Cuticles are the small areas around the inner protein structure of your hair–they are there to protect those proteins.
Conditioning is a crucial part of the Korean hair treatment to moisturize the hair and keep it soft and healthy. How To Use: After shampooing, squeeze out the excess water from the hair strands. Apply conditioner from the mid-length to the hair ends.
Many idols have confessed they use an ACV rinse every time they wash their hair as a way to keep their hair healthy, shiny, and smooth.
Typically, Koreans like to shampoo every day, so the trend is to have a variety of hair care products on hand and choose what you need based on how your hair feels that day. This is similar to the trend of sheet masking every day—you keep a variety at home so you can pick and choose which one you want that day.
Asian hair is also the fastest growing, at over half an inch per month. Caucasian hair can be stick straight, wavy, or curly. The follicles have a slight oval shape, making it quite dense with an average hair growth of just under half an inch a month.
Korean diet essentials
Traditional Korean foods focus heavily on fruit, soy, steamed vegetables, rice, fish and fermented foods such as kimchi, a cabbage-based dish thought to be a centerpiece of the Korean diet. The K-pop diet is also one that is characterized as minimally processed, as well as low in sugar and fat.
In Korea, 'bathing' has long been a traditional custom. Bathing involves cleansing both the hair and body. Meanwhile, the communal space or facility of 'public bathhouses' has not been around for more than 130 years.
You can use fenugreek oil for obtaining long and silky hair. You can boil a few seeds of fenugreek in coconut oil and apply them to hair and scalp. When the oil cools down, you can use this oil for massaging your head. Leave this oil overnight in your hair and then wash it off the next day to get silky hair.