I'm grace neutral a tattoo artist and
activist I don't know if they're more
freaked out by my tattoos or the fact
that I'm wearing a barbarian coat in a
spa I'm interested in ideas of
alternative beauty and pushing our
boundaries of positive body image and if
you've never when they pop again how do
you
I will die to me the human body is a
beautiful thing in all its forms
what Gracie could have looked like if
she didn't up face
I've traveled to South Korea where
amazingly tattooing is illegal I'm going
to explore their six billion dollar
domestic beauty industry and kpop to
influence on Korean beauty ideals so
we're here in Myeongdong in Seoul which
is basically like the epicenter of
beauty this is where everyone comes to
get their beauty products as you can see
is even is crazy the streets are so cool
every other shop seems to be a makeup
shop Korea has one of the world's
fastest-growing and technically advanced
beauty industries South Korean women
spend more than twice as much of their
income on makeup and beauty products
than American women while men spend more
on beauty products than anyone else in
the world skincare and beauty products
advertising is everywhere with k-pop
stars and key soaps pushing the latest
cosmetic trends there's an unparalleled
emphasis in Korean society on looking
good
and having perfect skin young South
Koreans and increasingly China's beauty
tourists flock to this area lured by
skincare and makeup products dubbed
k-beauty you can hear just for fashion
or do you come here to buy makeup the
skin products everything like how long
every day do you spend doing makeup hour
a two hours a day you hear Koreans have
one of the most extensive skin care
regimes in the world piling on between
10 and 18 products a day it's pretty
mental right now I've never seen crowds
like this just come from beauty Korean
products promised a perfect skin is fast
becoming the most exported and desired
around the world just from chatting to
people it's not just South Koreans that
come here for beauty they just met a
couple of Chinese girls they said to me
that it's one of the best places to come
and the best products are here so I'm
coming here to meet up with a girl
called all Yana basically she is a girl
that kind of epitomizes everything to do
with mainstream beauty in South Korea
today and hoping she can give me a bit
of an insight on her life and the things
that she does in the routine that she
has been in beauty hello nice to meet
you
how are you I'm fine how are you good
thank you and look at your eye yeah well
I have a photo when your eyes they're
very beautiful too
yes where did you have done I had it
done at home where I live in London in
London is it common in your country no
it's not common anywhere really I think
maybe less than a hundred people have it
in the world oh yeah
so only on oh where are you taking me
now we are going to moon each on
moonshot again
okay what's my ensuring that I mean
charlie is makeup for uh-huh and we are
gonna have makeup over
oh cool we're gonna make a yeah the
influence of kpop and young people in
South Korea cannot be overestimated
and major k-pop label YG Entertainment
and taking advantage of that they
developed their own line of cosmetics to
sell in their store in central Seoul
moonshot beauty products were a natural
item for Korean stars to promote on
kdramas surgery is often part of the
plot we honor yes
what kind of liquor you're gonna go for
today heavy maple yeah yeah so like a
typical kpop just yeah nice with your
parents how do they feel when you
started wearing makeup you want to get a
hard chunk up there I don't know hello
Shamar give undertow cotton yarn you're
casting up to the heart on a mark Brahma
make all the typhoon there it's hard to
describe
you forget what onion on the became Zoi
Baker Parliament ah it was memorable
walk while pondering it because we've
okay how about paniolo well I usually
wear this much like heavy dark eye
makeup cuz I think my eyes are pretty
intense anyway but no it looks really
good the kpop star look is it's not bad
well Jana offered to take me to Seoul's
24-hour 7-story mega spa to show me that
beauty isn't just about makeup but a big
part of Korean lifestyle for young
people like her
you saw with Liana we're going to go and
check out the pool
Susy if I wanted something I'm pretty
nervous right now
one of the ladies who guided us in here
to the changing rooms asked me if I
could change in a private room because a
fear of everyone being offended my
tattoos she asked me to keep my coat on
and yeah are you getting a bit of a
weird reception this is so weird I don't
know if they're more eked out my my
tattoos on the fact that I'm wearing a
barbarian coat in a spa
this is nice
I found out that more than 60% of young
women in their 20s have had cosmetic
surgery here I wanted to find out how
IANA felt about the issue do you think
that girls the South Korea getting
plastic surgery to yard or painful paja
I give them names crossing over honey
goodbye you- until for me personally a
lot of the procedures that gals over
here get when i very young is pretty
extreme purely because of the age that
they are how's our little horrible
Dunham's with yourself but then tiles
will harvest google local audience I
have done no stop my email shape world
was not straight
okay anything it I got lost every since
I put on my fat from my leg to be my
face today just everywhere everywhere
for a hot chick and what differences did
you feel were the biggest in your
appearance changing I have no fat on my
face so I look prettier with these girls
and guys who are young do you think it's
the pressures of society telling them
that they should look a certain way how
we're going on you I do not know don't
ever compare Tommy Cesaro they got to
come to the beneath start over
Tommy Owens law they didn't want it
Tommy okay
she's been really open with me about
everything she's been through that this
whole kind of sense that kpop has such a
huge influence on the way young girls
look I think it's great to idolize
people who admire but for me for 18 year
old girls to start getting Botox just
because they feel like they have to fit
into this kpop ideal almost kind of made
me feel a bit uncomfortable one thing
that I noticed here that's really weird
is that there's just a big room of
people yeah and they just they're asleep
on the floor like randomly yes that is
like their parents are sleeping in the
kitchen like playing around
they sleep here all night
and I used to sleep here every weekend
with my friends tell me
like your beauty regime how would you
feel if someone took that away from you
and told you that you could never have
cosmetic surgery again and you can never
wear makeup again how would you feel
time we
right here
this is a pretty bizarre place if I'm
honest
I've never been to a spa before there's
open 24 hours I've never been to a
that has like an arcade
I'm used to going to spas old being and
and maybe people looking at me funny
because I'm
quite to this extreme you can tell that
just not impressed by me
and I definitely think it's got to be
the tattoos and the stigma around her -
a few years ago wouldn't even been let
in a place like this like I would be
completely ban
it's clear that all jana reflects South
Korea's mainstream beauty culture while
I'm an easy that this billion-dollar
business puts huge pressure on young
girls to look perfect it's easy to see
why so many are influenced especially
when kpop idols themselves are having to
conform to the very narrow beauty ideals
I know young women in the West are
facing a lot of the same pressures
although in South Korea it's socially
acceptable for teenagers to have
cosmetic surgery it is illegal to be a
tattoo artist
I'm fascinated to understand how younger
generations are challenging traditional
views of beauty I've traveled to South
Korea to explore their alternative
beauty industry I wanted to know why
tattooing is illegal here and meet the
young Koreans embracing alternative
ideas of beauty and body image