Sources from Seoul stated that a recent survey by data and analysis consultancy service, Global Data, found that about three quarters of South Korean men undertake a beauty or grooming treatment from salon hair treatments to at-home facials at least once a week. As per report this figure is even higher for Generation Z respondents, with 58% of those born after 2000, saying they pamper themselves with "lengthy" beauty or grooming treatments at least once per week, compared to 34% of South Korean men overall.
Reportedly this phenomenon can be explained in part by the influence of K-pop (Korean pop), according to Roald Maliangkay, director of the Korea Institute at The Australian National University. He told describing his recent visit to Seoul's old city centre district, Myeongdong "I am struck by how many local young men are now emulating the look typical of Korean male idols”.
Furthermore he saw many men in sharply cut outfits with perfectly groomed dyed hair and double eyelids (as a result of cosmetic surgery), and I even noticed a few men wearing some light makeup. Moreover the trend may also result from pressure on men to compete in a tough job market, according to James Turnbull, a writer and lecturer based in the city of Busan, South Korea.
